Dateline Chennai
by the DMK for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. It has launched a blitzkrieg against the ruling BJP at the centre, citing the Hindutwa parties obsession with Hindi language. This has made all Tamil chauvinistic groups to fall in line and support the DMK candidate. The 2004 election had seen an alliance like this which resulted in the obliteration of the AIADMK. The DMK-led alliance won all the 39 parliamentary constituencies in that election. M. K. Stalin, younger son of Karunanidhi, who has been anointed as the party’s working president, much to the resentment of many senior leaders, hopes to repeat the victory by forging a Grand Alliance, similar to the one witnessed in the 2004 parliamentary election. What is of concern to Stalin is that, the DMK has been out of power in TN and from the corridors of power in the Centre, since 2011.
Stalin is willing to join any dispensation in TN to unseat the AIADMK government. The hearsay is that he is suffering from some serious ailment and time is running out for him. His frequent trips to London and Singapore for medical treatment should be seen in this backdrop. But, irrespective of the differences the RK Nagar election could make in TN’s political landscape, this is a test for the proEeelam outfits operating out of TN. A win for the DMK will see these fringe elements going overboard to force the Centre to toe a pro-Eelam line in its dealings with Sri Lanka. But senior RSS and BJP leaders rule out the possibility of the present government making any changes in its policy viz-a-viz Tamil Eelam.
“We are totally against any drastic changes in the Constitution of Sri Lanka, which offers autonomy to the Northern and Eastern Provinces,” said a senior RSS functionary. The person did not want to be identified, lest he is seen as interfering in Sri Lanka's internal issues.
A leading political commentator and author, who does not hide her support to the Narendra Modi government, said more autonomy means more problems and demand for secession. “Sri Lanka should see for itself the agonies faced by the Indian Government in Kashmir and the North East of India, where secessionist forces are unleashing terrorist attacks on an hourly basis, demanding secession,” she said.
The AIADMK dispensation in Chennai may speak of more autonomy to the Tamil provinces, but that is for political convenience. The legal notice served on the Indian Government by Japanese automobile major Nissan Motors, demanding US$ 777 million, which was promised by the TN Government in 2008, in lieu of the company setting up a manufacturing plant in the State, is an ideal proof of the damage which could be caused by increased levels of autonomy.