By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS
New Delhi : Tamil Nadu Police chief P. Rajendran’s claim that there is no infiltration into his state by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers has raised some eyebrows in the Indian security establishment. Some of his colleagues too want to know why he has said what he is reported to have said.
In Madurai over the weekend, Rajendran was asked about the activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Tamil Nadu. He replied: “Everything is under our control. The ‘Q’ Branch and the Coastal Security Group (of the police) are very active and there has been no intrusion (by the LTTE).”
Both statistically and logically, the statement does not rest on valid ground.
Only days before Rajendran spoke, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi provided statistics about LTTE activities while asserting that his government would not allow the Tigers to have a free run in the sprawling coastal state.
According to the chief minister, 11 LTTE guerrillas and 92 of its supporters had been arrested since he came to office. Forty people, including 17 Sri Lankan Tamils, had been detained under the National Security Act.
Karunanidhi added that a half tonne of iron ball bearings, four tonnes of aluminium ingots and many vehicles apparently meant for the Tigers had been seized in Tamil Nadu.
If these statistics do show anything, it is that the LTTE continues to patronise Tamil Nadu, which is separated from Sri Lanka by a narrow strip of sea, for a variety of reasons including shopping for materials needed for its war effort.
Since the LTTE has never admitted that it operates from Tamil Nadu and also never stated that it has ceased doing so, Rajendran’s comments in Madurai appear to contradict what the chief minister has revealed.
Even logically, considering the manner in which Sri Lanka is waging war against the LTTE and cutting off its global supply lines, it is natural that the outfit’s dependence on Tamil Nadu in particular will go up, physical proximity being a vital factor.
Since Tamil Nadu is where the LTTE enjoys maximum support and where it has for decades built up a good network, it is also but natural that the state will be the first port of call for its immediate requirements.
Anyone who follows the Sri Lanka situation would know this. Why did Rajendran, then, assert that there is no LTTE intrusion into Tamil Nadu?
There can be only one answer to this: Tamil Nadu’s fractious politics.
In a sharp departure from an earlier era when the state’s two dominant parties, DMK and AIADMK, were in competition to show who was more supportive of the LTTE, today both keep stating that they do not back the Tigers, even if they sympathise with the larger Tamil cause.
Karunanidhi, who has always prided himself as a Tamil leader, is torn between being accused of being a “traitor” to the Tamil cause and of failing to uphold the law vis-à-vis the outlawed LTTE. He has an added problem: at the slightest opportunity, disgruntled Congress leaders keep accusing him of turning a blind eye to the LTTE.
Karunanidhi’s supporters argue that if chief ministers of northern and western India do not get accused of promoting Islamist groups simply because more and more jehadis are getting arrested in their states, why should the Tamil Nadu chief minister face so much flak for the activities of a group that functions clandestinely in the state?
Rajendran’s statement, however, is bad politics – and can only do more harm to the chief minister. And there is a danger too.
In Tamil Nadu, will a policeman now dare to arrest a LTTE operative when he knows that his boss has publicly stated that there is no Tiger intrusion and presence in the state? This is why Rajendran’s remarks have raised eyebrows in New Delhi and Chennai.