Tamil-Tamil Bhai-Bhai

I do not doubt that a vast majority of you readers know who Rajiv Gandhi is. The 6^th prime minister of India, he was assassinated on 21^st May 1991 by a member of the LTTE. Naturally, such an event sent shockwaves through the country. Naturally you would expect that the LTTE would be consequentially antagonised forever and denounced as a terrorist organisation working to disrupt peace.

But, you would be wrong. A couple of days back, MPs from two of Tamil Nadu’s largest political parties – the DMK and the AIADMK – stormed the Rajya Sabha, caused chaos and broke a microphone while waving frantically pictures of the son of the man who founded the LTTE, who was killed in Sri Lanka. Now obviously it is tragic that the young boy was killed and I do not condone his killing. But the elected leaders of the world’s largest democracy are not expected, under any circumstances, to storm the upper house and shout slogans. That is expected only of the protester. That is not expected of the administration.

At this point, I should think some of you might have no idea what all this is about so I will tell you. Tamils in Sri Lanka have been the victims of numerous human rights abuses for many years. It was with the aim of eradicating this issue that the LTTE was originally formed. The LTTE has generally gained the support of Tamil extremists, who view it as an independence movement. Recently, the issue of ill-treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka has surfaced yet again. Amid tensions and an alleged lack of concrete action by the Indian government, there has been considerable anger in Tamil Nadu over the issue, with student bodies raising vociferous disapproval of the same.

The interesting and rather ridiculous part of this whole debate is that the chief of the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK), M. Karunanidhi has withdrawn his party’s support from the UPA – the coalition that forms the government. He said that the government would have to take serious action regarding this issue for the party to perform one of those famous political U-turns. What I do not understand is how Mr. Karunanidhi expects the Indian government to willingly undermine the sovereign rights of Sri Lanka as a country and interfere in its internal matters. But then again, what would you expect from a B-grade film producer turned politician? (He even named his son Stalin, for crying out loud!)

I heard a very good name for this phenomenon. It is what we can call “Tamil-Tamil Bhai-Bhai.” Basically what it means is that Tamils in Tamil Nadu seem to feel obliged to take an interest in the affairs of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Admitted, what is happening in Sri Lanka is not correct and admitted, action must be taken. But the fact of the matter remains that an issue of Sri Lankan importance must not be considered to be an excuse for Indian politics to yet again demonstrate just how deep a hole it has dug for itself. As I read somewhere, whenever you think you’ve hit rock bottom, someone gives you a shovel.

- Chap.