My response posted in The Hoot, on March 2,
2014 -
The fact is that the
Tamils of Tamilnadu and Srilanka share transnational ethnic linkages and the
events, especially the persecution in the name of war on the LTTE that led to
extermination of thousands of innocent Tamils are certainly an important issue
of concern in the political discourse in Tamilnadu. The Indian state has been
indifferent to the plight of Tamils, ironically the so called civil society and
diplomatic community in Delhi who pontificate on the virtues of 'Track II
Diplomacy' and ‘People to People contacts’, highlighting the organic ties with
Punjabis, Mohajirs and Sindhis of Pakistan, are impervious when similar
sentiments are aired about the ties with Srilankan Tamils.
Secondly the so called Dravidian parties with the exception of AIADMK and Vaiko, have been rather ambivalent and displayed sheer opportunism about the plight of Tamils. This is evident by their unprincipled silence during the military operation carried out by the Lankan army in 2009, the war on Eelam which was marked by organized killing of thousand of Tamils and ethnic cleansing.
Thirdly being anti LTTE doesn’t mean being anti Tamil, the killing of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister, also marked the loss of faith in such liberation force that had evolved as a fascist and Frankenstein outfit. At the same the present government of the AIADMK, has displayed enough courage, by remaining committed to the Tamil cause minus LTTE, since no single outfit can claim monopoly over the mass sentiments or Tamil identity. The LTTE let down the Indian goodwill by eliminating leaders like Amritalingam of moderate Tamil factions, thus closing the doors for a broader consensus and coalition.
Fourthly, while one can understand the plight of the other victims of the LTTE, who were killed along with Rajiv Gandhi, one must understand that the main accused i.e, the LTTE and its suicide bombers and accomplices like Sivarasan and Subha, are no more and there are many ethical issues involving the conviction of some of the accused like Periavalan, who was merely nineteen years old and had spent around two decades in prison. Human Rights activists have questioned the manner in which the trials were held. It is rather ironical that one of the accused delivered a child in the prison and has been deprived from meeting her child, due to the political intransigence of the Indian government.
Fifthly the bogey of human rights are also guided by vested interests in India, when they are pleas for commuting capital punishment to life term, involving pedophiles’, serial killers, rapists and murders and people involved in organized killing of people on basis of primordial identities (caste/religion/ethnicity etc), this issue is projected as a vital issue concerning national security. One may argue that this case could have been handled with much legal and political finesse, lest it be construed as rabble-rousing in the minefields of ethno-politics.
Secondly the so called Dravidian parties with the exception of AIADMK and Vaiko, have been rather ambivalent and displayed sheer opportunism about the plight of Tamils. This is evident by their unprincipled silence during the military operation carried out by the Lankan army in 2009, the war on Eelam which was marked by organized killing of thousand of Tamils and ethnic cleansing.
Thirdly being anti LTTE doesn’t mean being anti Tamil, the killing of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister, also marked the loss of faith in such liberation force that had evolved as a fascist and Frankenstein outfit. At the same the present government of the AIADMK, has displayed enough courage, by remaining committed to the Tamil cause minus LTTE, since no single outfit can claim monopoly over the mass sentiments or Tamil identity. The LTTE let down the Indian goodwill by eliminating leaders like Amritalingam of moderate Tamil factions, thus closing the doors for a broader consensus and coalition.
Fourthly, while one can understand the plight of the other victims of the LTTE, who were killed along with Rajiv Gandhi, one must understand that the main accused i.e, the LTTE and its suicide bombers and accomplices like Sivarasan and Subha, are no more and there are many ethical issues involving the conviction of some of the accused like Periavalan, who was merely nineteen years old and had spent around two decades in prison. Human Rights activists have questioned the manner in which the trials were held. It is rather ironical that one of the accused delivered a child in the prison and has been deprived from meeting her child, due to the political intransigence of the Indian government.
Fifthly the bogey of human rights are also guided by vested interests in India, when they are pleas for commuting capital punishment to life term, involving pedophiles’, serial killers, rapists and murders and people involved in organized killing of people on basis of primordial identities (caste/religion/ethnicity etc), this issue is projected as a vital issue concerning national security. One may argue that this case could have been handled with much legal and political finesse, lest it be construed as rabble-rousing in the minefields of ethno-politics.
Finally one of the
respondents to the article, who is a very respected journalist and whose anger
is understandable, could have provided a scholarly/academic/journalistic
response based on reason, rather than sounding personal. The respondent needs
to question the very framing of the arguments in the article, rather than
casting aspersions on the author, based on caste identity, moreover which is
out of vogue, since a decade. On the academic side the Human genome project has
dismissed the so called race theory.
Link - for the article titled "Regional Media Dynamics" published in The Hoot on February 24, 2014 (http://www.thehoot.org/web/Regional-national-media-dynamics/7325-1-1-2-true.html)
