Actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay upended decades of alternating two-party rule in Tamil Nadu. His party, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, or TVK, secured 108 of 234 seats in Tamil Nadu state elections held last Friday. He is expected to become chief minister.
Lanka on the campaign trail
Over the last few years, Vijay, whose father’s Christian family is from Rameswaram, a fishing town, and whose estranged wife is of Sri Lankan origin, has touched on sensitive Indo-Lanka issues.
He has repeatedly condemned Sri Lanka’s arrest of Indian fishermen and called for India to reclaim Katchatheevu. In the past, he also demanded a referendum on Tamil Eelam’s independence and spoke favourably of V. Prabhakaran.
Though Sri Lankan issues are peripheral in Tamil Nadu politics, the state has historically been an important support base for Tamil separatism and a vocal critic of the Sri Lankan government. At times the state’s government has even influenced Indian foreign policy towards Sri Lanka.
Both the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, DMK, and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, AIADMK, have regularly made statements similar to Vijay’s over the years. The DMK manifesto demanded that India reclaim Katchatheevu and review the Indo-Lanka maritime boundary agreements. It also devotes one of its fifty sections to the welfare of the nearly 100,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India, and calls for a federal solution to Sri Lanka’s national question.
The AIADMK manifesto limits itself to promising that “firm steps will be taken to retrieve Katchatheevu”. S. Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi, the party most vocal in support for Tamil Eelam and the LTTE, saw its vote share halve and was unable to secure a single seat.
Lankans cautiously optimistic
Tamil political leaders, including from the ITAK, Tamil Congress, and Ceylon Workers’ Congress, congratulated Vijay.
“Hope that the support of the people and government of Tamil Nadu for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka will continue unabated,” tweeted M.A. Sumanthiran, the ITAK’s general-secretary.
In an interview with The Examiner, he added that “in our matters it’s mainly the central government that interacts with the Sri Lankan government,” though “the moral support of the Tamil Nadu people is very, very important”. Once Vijay becomes chief minister, “we will have to see” how it works out in practice.
Similarly, Jeevan Thondaman MP, the Ceylon Workers’ Congress’ general-secretary, also thinks Vijay will be open for communication and for discussions on solutions.
The SLPP’s Namal Rajapaksa MP also congratulated Vijay. But he warned “politics and government are very different. In politics, one must face reality. Acting is easy.” He hopes that Vijay’s win would lead to a stronger and more positive relationship between India and Sri Lanka.
Though Vijitha Herath, the foreign minister, has not congratulated Vijay yet, congratulatory messages are generally extended after the swearing-in.
