MGR and the LTTE – The great man who sowed the seeds of liberation
MGR and the LTTE – The great man who sowed the seeds of liberation
During that historical period, that man had the political power to rule Tamil Nadu. Along with political power, he had financial power. He also had the mental strength to provide for the needy. The poor people worshipped him as a god. The Tamil world praised him. He was a rare man. He had amazing qualities. A noble humanitarian with firmness and honesty in his heart. He had a new humanity. That human quality had the power to attract and attract people. He was a very charismatic leader. He was the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr. M. G. Ramachandran, who is fondly called MGR by everyone.
I have heard a lot about the glory of MGR. I know about his Dravidian movement background and his life in the world of art and politics. I never dreamed that I would get the opportunity to meet him. That opportunity did come. Unexpectedly, a relationship was born between MGR and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It blossomed into a historical relationship.
National leader Prabhakaran’s revolutionary life and heroic history of liberation impressed MGR greatly. The relationship between them grew into a good relationship and evolved into a friendship. MGR came forward to provide his best assistance to the Tamileelam liberation struggle led by Prabhakaran. He helped in many ways. His great help brought about an unprecedented new turn in the growth and expansion of our liberation movement.
In what ways and how did MGR help our freedom struggle? How did he achieve things without considering any dangerous repercussions? How did he help us through the pressures and difficulties that came upon our movement?
Many such things should be recorded in the history of our struggle as memories that will not die with time. I got the opportunity to meet and talk to MGR for the first time on behalf of the LTTE. Following that, I also got rare opportunities to meet and interact with the Chief Minister in many situations, both individually and with national leader Prabhakaran. I have recorded all of them here in a concise manner. I am sure that these notes will be useful to everyone who is interested in and concerned about the history of the liberation of Tamileelam.
The background of meeting the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, MGR, for the first time is an interesting story.
April 1984. At that time, my wife Adele and I were living with the LTTE fighters in Thiruvanmiyur, on the outskirts of Chennai. Our movement’s national leader Prabhakaran and some senior commanders.
The fighters were staying near our place. Even after the military training secretly organized by the Indian central government was over, training camps were being set up in the countryside of Tamil Nadu and new fighters were being trained. I was working in the political headquarters of the LTTE set up in Adayar.
During that period, not only the LTTE but also other militant organizations were operating with Chennai as their main base. The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), the Tamil Eelam People’s Liberation Organization (PLTO), and the Eelam Liberation Organization (EROS) had completed their Indian military training and were operating in Tamil Nadu. There was a widespread consensus among the Tamil people at that time that the Tamileelam liberation struggle would be strengthened if the divided and separated militant organizations were united under a single ideal and united into a single team. Efforts for unity were made from various quarters. Some Eelam Tamil figures living in the United States visited Chennai and met the leaders of the liberation organizations and urged unity. Tamil Nadu politicians who were interested and concerned in the Tamileelam liberation struggle also actively participated in this unity effort
Following the brutal ethnic cleansing riots unleashed against the Tamils by the Sinhala cadres in July 1983, an uprising in support of the Tamils erupted all over Tamil Nadu. Tamil national sentiment prevailed like never before. There were sympathy and support for the militant organizations that had taken refuge in Tamil Nadu. There was competition among Tamil Nadu politicians to support the Eelam liberation struggle and gain the goodwill of the Tamils in Tamil Nadu. It was in this situation that a strange incident occurred.
At that time, Mr. M.G. Ramachandran was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He had been insisting on the unity of the Eelam liberation organizations and had also issued a public invitation to the leaders of the liberation organizations. He requested the leaders of the Eelam liberation organizations to meet him on a specific day. The Tamil Nadu dailies gave prominence to this invitation.
The day after this invitation was issued, another invitation came from the Dravida Munnetra Kalagam leader, Mr. M. Karunanidhi. Mr. Karunanidhi requested the leaders of the Eelam liberation organizations to meet him on the day before the date specified by Mr. M.G. The DMK newspapers gave prominence to the invitation and published it.
The fact that the two great leaders of Tamil Nadu were competing in the effort to unite the Eelam liberation movements caused us a problem and embarrassment. It was the position of the LTTE not to interfere in the politics of Tamil Nadu. It was also our policy to maintain a neutral position in Tamil Nadu politics. In such a situation, the rivalry that had arisen between the two great leaders of the Dravidian movement posed a new challenge for us. I discussed this issue with Mr. Prabhakaran.
