Going by his arbitrary demands list to the Centre, it seems that MK Stalin doesn’t consider Tamil Nadu to be part of the Indian Union
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin was in New Delhi last week for shopping, making friends and influencing people. Fresh after holidaying in petro-rich West Asian countries, Stalin carried a shopping list in the form of a memorandum to the Prime Minister. The Thalapathi (Tamil for Commander) wanted the Centre to provide essential commodities and life-saving drugs to Sri Lankan Tamils, who have been severely hit by an economic crisis. He also wanted the Modi administration to ensure political and civil rights to Eelam Tamils.
The retrieval of Katchachatheev islet, which was handed over to Sri Lanka by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, also figures in the memorandum. The islet’s transfer saw the international maritime boundary between the countries undergo a change. The treaty had stipulated that Indian fishermen could use Katchachatheev to take rest and dry their fishing nets. But Tamil Nadu fishermen started misusing the islet by fishing (bottom trawling) which made the Sri Lankan fishers furious.
Stalin’s demand that the Centre provide free medical and food aid to Tamils in north and northeast Sri Lanka brought back memories of Operation Poomalai (Flower Garland in Tamil). On June 4, 1987, a fleet of the IAF’s AN-31 military transport aircraft airdropped food and medicines in the Jaffna peninsula, much to the anguish of Sri Lanka. Tormented by terrorism unleashed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sri Lanka’s defence forces had laid siege to Jaffna peninsula, the stronghold of LTTE. Colombo had declared a total blockade over Jaffna to flush out the terrorists. Then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ordered Operation Poomalai to mark India’s solidarity with the island nation’s Tamil population. The Sri Lankan Government accused India of violating its sovereignty. The incident exposed India’s links with LTTE, which was out to disintegrate the island nation. The relations between New Delhi and Colombo plunged to an abyss and old mutual trust is yet to be restored. Is the Tamil Nadu leader on a mission to make the Centre undertake another misadventure?
When the LTTE took control of Elephant Pass, the narrow route that links mainland Sri Lanka to Jaffna, the Indian Government didn’t do anything to help Colombo. A Sri Lankan presidential aide had told this reporter that at all critical moments, it was either Pakistan or China that offered military hardware free of cost to the island nation.
The DMK’s dream project of a separate Dravidian Nation incorporating Tamil Nadu, the north and northeast of Sri Lanka is still on agenda. If more southern States join the DMK, it would make Stalin happy. Though the Katchachatheev islet was ceded to Sri Lanka in 1976, neither the DMK nor M Karunanidhi, the party’s president till he breathed his last in 2017, spoke against it. It was Jayalalithaa who approached the Supreme Court in 2011 to challenge the Centre’s decision and, not to be left behind, Karunanidhi too filed a petition. Mukul Rohatgi, then attorney general of India, told then Chief Justice RM Lodha on August 26, 2014, that Katchachatheev could be retrieved from Sri Lanka only by waging a war! The Indian Coast Guard is on record telling the Madras High Court that there was no instance of Tamil Nadu fishermen getting arrested by Sri Lankan Navy from the Indian side of the maritime boundary.
These two instances prove the fallacy of the DMK’s politics over Sri Lanka issues. Members of the Sri Lankan defence forces are not allowed in Indian defence establishments in Tamil Nadu. Cadets and officers from Sri Lankan Army, Navy or Air Force are not welcome in elite establishments like Officers Training Academy, Chennai, Flight Instructors Training Institute at Tambaram and the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. The brotherhood among the uniformed fraternity has taken a beating because of the policies being pursued by regional forces like DMK and AIADMK. “The forces-to-forces ties are a must for mutual security and safety,” said Captain Hariharan Balakrishnan of the
Indian Navy.
The DMK’s insistence that the Union Government should go ahead with the construction of the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel through Palk Bay itself was enmeshed in mysteries. Only ships with 25,000 Dead Weight Tonnage could sail through this narrow channel once it is built but such ships have become museum pieces as shippers are interested only in super carriers with 1.5 lakh tonne DWT or more. Ships with 25,000 DWT could be used only for gun-running and drug trafficking, according to veteran mariners.
Yet another demand by Stalin was for doing away with the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses in medical and dental colleges in Tamil Nadu. The NEET was introduced by the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench following the decision of the UPA Government in which the DMK was the second largest constituent. Nobody has bothered to ask Stalin what is so unique about Tamil Nadu that the State be excluded from the ambit of NEET?
Is the DMK trying to convert Tamil Nadu into a Kashmir of South? It has asked the Prime Minister not to accord approval for Karnataka’s proposal to build the Mekedatu dam deep inside that State across the Cauvery. Tamil Nadu also wants the Centre to not heed Kerala’s wish to build a new dam in place of the 126-year-old Mullaperiyar Dam. If the existing dam bursts, 35 lakh people across five southern districts of Kerala would perish.
(The writer is a senior journalist with The Pioneer. The views expressed are personal.)
