United roar of Tamil pride silences centre
By 10th Nov 2013
It’s Advantage Jayalalithaa. Again. The most vocal champion of Sri Lankan Tamils, the articulate Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has ensured that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s trip to the island nation to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is all but off, cementing her position before the 2014 polls.
With virtually every party in the state speaking in the same voice, and as many as four ministers from Tamil Nadu in his government voicing their reservations, a cornered PM had little choice in the matter.
But, it was Jayalalithaa who gave the much-needed push for the fledgling movement to boycott the meet to gain momentum. The winter session of the T N Assembly passed a unanimous resolution moved by her opposing even titular representation at the meet. During the debate on the resolution, she took the Centre to task for being soft on Sri Lanka, which had violated every tenet of the Commonwealth. Further she also sent a missive to the Prime Minister explaining the rationale behind the boycott demand and debunking the claim of those advocating ‘engagement’ for strategic reasons. The boycott demand, it is being pointed out, attempts to bring a moral content to foreign policy.
Well, neither Jayalalithaa nor the political opinion in the state is wrong in arguing that engagement with a neighbour does not necessarily require a Prime Ministerial visit that too when the host is accused of war crimes against the ethnic Tamils. Analysts wonder as to why the Centre is so worried over engagement with Colombo, while it has failed to engage with the people in Tamil Nadu, where the Lankan Tamil issue strikes an emotional chord with the people.
“It is not true that the relations between India and Sri Lanka could be strained because of the boycott. And the participation of the PM is not the only means of engaging Sri Lanka as claimed by some of the bureaucrats in the Ministry of External Affairs”, a senior AIADMK leader said. “If the PM attends, it signals that Lanka can do whatever it pleases with Lankan Tamils and India will be a silent neighbour watching it. Rather, India should move a strong resolution against Sri Lanka in the ensuing UNHRC session at Geneva”, he added.
After the Channel 4 ‘expose’ of LTTE news anchor Isai Priya’s rape and murder during the close of the Eelam War IV, the clamour for boycott reached its peak. Political parties and pro-Tamil outfits in the state flexed their muscles to ensure New Delhi stayed away from the event, which according to them would accord legitimacy to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, facing grave war-crime charges. Adding to the discomfort of the Prime Minister is the division in the Union Cabinet with a few senior ministers opposing his visit to the island nation, in view of the growing demand from TN for a total boycott.
The campaign for CHOGM boycott commenced in the cyberspace ever since the formal announcement was made by Commonwealth on December 7, 2012. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to boycott the summit gave a shot in the arm to the anti-CHOGM crusade spearheaded by the Tamil diaspora. Citing this, parties here demanded that New Delhi too take a ‘principled stand’ and refrain from attending the Colombo meet.
From DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi to Vaiko of MDMK, leaders of every political party also appealed to the PM not to grace the CHOGM summit. As was the case during the run up to the Geneva UNHRC session, where Sri Lanka was taken to task for its poor human rights record, this time too there were protests and demonstrations all over the state and even students took to the streets. Tamil nationalist and writer Thiagu went ahead with a fast which lasted for 15 days. “The Prime Minister has a conscience. We hope he will act accordingly,” told Karunanidhi to the media skirting the issue of the DMK extending outside support to the UPA government.
Similarly the MDMK, MDMK Lok Sabha MP Ganesamoorthy said the party was for the expulsion of Sri Lanka from Commonwealth. “More than war crimes, the Rajapaksa’s government has carried out genocide of Lankan Tamils. How can we allow him to chair CHOGM and if that happens he would head Commonwealth until the next the CHOGM conclave”, he said.
