What explains Tamil Nadu politics’ fascination with LTTE’s Prabhakaran?

The LTTE for all practical purposes is defunct, and by claiming that Prabhakaran is alive, it is difficult to see what Nedumaran seeks to achieve

It is not the first and is unlikely to be the last time that rumours of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran being alive have surfaced. Ever since his death in May 2009 at the hands of Sri Lankan armed forces at Mullaithivu in Northern Sri Lanka, Tamil nationalists and erstwhile LTTE supporters have often claimed that their leader was in hiding in a foreign country, and would emerge soon. The most recent statement came from Tamil Nadu politician Pa Nedumaran, a staunch supporter of the LTTE cause, and indeed the organisation itself.

The timing of the statement was strange in that there was no immediate provocation for it. The LTTE, once the world's most feared terrorist organisation, for all practical purposes is defunct, and by claiming that Prabhakaran is alive, it is difficult to see what Nedumaran seeks to achieve. He has himself made such claims in the past. Another staunch supporter of the LTTE, parliamentarian Vaiko had also made a similar claim. All these claims come despite the Sri Lankan government displaying the body of the slain leader and confirming that they had done DNA tests to make sure that the man killed was indeed Prabhakaran.

The Sri Lankan military came out with a denial of Nedumaran's claim, asserting that Prabhakaran was dead. Over the years Prabhakaran has remained a hero of sorts to fringe elements in Tamil Nadu who have found voice in Vaiko, Nedumaran, and also through actor-director Seeman whose Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) conducts public meetings with a photo of Prabhakaran on the stage as the backdrop. This, despite the LTTE being a banned organisation in India.

As Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman were the main accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Government of India asked the Sri Lankan government for proof to close the case against them. In 2010, then Home Minister P Chidambaram confirmed that Colombo had shared such documentary evidence and it was submitted to the special court for abatement of the charges against the deceased.

Support for the LTTE has never been strong in Tamil Nadu after the 1991 assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, though there has always been sympathy for the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils. However, the lack of mass support has not prevented fringe groups in Tamil Nadu from trying to rekindle the embers of Tamil nationalism, which to them the LTTE symbolised.

The most prominent of the pro-LTTE groups in Tamil Nadu, the NTK, has managed to create a vote-bank for itself garnering 6.58 per cent vote share in the 2021 assembly elections. It draws its support mostly from gullible youngsters attracted to Seeman’s firebrand speeches. Indian intelligence agencies realise that strident Tamil nationalism may only be a cover for separatism and so have a close eye on the activities of these groups. Periodically there are crackdowns on pro-LTTE elements in Tamil Nadu, but so far the lack of largescale public support for the LTTE’s cause has meant that some of these groups have been ignored, and, thus, allowed to continue their propaganda.

When it was active, the LTTE eliminated almost the entire Sri Lankan Tamil political leadership besides decimating rival Tamil militant groups. It also carried out attacks on Muslims in Sri Lanka, and by the time it was cornered in 2009, the world had had enough of it. Neither the international community, nor the Government of India, and not even the then Tamil Nadu government headed by M Karunanidhi, intervened strongly enough to stop Colombo’s offensive against the LTTE’s top leadership. Even as the LTTE was cornered, it herded innocent civilians and was alleged to have used them as human shields leading to the deaths of many civilians who could have otherwise been saved.

While there is no possibility of Prabhakaran being alive, the periodic rumours of him being in a foreign land and with plans to emerge may be attempts to rally the dispirited foot soldiers to the Tamil Eelam. In the absence of evidence being provided, such claims must be taken as little more than desperate attempts to flog a dead horse.

(Sumanth Raman is a Chennai-based television anchor and political analyst.)

The views expressed are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.