Chidambaram Election Candidate, Thirumavalavan-A Letter from Meena Kandasamy

I normally never write about politics in my blog. Because, I am far more interested about issues than about the people who are fighting for/against something. I am not the member of any political party. I doubt if I will ever join a party in this lifetime. I like the autonomy of being a writer. Actually, this is the easy route to take in life: very few people can betray a writer, but a politician is consistently at risk of betrayal. Sorry for this haphazard introduction.

In the past few months, on more than a couple of occasions, I have wanted to write about the political scene in Tamil Nadu. But I have resisted because I didn’t want to write anything too soon. To write is to commit oneself. To write is to take sides. When I find every side equally miserable, there’s nothing that can be written. So, I kept myself busy with other regular, day-to-day stuff.

But when I went to orkut.com and saw the kind of abuses that were heaped on Thirumavalavan for continuing ties with the DMK, I wanted to give some explanations there. At least, I wanted to tell people that Congress is the enemy, okay, Karunanidhi is the enemy, but what has Thirumaa done against the Tamils? Why have the Tamils suddenly stopped bashing Rajapaske-Fonseka-Sonia-Karunanidhi and instead chosen to attack Thiruma (who is a non-player as far as India’s external affairs policy is concerned)? Was I finding some casteist strain there? Or, was I jumping to conclusions? The worst label that one could cast on the VCK leader could have been “opportunist”, but the kind of criticism that he seemed to attract was a million times more. I knew that I couldn’t waste my time, replying to forums on orkut.com. Then, my friends started mailing me from all over the world. What do you feel about his stand? What do you say about this? He was the light of our eyes, our only hope, why has he remained with the DMK? I could have wrote back individual replies to each of them, but I didn’t. In fact, I was not in a position to give any clarification myself.

I have known him since 2003, and that’s a really long time. Not only have I translated two of his books, but I have also taken part in several of his party’s protests on the Eelam Tamils issue. I was there when he launched his fast unto death on Pongal day. I went everyday to the venue 55km away from where I live. I was there when he concluded the fast, under pressure from emotional party cadre and Dr.Ramadoss. When I saw him sit there cheerfully, energetically, happily all those days, I was so happy. He would address the thousands of cadres at least once every three hours. Every second we watched him, we knew he was pushing himself, we knew he was dying in slow motion. That didn’t matter at that time. What mattered was, everyone, everywhere started speaking about it. I would be so happy at the venue of the fast, but I would come home and cry in bed. It was sad to see that he had to do this to himself.

A little later, a lot of other tragedies began to unfold. Muthukumar’s immolation was one such thing. I did the English translation of his statement late into the night. It is the version that’s carried on all the websites. I think I nearly lost myself as I read through those words he had written. After I translated every single word, I would cry because Muthukumar knew that he would die. Yet he wrote such powerfully reasoned arguments, such emotional appeals. He didn’t believe in the power of his pen alone. He knew he had to die in order to prove a point. I had blogged about my visit to his funeral. What I didn’t blog about was that the morning after I finished the translation, I got into an auto to go to the university to teach. I saw the rearview mirror and said “Hi”. I thought I was saying that to my sis who sat next to me. No, I was saying Hi to myself. I couldn’t recognize my own face in the mirror for a few seconds. That’s how totally devastated and disoriented I was. When I learnt from the newspapers that the only two names on the dying Muthukumar’s lips were Prabhakaran and Thirumavalavan, my respect for Thiruma increased. So, when it was finally known that he would continue in the DMK alliance, of which the Congress was a part, I really didn’t know how to react. Was in no mood to talk to my friends in the VCK. Anything that anyone said, seemed like an excuse. But over time, I learnt a bit of the background.

We will understand about the VCK’s position if we look at the only three options available to the party: 1) join the ADMK alliance; 2) contest independently or forge a new alliance; or 3) continue in the present alliance.

FIRST SCENARIO: The AIADMK is as opposed to the LTTE and to Tamil self-determination as the Congress party. Therefore, in an ideological angle, there is no difference to be made if the VCK joins this alliance. Okay, let us assume that right now it is imperative to defeat DMK and the Congress, therefore the VCK should go to this alliance. How can the VCK join this alliance? There’s the first possibility: the ADMK/allies should have given him an invitation. But is that what the news-reports suggest? No, there was no official invite, or even ‘feelers’ to the VCK. What’s the second possibility? The VCK leader goes to Jayalalitha and asks her to take him back. Given the fact that Thirumavalavan walked out of this alliance since his party cadre were insulted by the AIADMK, it is unlikely. But even granted the VCK leader was willing to lose his self-respect and jump over to that alliance, would Jayalalitha have accomodated the VCK? She had made it very clear (through the press) that the VCK was unwelcome to her alliance. There was a news-item to this effect on Page 1 of Deccan Chronicle. When she herself rules out the possibility of accomodating the VCK, should the VCK be blamed for not joining her alliance?

