Tiger roar reduced to a whimper in TN

Chennai: Barely 18 months ago, a pro-Tiger roar echoed on poll platforms across the Tamil Nadu State as the war against terrorism in Sri Lanka and the plight of Tamil minorities dominated the agenda in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. Even AIADMK chief Jayalalitha, avowedly anti-LTTE in her stand, focused on the government's inability to protect Tamil refugees.

The loudest pro-Tiger voice of Tamil Nadu, Vaiko, is off the electoral platform. And the AIADMK, routed in three successive polls, appears to have realised that in peace-loving Tamil Nadu, the Sri Lanka factor cannot win polls.

But why have pro-Tiger guns fallen silent? The pro-LTTE fringe groups which fielded candidates against Congress leaders including Home Minister P Chidambaram in the last parliamentary elections and backed the AIADMK appear to have quietly retired to their political caverns. Barring actor-director Seeman, who is aggressively campaigning against Congress in 63 constituencies, most prominent LTTE supporters have chosen to watch the show from the sidelines.

In an election fought over inflation, freebies and scams, the Tamil issue is clearly not seen as a vote-grabber, although the poll manifestos of both 'DMK' and AIADMK still pledge "Continued" support for Sri Lankan Tamils. Actor Seeman, who is campaigning against Congress in Rameswaram said, "In an election which is held to determine the destiny of Tamils, it is a tragic irony that none of the political parties are talking about the sufferings of Tamils."

In the last parliamentary elections, the AIADMK and DMK raised the Eelam issue for the sake of votes, "but they had no love for Tamils", he said. TOI