An instruction from the New Delhi establishment’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) sent to the TESO organisers on 11 August shows that peoples of India cannot have a democratic voice on the question of Eezham Tamils unless India severs diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka. While retracting from its earlier ban on the use of the word Eelam, the MEA letter ‘advised’ the TESO to “ensure that the conference does not issue any declaration or outcome that calls into question in any manner the sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of any foreign country with whom India has diplomatic relations.” This is a serious curb on the universal democratic rights of the peoples of India. Why the TESO organisers who picked on Ms Jayalalithaa didn’t condemn New Delhi for this violation and for not giving visa to many participants, critics in Chennai asked.
Whether the MEA stand is applicable to Tibetans in India too, or only to the Tamils, the critics further asked.
If New Delhi is so fond of genocidal Sri Lanka they openly invite the struggle to be first directed against New Delhi, the critics commented, recollecting the long legacy of the freedom struggle of the peoples of India against the British Raj and the support given by them to various freedom movements all over the world.
The New Delhi establishment thinks that by closing the mouth of the boiling pot the mouth of the people could be gagged, the critics commented citing an adage in Tamil: “Ulai vaayai moodi oor vaayai moodamudiyumaa?”
Despite the idiotic provocation of New Delhi’s MEA on the use of the word Eezham and the anti-democratic stand on the voice for freedom, and despite internal confusions, the TESO was a success to the extent of ignoring the 13th Amedment/ LLRC formulas and in an international arena it has fortified the righteous aspirations of Eezham Tamils facing the powers. Even when sections among Eezham Tamils have not recognized it, from Rajapaksa to intelligence trumpet Hariharan didn’t fail to notice it.
The TESO resolutions made it a point to condemn the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms Jayalalithaa for causing hindrances to the conference. But there was no condemnation on New Delhi’s anti-democratic infringement that now equates the ban on the LTTE with the Tamil aspiration for independence.
Both Mr. Karunanidhi and Ms Jayalalithaa should be more conscious of their historic duties than their personal animosities is the wish of every Tamil, critics in the grassroot movements said.
New Delhi’s foreign missions also didn’t give visa to many potential participants in the island and in the diaspora to attend the TESO meet. For a long time now, in giving visa to Eezham Tamils and in blacklisting them the Indian MEA and the Indian High Commission in Colombo blindly follow mischievous lists provided by Colombo’s intelligence, informed circles say.
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