After a prolonged absence, the ghost of Tamil Elam War in Srilanka once again started haunting the state politics with a revelation by former Srilankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Rajapaksa’s revelation that the UPA government, of which the DMK was an integral part, helped Sri Lanka in the Eelam war sparked a huge protest from the ruling AIADMK which announced an agitation against the DMK and Congress over the 2009 Eelam massacre on 25 September across Tamil Nadu.
While this decision evoked a support from the state BJP, the opposition DMK and Congress rebuked and ridiculed it by countering that the AIADMK and its late leader J Jayalalithaa had described the LTTE as a terrorist organization and demanded extradition and hanging of its leader V Prabhakaran in the wake of assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. DMK leader and TKS Elangovan, MP also pointed out that the proposed agitation by AIADMK is an attempt to cover up the corruption charges faced by various ministers of the present government including Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister.
But Fisheries Minister and party spokesman D Jayakumar strongly criticised the DMK on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue by pointing out that the revelations of Rajapaksa had proved that what former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said in 2010 was right.
CM Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam will be leading the party’s agitation against the DMK and the Congress at Salem and in Theni. The protest meeting to demand the declaration of DMK and Congress as war criminals for their alleged collusion with the Sri Lankan government during the Eelam war and hold a trial against them was announced on Wednesday after a meeting of party ministers and district secretaries.
According to the press release issued by the party after its decision, the party’s presidium chairperson, E Madhusudanan, Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture K Pandiarajan, deputy convener and former Minister K P Munusamy, Minister for Rural Industries P Benjamin and senior leaders, including former minister C Ponnaiyan, R Vaithilingam MP, A Tamilmagan Hussain, Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha M Thambidurai, Forest Minister Dindigul C Seenivasan, School Education Minister KA Sengottaian and former minister Natham R Viswanathan will also preside over the meetings in the respective district headquarters assigned to them.
But DMK spokesperson K S Radhakrishnan ridiculed the protest announced by the AIADMK against his party and Congress. He lambasted BJP state president Tamilisai Sounderrajan for her support to AIADMK protest. Radhakrishnan Tamilisai was oblivious of the past and the fact that the DMK and its late president M Karunanidhi had been relentless in fighting for the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils even before she was born.
Radhakrishnan asked Tamilisai better turn to her father Kumari Ananthan( former senior Congress leader) for getting enlightened on the issue because he knew well Tamil Nadu’s history and Karunanidhi’s concern for the Eelam Tamils.
He also pointed out that Tamilisai’s supreme leader Prime Minister Modi had shaken hands with Rajapaksa by visiting Sri Lanka and gave a warm welcome to Rajapaksa when he visited Delhi. Talking to reporters on Thursday Tamilisai supported AIADMK for the proposed agitation and also wanted reactions from DMK president MK Stalin, MDMK general secretary Vaiko and VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan to the revelations of former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.