Soul Search

Tamils in India, Tamils and India

MONTHS have passed since the people of Tamil Nadu, India, awoke to the sorry state of their three million siblings across the sea in Tamileelam. Passionate agitations organised by all hues of society brought hopes of change. In practice, however, all the political might of 66 million people has summed up to zero. Protests have failed to change the genocidal course of action on which Sri Lanka is progressing. Here, we discuss the need for Tamil Nadu to take some critical decisions.

Broadly, in Tamil circles, there were three levels of assumptions on how India may respond to Tamil Nadu’s agitations. The hopeful wished for the country to enforce a ceasefire; the pragmatic expected an end to political, economic and military assistance to Sri Lanka; and the pessimistic counted on India not expanding its ties with the Sinhala state. Months later, there is no ceasefire, existing assistance continues and Indian involvement on the military front has increased several folds.

The only coup of countless days of protests was the arrival of aid addressed to the 300, 000 Tamils displaced in the Vanni mainland. Of them, food items and some utensils have been distributed, despite days of delays imposed by the Sinhala state. Garments, on the other hand, have taken white van rides of their own and have disappeared from the face of the earth. Here is a point to ponder: 66 million Tamils do not have what it takes to clothe their sisters who are separated only by a shallow sea.

Until recently, India’s support for Sri Lankan was limited to gifts of “defensive” equipments, provisions of “soft” loans and support at international institutions such as the UN Human Rights Commission. Collectively, India was helping the Sinhala state permanently occupy the Tamil Homeland and whitewash its crimes on the international arena. At times, this policy was justified as “unavoidable”, owing to the need to keep another regional power, i.e. China, out of “India’s backyard”.

As we highlighted in November (Fading Gloss), the Sinhala community is heavily entrenched in anti-Indian rhetoric. The terrorist attacks on Mumbai showed how an attempt to gloss over deep-rooted historic grudge with surface level cooperation can end up as a futile exercise. Yet, in recent weeks, India’s Central Government has increased its support for Sri Lanka. Widespread reports indicate direct involvement of Indian experts in land, sea and air operations of the Sri Lankan military.

In Vanni, where direct military confrontations are taking place, each week, a dozen civilians are killed, and hundreds more are injured by Sri Lankan air raids and artillery fire. In the east of the island, which is under the occupation of the Sinhala military, tens of Tamils are made to disappear or are killed each week, according to a recent report from the UN. Thus far, instead of pressurising the Sinhala state to stop, India has been actively involved in justifying these crimes against humanity.

Sadly, there are elements in Tamil Nadu who would rather engage in “எட்டாப் பழம் புளிக்கும்“ than admit to the glaring truth that they are unable to influence Indian Central Government policy. These individuals seek to justify Indian actions by referring to the, now infamous, Rajiv Gandhi incident. In actual fact, for four years from 1987, the Rajiv administration had a bad stint with Tamil militancy. Mr Gandhi was the last in more than 5, 000 lives, mostly civilian, lost during that period.

People of Tamileelam look up to Tamil Nadu as their saviour. Sadly, the Congress administration in New Delhi appears keener to project Tamils as “clowns” than equal contributors to India. In practice, also, political agitations have been unable to change ground realities. However, given geographic proximity, economic might and intellectual advancement, Tamil Nadu can take practical initiatives to assist in the Tamileelam struggle. All that is needed now is a bit of soul searching.