Ajit Randeniya

While the Sri Lankan army was announcing victory over the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the opportunistic politicians in Tamil Nadu who were sympathetic to the Tigers were licking their own wounds after being routed in the Lok Sabha elections.

Vaiko’s MDMK, Ramdoss’ PMK and the VCK, the most vocal pro-LTTE groups in Tamil Nadu who were at the forefront of street protests in recent weeks, denouncing both Colombo and New Delhi for the onslaught against the Tamil Tigers lost badly. Three of the four MDMK candidates of Vaiko’s and all seven candidates of the PMK who compared the murderous Prabhakaran to the great Indian Independence fighter Subhas Chandra Bose lost their seats. MDMK leader Vaiko, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”the rivers of blood’ was defeated by over 50,000 votes from Virudnagar constituency.

The IADMK of J. Jayalalithaa, who was threatening to send the Indian Army to Sri Lanka if won, also suffered a blow of military proportions by winning only nine of the 39 seats contested.

Other out-of-state Tiger supporters, the Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its three regional allies, actor-turned-politician Vijaykant’s DMDK and the Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) lost all the seats they contested.

The victory of the Union Minister of Home Affairs, P. Chidambaram in his Sivaganga constituency (covering the southern-most part of India) further indicates that the electorate ignored the criticisms of the pro-LTTE opportunists that he was part of the central government that was helping Sri Lanka.

These results are a resounding condemnation of the ridiculously obvious opportunism displayed by Jayalalitha, Vaiko and Ramdoss In the run up to the elections, seeking to make Sri Lanka the dominant campaign issue. It is clear that there was never a popular sentiment for the Tigers, or the murderous Prabhakaran, amongst the mainstream Tamil population in Tamil Nadu: they are peace-loving Hindus whose means of claiming rights are based on the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Ahimsa’ doctrine that underlie the Vedic philosophy.

This election result also disproves the fallacy amongst some of the Sri Lankan bleeding hearts that despite the defeat of the Tigers that a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Pan-Indian’ Tamil (or Brahminic?) uprising was in the offing. The results put an end to such nonsense.

Vaiko can now play his stunts and fight his war away from the public arena.

While we are about to rejoice in the victory against the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”thirty year curse’ of the Tigers, there are threats emanating from another politician in distress, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Brown ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”warned’ that “Sri Lanka stands on the brink”. He also threatened that there would be “consequences for Sri Lanka’s actions” if Colombo did not allow humanitarian agencies access to civilians and end the conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels. He demanded that “The humanitarian agencies must be granted access to civilians caught in the crossfire of a dreadful conflict. We are backing UN efforts to secure an orderly end to the conflict. The LTTE must lay down its arms and allow civilians to leave.

Our experience over the last several months has provided plenty of evidence that the threats, demands and warnings of this kind emanating from politicians in other countries are rooted in their own political insecurities: Brown’s snarling is very much an attempt to divert attention from a horrid time he is experiencing at home.

The ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Westminster expenses scandal’ recently disclosed by the Barclay and Murdoch controlled conservative press has proved to be almost the last nail in the coffin of Brown’s Labor leadership; he himself is in it up to his neck, by charging taxpayers ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚£6,500 to pay his brother for a cleaner.

An opinion poll conducted in the immediate aftermath of the scandal has shown that 68% of the public think the revelations have damaged the Prime Minister. Not that such polls matter at all in this shining light of democracy – Margaret Thatcher used to be Prime Minister with lower support than that- but his problems arise from the aspiring leader David Miliband who is hovering around gauging his own support.

Amidst Brown’s troubles, in a wide-ranging, interview with the London Evening Standard, Miliband signalled his desire to lead the Labour Party, by calling on the Government to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”raise its game’ to win back disaffected voters. He has done this before: before his last coup, Miliband’s announced his ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”grand’ vision for a new ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”progressive fusion’ between social democratic and radical liberal traditions!

Despite the lack of much ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”sane’ support for Miliband’s naked ambition, pro-Labor columnists such as Polly Tynbee has begun to attack Gordon Brown’s reputation, urging the party to ditch him in favour, not of Miliband, but some one like Alan Johnson the former postman Health Secretary. Those ‘in the know’ suggest that the expected heavy loss of the European and Local elections (due for 4 Jun), could set the scene for blood-letting. The threat is real and Brown only has a couple of weeks left to enjoy the perks of being Prime Minister.

Brown needed a diversion, and there is always Sri Lanka to turn to!