Tigers’ Eelam: Nothing ‘Hindu’ or ‘Tamil’ about it – (Part I)

By B R Haran

(July 02, Chennai) “LTTE Chief Prabhakaran was inspired by Bhagwat Gita; he was greatly enamoured of the principles enunciated in the Gita; his motto was ‘do your duty but do not expect any benefit from it.’ He found his ideology from the song depicting the discourse between Arjuna and Krishna in the Tamil film ‘Karna.’ The Itihasa-Mahabharata enthralled him. The characters he identified with were Bhima and Karna. He believed that in order to fight evil and establish dharma, it is essential to eliminate one’s enemies.” http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?title=Prabhakaran%20was%20inspired%20by%20Gita&artid=ItENrbNWK4I=&type

“The Indian freedom struggle fascinated him. He read the Tamil version of Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography “Satya Sodhanai” (Experiment with Truth) in his early teens but was not enamoured by it greatly.”


“His ideal and idol was Netaji or Subhash Chandra Bose. Netaji had ideological differences with the Mahatma about the mode of struggle for independence. At one stage he disapproved of Gandhi’s “non-violence” and went on to form the Indian National Army (INA) to launch an armed struggle against the British.”

“Apart from Netaji, Prabhakaran was also impressed by the Sikh freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and two other freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu namely Vaanchinathan and Thiruppur Kumaran” (External Link).

“Prabhakaran also read the Tamil translations of Swami Vivekananda’s writings and speeches avidly. Another spiritual person he looked up to was Thirumuga Kirupananda Vaariyaar popularly called ‘Vaariyaar.’”

All these informations, which were not in the public domain for the last three decades, have suddenly emanated from nowhere after his death.

The latest canard is that the LTTE represented the “Hindu” Tamils of Sri Lanka.
(External Link).

A serious analysis on Prabhakaran’s activities would clearly reveal that neither he nor his actions were anywhere near the impressive list given above! Then why are such canards being spread?

It seems that the western Christian nations and their paid agents in India, Sri Lanka and elsewhere are bent upon giving a “Hindu” colour to the LTTE with the purpose of branding it as a “Hindu Terrorist” outfit, especially at a time when the Christian hand behind the Tamil Eelam and its full fledged support to LTTE has been categorically established in the geo-political arena.

Damaging Diaspora

An extremely devious game is being played by Christian hands which rally behind the Sri Lankan Diaspora while simultaneously aiding so-called Tamil organizations. Even after the defeat of LTTE and the liquidation of its top leadership, the Sri Lankan Diaspora, prodded by the western powers, has been harping on the demand for separate Tamil Eelam. The diaspora has gone to the extent of calling itself future “Tamil Tigers” and saying it would achieve the objective of “Tamil Eelam” at any cost.

Wikipedia says, “The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora is difficult to explain in one example. It was neither a continuous process nor a sudden one. It cannot be attributed to a single circumstance or incident. In fact, even the history of migration of Sri Lankan Tamils in each country is different and has to be read and understood separately.”

However, to simplify, it divides the Sri Lankan Diaspora into three distinctive periods as British Colonial Period, Pre-1983, and Post-1983. The most important observation by Wikipedia is that, ‘the Sri Lankan Tamils tended to differentiate themselves from emigrant Indian Tamils in the host countries by their caste, socio-economic status, unique Sri Lankan Tamil dialects, religious practices and food and cultural habits.’(External Link).

This tendency to differentiate themselves from the Indian Tamil Diaspora, which integrated well with ‘Hindu’ communities from other parts of India, could have helped Christian establishments to influence them, as evidenced by the ‘Christian’ leadership of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in almost all countries, particularly in Canada, France, Germany, UK and the US.

The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora’s strength is considerable in Canada (400,000), UK (300,000), France (100,000) Germany (60,000), Australia (53,000), US (35,000) and Italy (24,000). It is rather painful to note that the Diaspora is in no mood of reconciliation, exhibiting its lack of concern for the millions of civilian Tamils suffering in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora seems more bothered about continuing the terror legacy of LTTE and enjoying refugee status in the host countries, thereby allowing the present LTTE leadership to enjoy the wealth amassed over the years, than finding a peaceful settlement for the tormented Tamil community in the northern / eastern part of Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora comprises Hindus and considerable numbers of Catholics and Protestants. Christian organizations which support the LTTE covertly, take care to keep the Diaspora under its control through the LTTE. Analyzing the widespread support enjoyed by the LTTE in the Diaspora, journalist Nirmala Rajasingham noted, “The LTTE in the course of its military and political campaign decimated all other political opinion within the Tamil polity in Sri Lanka, in order to establish itself as the "sole representative" of the Tamil people. At the same time, it began to flex its muscles within the Tamil community in the west. In time its stranglehold over the diaspora communities - including through methods of intimidation, assault, and threats to families in Sri Lanka - became an accomplished fact. Paris and Toronto were prime examples of the phenomenon, where unquestioning compliance was demanded and wrought.”

Regarding the fund-raising opportunities ‘created’ by LTTE, she said, “The Tiger lobbyists, fundraisers and propagandists in the diaspora are relentless in attempting to enforce submission to its command performances. Even for events such as ‘martyrs’ day’ celebrations or the funeral of the LTTE ideologist Anton Balasingam, thousands are mobilised and bussed in. Every tragic event is turned into a fundraising opportunity.” (External Link)

Meanwhile the death of Prabhakaran has caused divisions within the LTTE, one in support of K. Pathmanathan (KP), leader of LTTE’s international affairs including fund raising and arms purchasing, and the other against him. It is believed that KP has complete control of LTTE’s huge funds and assets like cargo ships, etc. The Sri Lankan government has sought international help to capture him. The LTTE’s intelligence wing led by Pottu Amman (it is not clear if he is dead or alive) is believed to be against Pathmanathan; the Sri Lankan Diaspora is also divided between these two, and this fight for power and leadership, and division in diaspora, have become a cause for concern for the Church, which has been the main force behind the LTTE.

In this connection, on 28 May 2009, Fr. Jegath Gasper Raj, a controversial Christian clergy and co-founder of the Chennai-based “Tamil Maiyyam,” sent an appeal through www.tamilcanadian.com to the Diaspora to unite so that a broader Tamil renaissance could be ‘ignited’. He said, “In the immediate next phase the Government of Sri Lanka will unleash a hidden war, more treacherous than the one it let loose in Mullaitivu, to break the unity and political consolidation of the Diaspora. I am sure the Diaspora has the moral capacities to withstand a dirty political war by the Sri Lankan Government. But what can shatter the hopes of a dignified political solution will be the unravelling of LTTE. Let’s concede that the massive military debacle would certainly have created serious gaps in LTTE’s command structure. I get a disturbing feeling that there is already an unseen power struggle among certain sections of the LTTE for the control of the organization and its vast resources. We can expect that intelligence agencies of various countries will welcome this development and do everything to hasten these divisions”.

This letter clearly shows the Christian mind, which wants to keep the Diaspora under its control, worries about the power struggle in the LTTE, and doesn’t want the LTTE to unravel. Gaspar Raj is well connected with the ‘Dravidian’ politicians of Tamil Nadu, which goes to prove that the “Dravidian-Christian” nexus is the brain behind the call for separate “Tamil Eelam.” While the Christian leadership successfully alienates the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora from the Indian Tamil-Hindu Diaspora, the Dravidian leadership, which travels abroad to the west quite often, always makes it a point to visit only the Sri Lankan Tamils and not the Indian Tamils, who are normally seen with other “Hindu” communities of India.

(To be continued…)

The author is a senior journalist; he lives in Chennai.