V.Thangavelu
The easiest job in the world is to give
unsolicited advice to others. And if you happen to be a correspondent/columnist
in a newspaper like The Hindu, you can indulge in that type of luxury at the
drop of a hat! You don’t have to think. All you need is a poisonous pen! After
all, almost 15 years ago The Hindu carried headline news of Prabhakaran’s
funeral procession winding its way through the streets of Vanni!
Nirupama Subramanian after a long stint in
Colombo as correspondent for The Hindu is now back
at Chennai. Sheer habit does not permit her to write on any other subject other
than the LTTE, her favorite whipping horse! It needs time for old habits to die
and an old monkey to learn new tricks!
This is very true as far as Nirupama is concerned.
Obviously Nirupama is trying to mount the
proverbial horse which everyone, including the Sakkiduththar (Secretary),
mounted but slipped and fell!
Nirupama wants the Thamils to change their
leader. She probably thinks she is George Bush in saree (or Punjabi Suridar!)
offering unsolicited advice not knowing she is making an ass of herself! At
least in Bush case, he is rightly or wrongly the all-powerful cowboy President
of the USA. But Nirupama? A lowly journalist with a newspaper notorious for its
anti-Tamil nationalist stance.
To Nirupama, Ms.Jayalalithaa, the egocentric
whimsical Chief Minister, has all of a sudden become her favourite politician
and a “clever foreign policy” expert, better than the South Block mandarins! To
quote “By using the Prevention of
Terrorism Act (POTA) to arrest a prominent politician who is a vocal supporter
of the LTTE, Ms. Jayalalithaa has sent out a clearer foreign policy message
across the Palk Straits than has emanated from South Block in recent times.”
The arrest of Vaiko under POTA has attracted
criticism from the ruling BJP, the President of BJP Venkaiah Naidu, Defence
Minister George Fernandez, former Law Minister Arun Jaitley (just to name a few)
as mis-use of POTA. What Vaiko spoke at the Thirumangalam meeting in support of
the LTTE was what he spoke inside the Indian parliament. What Vaiko spoke was
also what Dr.S.Ramdoss, Thiru Pazha Nedumaran and Thiru R. Thirumavalavan are speaking everyday on
public platforms though out Tamil Nadu.
Expressing verbal support for the LTTE is nothing more than the exercise
of freedom of speech. But such logical reasoning is beyond the comprehension of
Ms.Jayalalithaa whose ascend to power is due to a multiplicity of fortitude
circumstances!
Now back to Nirupama she pontificates “But
given the starkness of the message Ms. Jayalalithaa has delivered, it is perhaps
time for Sri Lankan Tamils to begin asking themselves if what they need is not
so much Indian support for the peace process which could prove meaningless in
the long run with the LTTE in it, but finding another leader. Besides India,
there might be other good reasons to do so. “
But we Eelam Tamils (there are no Sri Lankan
Tamils) care less about a foul-mouthed woman politician like Ms. Jayalalithaa.
We consider her as a tragic accident in politics and an aberration in history.
Ms.Jayalalithaa was soundly rejected by the people of Tamil Nadu in the past and
she will be rejected again. We have no doubt on that score. Tamil nationalism is
resilient and vibrant enough to defeat Tamil enemies of whatever hue!
All we can tell Nirupama is that leaders emerge
spontaneously among the people. They cannot be made to order as this foolish
columnist thinks! Prabhakaran is the leader and will remain the leader of the
Tamil people. Tamil people have for the first time in 1000 years has a leader
whom history will place him on par with Karikaal Cholan and Raja Raja Cholan 1!
Nirupama is cleverly putting words into the
mouth of an anonymous Sri Lankan journalist. Even if that individual is real,
Prabhakaran too can “flower into a
statesman on whom the world showers encomiums.”
After all unlike Prabhakaran who holds territory, runs a de facto state
of Eelam, Xanana Gusmao was languishing in prison charged with treason after
capture by the Indonesian army! What more he too was dubbed a “terrorist” by
none other than the US and UK. But when his guerrilla army won the war he became
the darling of the same people who earlier branded him as a terrorist. So the
day is not far off when Prabhakaran too will don the mantle of President of
Tamil Eelam like Xanana Gusmao and earn encomiums from his one-time adversaries!
Nirupama glibly says “
LTTE leader is today a wanted terrorist.” May be or may be not. But
today’s wanted terrorists are tomorrow’s heads of states! Nelson Mandela of the
ANC, still better Xanana Gusmao of East Timor, are living examples.
Nirupama wallowing in pretended self-pity
claims “But after nearly 20 years of a struggle that has led them steadily
downward, tearing their social, political, economic and moral fabric apart, Sri
Lanka's Tamils need to think over their choice of leadership.” A freedom struggle, especially an
armed struggle, is not a tea party. There is no revolution without bloodshed,
loss of lives and destruction. That is the price freedom loving people pay to
gain dignity to live as free people. A third of the population of East Timor was
wiped out by the Indonesian army. Yet they triumphed! The Tamils have paid the
price and now wait for their turn to celebrate independence!
Journalist like Nirupama must stop playing
tomfoolery with the sentiments of the Tamil people. As a reminder, conventional wisdom tells the Tamils that they should act
just opposite to what enemies of Tamils advise them to do!