Tamil Nadu protests remain flimsy - The Economist

Walter JAYAWARDHANA

Referring to the recent protests in Tamil Nadu, the Economist magazine said nothing is going to save the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from defeat and New Delhi has backed President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his effort to wipe out Tigers.

In its latest edition the Economist said, “The recent suicides will not save Sri Lanka’s rebels, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who for 25 years have fought for an Eelam or homeland for Sri Lanka’s Tamils.

Their embattled scrap of Northern Sri Lanka is shrinking fast. Nor will the fiery protests in India do much for thousands of civilians held hostage by the LTTE.

India’s government, a coalition led by the Congress party, has quietly backed Sri Lanka’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his two-year effort to wipe out the Tigers.” The magazine added, “One reason is personal: Congress’s leader, Sonia Gandhi lost her husband, Rajiv, a former prime minister, to an LTTE suicide-bomber in Tamil Nadu in 1991.” The magazine called the concern of Tamil Nadu politicians for Sri Lankan Tamils flimsy.

In the state’s increasingly fractured field, electoral alliances are more important than any issue-especially one that has not swayed an election for decades, if ever.

The DMK sponsored the protest during which, the Economist said, a protester lit himself up.

“Yet by championing the Sri Lankan cause, Mr Karunanidhi may in fact be most keen to deflect attention from nearer troubles.

In one of India’s more industrialized states, the economic slowdown is hurting, with thousands of jobs lost in textiles, computer services and car-making. Mr. Karunanidhi’s efforts to implant his relatives into government, including his son and anointed successor, M.K. Stalin, are also unpopular.

In addition, the ailing leader no doubt hopes to outflank his main rival, a former film starlet and chief minister, J. Jayalalitha, who leads the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIDMK) party. A Brahmin in a mostly low-caste polity, Ms. Jayalalitha is as nationalist as she is regionalist, and a fierce critic of the Tigers.

“The danger for Mr. Karunanidhi is that Congress might drop him for Ms Jayalalitha. A former ally of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, she is no friend to Mrs Gandhi.

Yet, following the usual anti-incumbency logic, her prospects appear to be improving as the DMK’s decline. She has urged Congress to withdraw its support for the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, and to consider forming a general-election alliance with the AIDMK.

“Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu like the idea. But, for now, Mrs. Gandhi does not. A Congress-AIDMK pact would risk uniting the pro-Tiger parties behind the rebels’ sometime champion, the DMK. Perhaps only then could the Sri Lankan issue greatly shape the election’s outcome.

Moreover, Ms Jayalalitha is an irascible ally, whom Congress, previously bitten, is twice shy of befriending-until after the election, that is, should she do especially well in it.”