The recent praise heaped on Velupillai Prabhakaran and the LTTE by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is not merely a political misstep—it is a calculated insult to every Indian soldier who laid down his life in Sri Lanka, and it threatens the very fabric of our national security by endorsing terrorism from a state platform.
When a constitutional authority holding the highest office in a state chooses to eulogise a terrorist who orchestrated the murder of Rajiv Gandhi, pioneered suicide bombing as a tactical weapon, and whose organisation remains proscribed under Indian law, we must ask ourselves: have we abandoned every political red line in the pursuit of parochial electoral gains?
The Blood Price of Operation Pawan
Between 1987 and 1990, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was deployed to Sri Lanka under the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. What was envisioned as a peacekeeping mission became a brutal counter-insurgency operation against the very LTTE that some now seek to romanticise.
The numbers tell a story no amount of political rhetoric can erase. Over 1,300 Indian soldiers made the supreme sacrifice on Sri Lankan soil. Thousands more returned with physical and psychological wounds that would mark them for life. These were young men from across India, from Punjab to Tamil Nadu, from Bihar to Kerala, who answered their nation’s call and found themselves fighting an enemy armed with sophisticated weapons, fanatical dedication, and a complete disregard for the laws of war.
The LTTE did not fight as honourable adversaries. They employed child soldiers; pioneered the use of suicide bombers, the infamous “Black Tigers”, and committed atrocities that shocked even battle-hardened soldiers. The assassination of captured IPKF personnel, the mutilation of bodies, and the use of civilians as human shields were standard operating procedures for an organisation now being praised from a Chief Minister’s podium.
Does the Chief Minister remember those who fell while leading their troops in Jaffna? Does he recall the sacrifice of the soldiers who fought house-to-house in Jaffna town’s narrow streets? When he speaks of Prabhakaran, does he spare a thought for the families who still light lamps for sons who never returned?
The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: A Nation’s Wound Reopened
On the night of 21 May 1991, a young woman named Dhanu approached Rajiv Gandhi at an election rally in Sriperumbudur, bent to touch his feet, and detonated explosives strapped to her body. The former Prime Minister of India, along with 14 others, was killed instantly.
This was not an act of war between nations. It was cold-blooded murder, planned and executed by the LTTE, ordered by the very Prabhakaran now being lionised. The Supreme Court of India, after exhaustive proceedings, confirmed the LTTE’s culpability. The organisation is proscribed as a terrorist entity under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
For the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to praise Prabhakaran undermines the moral fabric of our nation and emphasises the need to oppose the political glorification of terrorists, reinforcing the importance of upholding national security principles.
And what of the Congress party, the political family that lost its scion to LTTE terrorism? Their silence is deafening. Is it because the Gandhi family, in a gesture many found incomprehensible, supported the release of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins? Has that act, called “forgiveness,” now metastasised into a tacit acceptance of LTTE glorification?
The Congress party’s refusal to unequivocally condemn the Chief Minister’s statements suggests either political cowardice or complicity. If they cannot defend their leader’s memory, they forfeit any claim to moral authority in Indian politics.
The Misery Inflicted Upon Sri Lankan Tamils
Those who romanticise the LTTE and Prabhakaran must remember the immense suffering inflicted on Sri Lankan Tamils, which evokes empathy and reminds us of the human cost of such misguided glorification.
The LTTE did not tolerate dissent. Tamil politicians, journalists, intellectuals, and activists who disagreed with Prabhakaran’s methods or objectives were systematically eliminated. The organisation assassinated moderate Tamil leaders who sought negotiated solutions, ensuring that the path to peace remained blocked by bodies.
When the Sri Lankan military launched its final offensive in 2009, the LTTE used Tamil civilians as human shields, preventing them from fleeing the conflict zone at gunpoint. Thousands died in the crossfire, trapped between an advancing army and an organisation that valued its survival over the lives of its own people.
The end of the LTTE brought relief to Sri Lankan Tamils and served as a reminder of the danger posed by glorifying terrorists like Prabhakaran, whose tyranny held an entire community hostage and whose praise from political leaders endangers our collective security and moral standards.
