A direct pitch to Tamils in India

BY MAYA RANGANATHAN| IN Media Practice | 21/10/2008

With the war intensifying in the North and East of Sri Lanka, yet another video is doing its rounds in neighbouring India, particularly in the state of Tamil Nadu. This time round however, it is not a surreptitious video clipping of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s military victories that profess to the world the valour of the Tamils, but one that literally begs the people of the State to extend a helping hand to the ‘suffering brethren’ in the north east of the island. And it is no longer an appeal to the politicians of the State, but to the masses of Tamil Nadu!

According to reports, the video was shown to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi last week by a political leader in Tamil Nadu. The authorship of the video is anyone’s guess. It is said that the video is to be widely circulated in the State to reveal the true picture to the people of Tamil Nadu.

The video that begins with the Sri Lankan air force bombing of Vanni shows people, including school children in white uniforms, huddling in bunkers. A few seconds’ later, people are seen pulling out dead bodies from amidst the destruction and the bloody images are interspersed with patients in hospitals lamenting their fate and bemoaning that if India forsakes them they have no option but to die en masse. The refrain is, "Can you hear their lament? Does their plight move you?’ A little later the voice-over states, "They are punished for the only reason that they are Tamils. They carry a cross because of their Tamil identity." … "They are hounded because they are Tamils, because they have worked to uphold Tamil."

The stress on the Tamil identity in the video seems to have an irresistible appeal to the Tamil media, and the popular Tamil magazines are lapping it up. As the English language press continues to warn the State government against extreme emotional reactions to the Sri Lankan Tamil issue and the situation there, the Tamil popular magazines in the State seem to have embarked on a mission to whip up emotions over the issue.

Even as The Hindu and The Times of India are into hard news reporting and reproducing the Sri Lankan Defence authorities figures of death toll in the North East of Sri Lanka and recounting how the Sri Lankan Army is almost poised to storm the last bastion of the Tigers, the Tamil press seem to be outdoing each other on presenting soft news stories on the ground situation in the North East of the island.

Thus Kumudam Reporter, a weekly devoted largely to Tamilnadu politics, in its issue dated Oct 23, 2008, carries a cover story on Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s reaction to the said video cassette. The CM, who was reportedly rendered speechless and teary-eyed by the video, has supposedly gone to the extent of lamenting that power and administration mattered no more (Ini aatchi enna vendi kidaku!). The cover story then goes on to give a dramatic description of the contents of the video, even transcribing the commentary and interspersing it with the writer’s own emotions. As news and views mingle, the message is all too clear, that the Sri Lankan Government is on a mission of genocide. And for the sceptics, an interview with the Tigers Commander Banu on the LTTE’s strategy follows. 

Going a step further, the online edition of Junior Vikatan from the Vikatan group of publications dated Oct 22, 2008 provides a link to the 30-minute video in its homepage. There are no comments whatsoever, but the title reads ‘Eelam’s lament’. There are no credits but there are few who would have the equipment and expertise to indeed shoot and interview in the war zone. Nonetheless, the effort to evoke sympathy for the cause is apparent. There is no mention of the Tigers but the Sri Lankan government is severely indicted. A title card proclaims, "Tamil Society of the World, please speak for us’.

The plight of the 3.75 lakh Tamils caught in the crossfire in the island is heart-rending. This article is not to take sides with either of the parties engaged in this war, but to point out the efforts made by Tamils to get their message across in the face of extreme strife and in the most trying of circumstances. That the Sri Lankan Tamils have used the media ingeniously has been a matter of many academic debates and discussions. From the underground press in Tamil Nadu that once spewed propaganda material, the international press office of the LTTE that flooded newspaper offices with statements, the video tapes that were smuggled in now and then, the Sri Lankan Tamils moved on to the Internet to carry their voice effectively across natural and man-made boundaries.

The neatly edited video is the latest weapon in the communication armoury. The pleas are phrased thus:

"They are seeking refuge in their motherland? Before being exterminated they are longing for a word in answer from their motherland."

…"If you stretch your hands it should suffice, you will be able to hug us."

… "They had their own life much like you."

… "How long can your relatives go on like this?"

…"A request for them, a plea for them, a tear for them is expected of you."

… "And who are they? Are they people in the African continent? No. They are in your neighbourhood, within earshot. They are your kin. They were people who lived in the hope that you were there to support them."

And it all ends with the question, "our Tamil kin, what are you going to do for them?"