Rajkumar crisis has set LTTE time bomb ticking, says Opp

Surprisingly, the discussion, though noisy at times, did not take the usual acrimonious turn that Tamil Nadu-related issues tend to do. After allowing the Opposition members to have their say, the DMK hit back at all three parties with counter-accusations of their supposed links and sympathies with the LTTE.

Perhaps the seriousness of the issue under discussion kept tempers in check as Opposition members warned that the real gainers of the Rajkumar episode had been the Tamil separatist groups. “They have been emboldened enough to project themselves as the saviours of Tamil race,” declared Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee.

Mukherjee, S P Alphonse of the TMC and R Margabandhu of the AIADMK went to the extent of alleging that the abduction was actually an LTTE-engineered plot aimed at bringing the separatist groups to the political centrestage in Tamil Nadu.

Alphonse named two persons involved in Rajkumar’s release who he claimed were known as LTTE sympathisers. They were Tamil Nadu Liberation Army leader Neddumaran, Dr Bhanu, Professor Kalyani and K Mani of the Dravida Kazgham.

Although Advani said that the growing links between the LTTE and separatist groups in Tamil Nadu was alarming, he vehemently defended the DMK for standing by its commitment to not support the LTTE. He said it was at the recommendation of the state government that the Centre had banned the LTTE till 2002 and also that DMK government was keen to nab Veerappan and his LTTE associates.

However, Margbandhu of AIDMK charged the Home Minister with attending the rally of ADMK headed by Vaiko, where LTTE propaganda materials were freely distributed. Advani sought to defend himself by admitting that he had knowingly attended the MDMK rally. “I had been advised against going there. But I could manage to speak against the LTTE from their platform, is it a small thing”, he asked. He also said that Vaiko had refrained from supporting the LTTE ever since his association with the NDA government.

Opposition members took the government to task for permitting Nedumaran to celebrate the birthday of LTTE supremo Prabhakaran in Chennai recently. Advani however claimed the function had been organised to “felicitate Nedumaran for his heroic role in rescuing Rajkumar”.

Journalist Cho Ramaswamy alleged that 60,000 square feet of forest land in the Western Ghats was under the control of Veerapan where he and the LTTE were running a parallel government.

Advani parried many a pointed allegation by pleading members to let bygones be bygones. “We need to have a wider perspective of the whole issue”, he said adding, that most of the Tamil groups had supported the cause of a separate Tamil nation at one time or the other.

“When DMK today openly gives up their support of LTTE but also say they would defend the integrity of India it’s significant.”

Advani said the Centre had sought the extradition of LTTE leader V Prabhakaran as he is the prime accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.