If we accepted the artist’s invitation and met him, we would end up hating MGR, and if we rejected the artist’s invitation and met MGR, we would end up hating him. The support and sympathy of these two leaders and the political movements they lead are essential for us, for our freedom struggle. Therefore, we did not want to take a partisan stance and hate anyone. In addition, we had another problem. That was the problem of the security of our movement leadership. During that period, there was conflict and hostility among the militant organizations. Especially between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Plot Movement, there was hostility to the point of a conflict erupting. Already, following the shooting incident between Plot leader Uma Maheswaran and Prabhakaran in Pondy Bazaar in Chennai, hostility had escalated between the two organizations. In such a situation, it was impossible for the leaders of the Eelam liberation organizations to gather in one place. It was even dangerous. It was also impossible to explain to the Tamil Nadu political leaders who stood for unity about the contradictions and feelings of hostility that existed between us. There was only one solution to all these problems. That is, to avoid meeting the artist and MGR. Prabhakaran accepted this idea.
The day came when Kalaignar Karunanidhi invited him. Apart from the LTTE and the PLOT movement, leaders of other organisations, including Mr. Padmanabha (EPRLF), Mr. Srisaparathinam (RELO), and Mr. Balakumar (EROS), met Kalaignar. It was a matter of concern to Kalaignar that Mr. Prabhakaran and Mr. Uma Maheswaran did not accept his invitation. However, he must have considered it a political victory to meet the leaders of other freedom organisations before meeting MGR. That is why he made the meeting a major political event and gave an interview to the press. The next day, the DMK press published the meeting as a headline with photographs.
On the very first day of his appointment, Kalaignar Karunanidhi met the leaders of the three Eelam liberation organisations, staged a political drama and advertised it in the newspapers as a major political event, which angered MGR. He seemed to think that Kalaignar was trying to disrupt his well-intentioned unity effort for selfish political purposes.
That evening, Mr. Alexander, Assistant Inspector General (D.I.G) of the Tamil Nadu Intelligence Division, visited our political secretariat in Adayar and met me. I already knew Mr. Alexander. We met and interacted many times, so we had a good relationship. He had helped us by intervening and resolving some of the problems that arose in Chennai. I also knew that the Chief Minister was close to MGR.
“The Chief Minister is very angry with the artist Karunanidhi and the militant organizations that met him. The Chief Minister also said that he will not meet the leaders of those three organizations today. He wants to meet only the LTTE today. He has ordered me to bring the LTTE to his residence in Parangimalai, Chennai this evening,” said Mr. Alexander.
I did not know what to say. I said that I should take a decision only after discussing everything with the leadership. “The Chief Minister will be eagerly waiting for you. Please do not disappoint him. If you hate the Chief Minister and the Tamil Nadu government, it will be difficult to function in Tamil Nadu,” he said, giving a mild warning. I asked whether the Chief Minister would also meet Uma Maheswaran. Alexander was aware of the animosity between the LTTE leader Prabhakaran and the Plot leader Uma. Alexander said that the Chief Minister would meet Uma on another day and that he especially wanted to meet Prabhakaran and the LTTE.
It had become inevitable that the Chief Minister would meet MGR. Our movement should be introduced in the first meeting. The struggle ideals of our movement should be explained. Therefore, Prabhakaran asked me to go to the first meeting. Prabhakaran decided that if MGR insisted, he could meet him later. It was decided that a group led by me would go and meet the Chief Minister that evening. With me were Baby Subramaniam (Ilangumaran), one of the senior leaders of the LTTE, Colonel Shankar, who had recently lost his life, and Mr. M. Nithyanandan, who was then the editor of the ‘Viduthulai Puligal’ newspaper.
You had mentioned tomorrow as the day to meet. But Kalaignar Karunanidhi, for his own glory, also extended an invitation and wanted to meet the Eelam liberation organizations a day in advance. Kalaignar’s invitation was not aimed at unity efforts. He tried to compete with you and seek political gain. That is why we did not accept his invitation.” I explained. The Chief Minister’s face lit up. “You understand the politics of Tamil Nadu very well.” He said and smiled.
“Why should the Eelam liberation fighters be divided into five organizations? Can’t they unite in one team?” asked MGR.
“We are not against unity. Militant organizations can unite only based on a firm, clear ideal. But there are many differences of opinion between the LTTE and other organizations. There is also a difference in behavior. The LTTE is unique. It has unique characteristics. It maintains high qualities such as discipline, dignity, and control. It dares to die. It wears poison bottles so as not to be caught alive in the hands of the enemy. It is ready to dedicate its life to the ideal of liberation of the homeland of Tamileelam. These wonderful characteristics and determination to the ideal cannot be found in other organizations,” I explained. MGR was listening in silence and astonishment. The characteristics practiced by the LTTE fighters impressed him greatly.
– Continued.
– Viduthalai
– Voice of the Nation Bala Annai
– Edited by: Tamilarasan Abdulkadhar
(Translation by Tamilpriya)
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