SECOND SCENARIO: Thirumavalavan could have contested independently in Chidambaram. He’s done that twice in the past: 1999 and 2004 and won about 2.5 lakh votes both times. But he didn’t win. Personally, he’s hasn’t been an MP for the past ten years and it hasn’t affected him. But what about the party? Should Tamil Nadu’s largest Dalit party not have any representatives in Parliament? I believe that much of the party’s growth has to take place in its initial years and under Thirumavalavan’s leadership, only then it will become a force to reckon with in the years to come. Should the opportunity to go to be Parliament be foregone? Should he face the elections alone again? Okay, let us acknowledge that Chidambaram is just one constituency. How will the VCK work in the other constituencies? Is it possible for a single party (especially a party that runs on the support of the working class people) to come up with so much of resources to work in all the 40 constituencies. That sort of thing is possible for Vijayakanth, but is a financial impossibility for the VCK. Even if he takes up the challenge, can Thirumavalavan guarantee the safety of his cadres and VCK members? What happened on the two previous occasions when he contested independently in Chidambaram. 25,000 huts were burnt. 400 Dalit settlements were prevented from coming to the polling booth, several young men died or lost their limbs. Who will stand by the VCK when casteist violence runs riot?

There’s another possibility: Thiruma didn’t contest the elections at all. As a personal decision, it shouldn’t have been difficult for him. But what happens to his cadre? Whom will he ask all of them to vote for? By not going to the Parliament, what is the purpose that he will serve? Isn’t it better for a pro-Eelam force to be elected to Parliament?

So, what else could have been the alternative: He should have forged another alliance that did not have the DMK, the ADMK, or the Congress. At 47, even if Thirumavalavan is totally capable to lead such a front, will that be accepted by others? Definitely not. So, such a third front should have been led by either Vaiko or Ramadoss. In January, before he embarked on his indefinite fast he undertook steps to forge such an alliance. Did it materialize? No, it did not. Vaiko was unwilling to move away from ADMK. Ramadoss did not want to forge a new alliance because it meant that his son could no longer be the health minister. (Let us remember that Ramadoss quit the Health Minister’s job for poll prospects and not for the Eelam Tamils issue). Ramadoss, with a larger party strength than Vaiko, should have led such an alliance. But, how reliable is he? On March 28, the PMK releases its manifesto and the Eelam Tamils issue stands at No. 38 (there’s only one more issue below that). On April 11 he says Eelam Tamils issue is his poll plank. That’s how he is. Forget his reliability. Did he come forward to lead such an alliance? No. Ramadoss insisted everytime that Karunanidhi should snap ties with the Congress. And Karunanidhi was unwilling to do that because politics is just a numbers game (PMK+CONGRESS+ADMK = majority in TN assembly) and he realized that if he snapped ties with the Congress, he would lose his government and also the chance to get relected since there would be no elections as an alternate government would have been formed. The Communists at least should have taken this initative–they were instead keen on ‘working on’ Jayalalitha and getting her to come up with some tokenism: cancelling birthday celebrations, one-day fast, and so on. Consequently, there was no alternative front in Tamil Nadu forged solely for the Eelam cause.

THIRD SCENARIO: He’s continuing in the present alliance with the DMK. The DMK did not send him out despite the protestations of the Congress. Even the Congress had to climb down from its earlier stance. And just because he is in this front, he has not sold out his conscience or his ideology. He will always be a staunch supporter of the Tigers. He will always demand Eelam. His party’s manifesto gives primary importance to Eelam. He seeks the deproscription of the Tigers and the recognition of Tamil Eelam. He says he will press for a change in India’s external affairs policy.

Just as Vaiko’s pro-TIger stand has never been watered down because he is with Jayalalitha, I am sure Thiruma’s pro-Tiger stand will be intact irrespective of his alliance with the DMK-Congress. What he has done is not opportunism. This is the only option that was available to him.

I have thought about this long and hard. I see that there is nothing else that Thiruma could have done in these circumstances. What I have written above is just my personal opinion. Even party members might not agree with all that I have said. I wanted to share this with friends of mine who wrote to me about the VCK.

by Meena Kandasamy

Filed under: Politics, ADMK, Chidambaram, Cong, DMK, Eelam, Election, LTTE, Prabhakaran, Thirumavalavan, VCK