The ruling DMK can’t make up its mind on initiating action against ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) for praising the banned LTTE. On Friday night, at a crowded public meeting in Chennai organised with the support of police, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan demanded the lifting of the ban on the LTTE and urging the international community to recognise the outfit as “a democratic movement fighting for the liberation of Tamils in Sri Lanka”. The LTTE is accused of killing Rajiv Gandhi and is banned in the country.The meeting which lasted four hours until midnight saw several leaders praise the LTTE as “the only beacon of hope” for the ‘Eelam Tamils’ scattered across the world as refugees after suffering years of oppression in the hands of “a racist Sinhala regime”.All sanctions against the LTTE should be lifted by the international community and India must lift the ban on the organisation, said a resolution adopted by the VCK. While the VCK called it a “campaign for asserting the right of free expression”, it was only to couch the rabid pro-LTTE rhetoric that formed the central theme of the meeting.Accused with allowing pro-Tiger sentiments to flow freely, an embarrassed city police, which had made no effort to stop speakers praising the LTTE, is toying with the idea of seeking ‘legal advice’ on the issue. Asked if he intended to take action against the VCK speakers, including its leader, Chennai Commissioner of Police Nanjil Kumaran said: “We are referring the issue to the legal department. We will take action depending on their advice.”Only a few months ago, the DMK Government had arrested Vaiko, who heads the rival MDMK for attempting to take out a memorial procession for LTTE leader S P Tamilselvan who was killed in an aerial attack in Sri Lanka.In fact, soon after Tamilselvan’s death, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi himself had written a touching elegy for the slain leader, evoking loud protests from AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa.But the state authorities are red-faced because only in November, just before Vaiko’s arrest, the police had issued advertisements in the local newspapers threatening “severe action” against anyone organising meetings in support of “banned outfits”. In his speech on Friday night, Thirumavalavan claimed that his campaign for the LTTE had public support. He had prepared for this meeting for just a month with a few hundred pamphlets, but had been able to draw thousands of supporters. “People had the right to express their views under Article 19(1) of the Constitution and the meeting was to assert the right to express support for Eelam and the Tamil Tigers,” Thirumavalavan said.Karunanidhi is in a spot again. With his Congress ally demanding that the Government ban political parties supporting the LTTE, he would be forced to act against the VCK.
