The state Congress unit on Monday expressed disapproval of its ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian’s admiration for Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief V Prabhakaran, people familiar with the matter said.
A 12-second clip of news portal The Federal’s video interview with Thangapandian has been circulating on social media stirring a controversy. In the purpoted video, when asked which historical figure she would like to dine with and what she would ask that person, Thangapandian, a Lok Sabha MP said, “Methagu Thesiya Thalaivar Prabhakaran” and that she would “apologise to him and ask his pardon for that Mullivaikal tragedy.” HT could not independently check the veracity of the video.
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When the Sri Lankan army wiped out the LTTE bringing to end a three-decade bloody war in the island in May 2009, thousands of Tamil civilians were killed in Mullivaikal, a village in the northern province of Sri Lanka.
The LTTE was founded in May 1976 by Velupillai Prabhakaran who led the insurgency for an independent nation for Tamils in Sri Lanka. The LTTE leveraged genuine issues of linguistic discrimination, political disenfranchisement and anti-Tamil riots in the island nation where Sinhalese-Buddhists are a majority — but adopted the politics of violence and terror as the method to attain their objective.
{{/usCountry}}The LTTE was founded in May 1976 by Velupillai Prabhakaran who led the insurgency for an independent nation for Tamils in Sri Lanka. The LTTE leveraged genuine issues of linguistic discrimination, political disenfranchisement and anti-Tamil riots in the island nation where Sinhalese-Buddhists are a majority — but adopted the politics of violence and terror as the method to attain their objective.
{{/usCountry}}In May 1991, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur by a suicide bomber (Dhanu/Thenmozhi Rajarathinam) belonging to the LTTE. Sixteen people, including Rajiv Gandhi and Dhanu, were killed in the blast and around 45 persons sustained injuries. The LTTE had orchestrated the assassination to avenge Gandhi’s decision to send the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to intervene in the country between 1987 and 1990.
Eulogising Prabakaran doesn’t sit well with anyone in the Congress, said the party’s MP Karti Chidambaram in a post on X on Monday. “To gloss over the dastardly assassination of Rajiv Gandhi along with 17 Tamils is not acceptable. This Prabhakaran Veerappan Tamil Nationalism is as fringe as Hindutva Nationalism.”
State Congress working president Mohan Kumaramangalam quoted a UN report on the Mullivaikal incident which said that the LTTE refused to surrender and were willing to sacrifice the lives of the civilians. “You want to apologise for this?” asked Kumaramangalam. “I am shocked to hear a member of the Indian parliament say what you have.”
The Gandhi family has on several occasions said that they have “forgiven” the killers of Rajiv Gandhi. However, the Congress party, both at the Centre and state levels, have consistently objected to the release of the seven convicts in the case who walked out of prison last November.
Meanwhile the state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party described Karti’s comparison of Tamil and Hindutva nationalism as arrogant and immature. “If you are really concerned, the next second you will be out of Congress or Congress will be out of DMK alliance,” said state BJP vice president Naraynan Thirupathy.