Sri Lanka may have to beef up its internal and external security and intelligence gathering if the developments in Tamil Nadu are any indication. The opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (DMK) is getting ready to stoke up Tamil nationalist passions. Frustrated over its failure in successive elections since May 2011 (the 2011 assembly election, the 2014 [...]

Sunday Times 2

Desperate DMK playing secessionist politics in Tamil Nadu

Dateline Chennai by Kumar Chellappan
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Sri Lanka may have to beef up its internal and external security and intelligence gathering if the developments in Tamil Nadu are any indication. The opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (DMK) is getting ready to stoke up Tamil nationalist passions. Frustrated over its failure in successive elections since May 2011 (the 2011 assembly election, the 2014 Parliament election and the 2016 assembly election), the party is licking the wounds inflicted by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (AIADMK), its arch rival.

M.K. Stalin: Seeking refuge in separatist politics

M.K. Stalin, the de facto head of the DMK, may resort to call for secession from the Indian union and revive the old demand for Dravida Nadu, a separate country for Tamils incorporating Tamil Nadu, parts of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and, of course, the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

The inference is based on the Tamil nationalistic stance taken by Stalin, son of DMK’s 95-year-old ailing President, Muthuvel Karunanidhi, on key issues. Tamil Nadu is the only State in the country to oppose the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the all India competitive examination held by the government of India to select students to the undergraduate and post graduate courses in medicine and dental sciences. While all the States in the union welcomed the NEET, Tamil Nadu remained defiant towards this examination which was introduced by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government (2004-2014), in which the DMK was a crucial partner. Though the decision to introduce NEET was taken with the concurrence of the DMK in 2011, the repeated rejection of the DMK by the electorate in Tamil Nadu made Stalin to opt for a confrontationist stance against the ruling dispensation at the Centre.

The DMK opened another battlefront in Tamil Nadu by declaring its opposition to the recent directive by the Madras High Court, urging the Tamil Nadu government to allow the central government to run public schools in all districts to make quality education available to rural masses. In Tamil Nadu, both the DMK and the AIADMK have opposed the setting up of central government schools, known as Navodaya Vidyalayas. The two parties see the schools as a means of imposing Hindi and Sanskrit.

With the demise of Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK has started disintegrating into factions and sub-factions. There is no charismatic leader in the party and hence the AIADMK is getting withered and weak on the birth centenary year of party founder M.G. Ramachandran. The BJP which was waiting on the sidelines to occupy the space vacated by Jayalalithaa has started remote controlling the AIADMK. The DMK and the Congress, with the help of left parties, Islamists and some Dalit organisations known for their support to the LTTE, have launched a series of agitations which have embarrassed the Centre.

While the BJP is known for its opposition to the LTTE, the same could not be said about the DMK and the Congress. All pro-Eelam forces in Tamil Nadu are working in close coordination with the DMK. The Jallikkattu (bull fight) agitation held in January 2017 demanding the lifting of the Supreme Court ban on the cruel sport had the open support of the DMK, the Congress and pro-LTTE elements. Since then, Tamil Nadu is in a cauldron fuelled by forces which demand the secession from India.

Political commentators point out that C.N. Annadurai, the founder of the DMK, had in a May 1, 1962 speech to the Indian Parliament demanded a separate country for India’s Tamils. The DMK dropped the demand only after the 16 amendment of the Indian Constitution made fissiparous and secessionist demands illegal. But the frequent electoral failures and the series of corruption charges filed by the CBI, the federal investigating agency, against Stalin’s step-sister Kanimozhi and his cousins Dayanidhi and Kalanidhi have rattled the DMK scion. Tamil Nadu is witnessing a resurgence in the demand for a separate country, though the DMK leaders are reluctant to accept it in public fearing a backlash by the central government.

Security experts are of the view that the series of agitations staged in the State have a clear LTTE touch in them. Elements supportive of the Tamil Eelam are still active in the State. Defence experts based in Chennai told this correspondent on condition of anonymity that there has been an increase in pro-Eelam activities in Tamil Nadu since 2014. “The agitations against NEET and the central schools are manifestations of the Eelam demand. The DMK has revived and energised Tamil Eelam Solidarity Organisation (TESO) as a frontal entity to channelise the resources for its secessionist activities. The sad news is that many Hindu organisations in Tamil Nadu are supporting the demand for Eelam,” said a senior political commentator.

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