India’s Dangerous Experiment with Proxy Forces
The current situation cannot be understood without acknowledging India’s culpability in creating the monster that the LTTE became. In the early 1980s, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) provided training, arms, and sanctuary to Tamil militant groups, including the LTTE, to pressure the Sri Lankan government.
This followed a pattern established earlier. The Mukti Bahini in 1971 was a spectacular success. Indian support for Bengali nationalists helped liberate Bangladesh in just 14 days. But the lesson drawn was the wrong one. Policymakers assumed that proxy forces could be useful instruments of state policy, controllable and disposable.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale proved that assumption catastrophically wrong. Armed and elevated by political interests seeking to counter the Akali Dal, Bhindranwale transformed from a manageable asset into a monster that consumed Punjab in a decade of bloodshed. The Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple, the Prime Minister was assassinated by her own bodyguards, and thousands of innocent Sikhs paid the price for political miscalculation.
The LTTE followed the same trajectory. Once trained and armed by India, it turned on its benefactor. The very skills imparted by Indian agencies were used against Indian soldiers. The weapons supplied by India killed Indian men. The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was the final, emphatic proof that proxy forces are not instruments—they are Frankenstein’s monsters that inevitably turn on their creators.
Yet we refuse to learn. And now, decades later, we have a Chief Minister celebrating the most successful of these monsters, legitimising terrorism as a political philosophy, and signalling to the world that India’s internal politics can override its national security interests.
Regional Politics Versus National Security
The fundamental question this episode raises is whether India can maintain a coherent national security posture when regional political considerations routinely override national interests. This is not an isolated incident. Time and again, we have seen state-level politicians make statements and take positions that undermine India’s strategic interests, compromise its diplomatic standing, and embolden its adversaries.
Sri Lanka remains a crucial partner in India’s Indian Ocean strategy. China’s growing influence in Colombo, exemplified by the Hambantota port and various infrastructure projects, poses a direct challenge to India’s interests. Managing this relationship requires diplomatic finesse, consistent messaging, and a single voice.
When a Chief Minister praises the terrorist who nearly tore Sri Lanka apart, it does not go unnoticed in Colombo. It confirms suspicions that India remains sympathetic to Tamil separatism, that New Delhi cannot control its regional satraps, and that partnership with India carries the risk of domestic political interference. This pushes Sri Lanka further into China’s embrace, directly harming India’s strategic interests.
The Absence of Red Lines
Every mature democracy maintains certain red lines—positions so fundamental that no political actor, regardless of electoral calculus, will cross them. Glorifying proscribed terrorist organisations should be such a red line. Celebrating those who assassinated national leaders should be a red line. Undermining national security for parochial political gain should be such a red line.
In India, these red lines appear to have dissolved entirely. A Chief Minister can praise terrorists with impunity because he calculates that the electoral benefits in Tamil Nadu outweigh any national opprobrium. He makes this calculation because experience has taught him that the central government will not act, the opposition will not criticise, and the media cycle will move on.
This permissiveness corrodes the foundations of the Indian state. If terrorism can be glorified when it serves regional sentiment, what principle remains inviolable? If the murder of a Prime Minister can be tacitly excused, what crime is beyond the pale? If national security can be sacrificed on the altar of vote-bank politics, what holds India together?
A Call to Remember
As a veteran who served this nation, I call upon every Indian to remember what the LTTE was and what Prabhakaran did. Remember the young soldiers who died in the swamps of Jaffna, far from home, fighting an enemy they did not create. Remember that Rajiv Gandhi, whatever his political legacy, was murdered by the organisation now being praised. Remember the Sri Lankan Tamils who suffered under LTTE tyranny and were liberated by its defeat.
And remember this: when politicians glorify terrorists for votes, they diminish every sacrifice made in defence of this nation. They tell our soldiers that their blood is negotiable, their memory disposable, and their service contingent on political convenience.
This cannot stand. The nation must demand accountability. The Congress party must find its voice or accept its complicity. The central government must act or accept that it has ceded moral authority. And the people of India must make clear that some red lines, at least, remain sacred.
Jai Hind.
As a veteran who served in the IPKF, every word resonates. It’s despicable that such people are our leaders. Deeply saddened by the depths that politicians can go to for electoral gains.