DMK’s South Chennai MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian’s recent comments eulogising slain Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief ‘Medhagu’ Velupillai Prabhakaran has been met with strong pushback from the leaders of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee.
In a recent interview, Ms. Thamizhachi said she wished to have a meal with the slain chief and apologise to him for the Mullivaikkal tragedy in which thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils were killed in the closing phase of the civil war in 2009.
In response to the short video clip widely shared on social media platforms, TNCC leader and Sivanganga M.P. Karti Chidambaram said, “Eulogising Prabhakaran doesn’t go well with anyone in the Indian National Congress. It’s not acceptable to gloss over the dastardly assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, along with 17 Tamils. This Prabakaran/Veerappan Tamil Nationalism is as fringe as Hindutva Nationalism.”
Mr. Karti further said that it is indeed possible to stand with the Tamils of Sri Lanka and their struggle for equality and dignity without tendering apologies or being a “fanboy” of the LTTE, just the way one could sympathise and support the Palestinian people without being an endorser of the militant group, Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the attacks against Israeli citizens on October 7.
TNCC working president Mohan Kumaramangalam quoted a paragraph from the United Nations panel report on Mullivaikkal tragedy, which he said threw light on how LTTE, as an organisation, prevented civilians from leaving the area and forced civilians to help build military installations, recruited children into their ranks despite resistance from parents and relatives.
Mr. Mohan said, “You (Ms. Thamizhachi) want to apologise for this? Eulogising someone who, in the most dastardly fashion, killed a Prime Minister and 14 fellow Tamilians makes sense to you? I am shocked to hear a Member of the Indian Parliament say this.”
