By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 19 September (asiantribune.com): Coimbatore will host the ninth edition of World Tamil Conference which will be held for four days from January 21 to 24, next year. Significantly, the current meet is organised after the Central government has accorded classical language status to Tamil.
The dates were finalised on Saturday at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to discuss the conduct of the Tamil Conference in a grand manner, an official release here said. The decision to hold the Tamil conference however was announced at the Conference of District Collectors and Police Officers on September 17.
Finance Minister K Anbazhagan, Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin, Union Minister A Raja, Ministers Veerapandi K Arumugam, K Ponmudi, Pongalur Palanisamy, Chief Secretary K S Tripathy, Finance Secretary Tamil Development Department secretary, Tourism Secretary, Police Intelligence Chief and Coimbatore District Collector participated in the meeting, the release said.
At the meeting it was decided to constitute various committees and find some responsible persons to head the committees and members. Soon more review meetings would be held in Chennai and Coimbatore to decide about the venue and finalise the route for procession, the release said.
Tamils and Tamil scholars living in various foreign countries would be contacted and invited to the conference, the release added.
The decision to organise the conference has been taken in deference to the wishes of Tamil scholars, researches, journalists and experts in Tamil language in other countries, Karunanidhi said
The Chief Minister’s keen interest to make the forthcoming Tamil conference a historical event in every aspect, was evident from his two meetings held in quick succession last week.
He spent considerable time on explaining how the collectors should make the conference a remarkable one. He made it clear that funds would not be a problem for achieving the task. He said the government was considering appointment of a special officer at the Secretariat to oversee the works for the conference and appointment of a coordinator to the collector of Coimbatore district.
Karunanidhi wants to hold the conference in a grand manner, involving scholars from various parts of the globe to showcase the rich cultural traditions of the Tamil race to the world and ultimately helped rekindle the pride of Tamil language. He said the chariots to be used during the rally to mark the conference should trumpet the glory of the Tamil race and the kings, poets and warriors who lived in this land in the past
The first Tamil Conference of held in Kuala Lumpur in April 1966. After the DMK assumed office for the first time in 1967, the then chief minister C N Annadurai had conducted the Second World Tamil Conference in the then Madras in a grand manner. The present Chief Minister Karunanidhi then played a major part in it.
It was then the city got filled with the statues of Tamil scholars. Dr. Sir A Ramaswami Mudaliar unveiled the statue of Annadurai at the Round Thana, Mount Road. Following this ten important figures in the Tamil history were unveiled on the Marina Beach. They were: Thiruvalluvar, Avvai, Kamban, Veeramamunivar ( C J Beschi), Bharathi, Bharathidasan, Dr. G U Pope, Dr. Robert Caldwell, Va Vu. Chidambaram and Kannagi.
The past eight world Tamil conferences and their dates are: Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia, April 16-23, 1966), Chennai (January 3-10, 1968), Paris (July 15-18, 1970), Jaffna (January 3-9, 1974), Madurai (January 4-10, 1981), Kuala Lumpur (November 15-19, 1987), Mauritius (December 1-8, 1989) and Thanjavur (January 1-5, 1995).
The Tamil conference is taking place after a gap of 15 years. The last meet was held at Thanjavur during the AIADMK regime in 1995.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sri Lankan refugees at Chengalpattu on fast unto death
Tue, 2009-09-22 02:45 — editor
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
Chennai, 22 September (Asiantribune.com): A total of 58 inmates at the Chengalpet Sri Lankan refugee camp in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, India went on an indefinite hunger strike from Sunday morning demanding their immediate release.
The inmates who were arrested from Chennai, Ramanathapuram, Rameshwaram, Madurai and Tiruchi have been languishing in the camp for years without the government framing charge sheets, which has prevented them from approaching the court for any sort of relief. Time and again they have been on mass fasting, but to no avail. There are 61 inmates in the camp, of whom 41 are on protest.
Their grievances are, some of them are detained for more than three years, not allowed to meet their relatives in the other refugee camps, not allowed to meet even outsiders, not allowed to go out for work like other Sri Lankan refugees and they are psychologically affected.
They allege they are in virtual prison and the conditions prevailing are appalling. When the rain come the situation becomes worse and toilet facilities drinking water is scarce.
“Like our brothers suffering in concentrations camps at Wanni in Sri Lanka, we are starving and undergoing a similar kind of treatment in this camps in Tamil Nadu,” says an inmate who is on fast.
The fasting inmates are looking for the Chief Minister’s direct intervention this time, and to attract his attention only this fast unto death, they say.
- Asian Tribune -
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
Chennai, 22 September (Asiantribune.com): A total of 58 inmates at the Chengalpet Sri Lankan refugee camp in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, India went on an indefinite hunger strike from Sunday morning demanding their immediate release.
The inmates who were arrested from Chennai, Ramanathapuram, Rameshwaram, Madurai and Tiruchi have been languishing in the camp for years without the government framing charge sheets, which has prevented them from approaching the court for any sort of relief. Time and again they have been on mass fasting, but to no avail. There are 61 inmates in the camp, of whom 41 are on protest.
Their grievances are, some of them are detained for more than three years, not allowed to meet their relatives in the other refugee camps, not allowed to meet even outsiders, not allowed to go out for work like other Sri Lankan refugees and they are psychologically affected.
They allege they are in virtual prison and the conditions prevailing are appalling. When the rain come the situation becomes worse and toilet facilities drinking water is scarce.
“Like our brothers suffering in concentrations camps at Wanni in Sri Lanka, we are starving and undergoing a similar kind of treatment in this camps in Tamil Nadu,” says an inmate who is on fast.
The fasting inmates are looking for the Chief Minister’s direct intervention this time, and to attract his attention only this fast unto death, they say.
- Asian Tribune -
Jaya warns mass agitation if Centre doesn’t act to stop rights violations in Sri Lanka
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 22 September (asiantribune.com): The Opposition All India Anna DMK in Tamil Nadu today threatened to launch a mass agitation if the Centre did not act immediately on the brutal civil liberties violations in Sri Lanka.
AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa said in a statement here the TV visuals on the brutal execution of Tamils by the Lankan military personnel, shown by some channels, were disturbing. The footages were reportedly filmed by a soldier on a mobile phone camera.
The visuals showed young Tamils stripped naked and blindfolded with their hands and feet bound, kicked and shot through the back of their head by uniformed military personnel. ''The gruesome footage reinforces my earlier claim that civil liberties are non-existent in Sri Lanka and that the Tamil population there is subject to barbaric atrocities at the hands of the Sri Lankan Army,'' she noted
Though these visuals have been appearing on Indian TV and press, neither the Indian Government nor the State Government lodged a protest with the Sri Lankan Government, she said.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said the AIADMK was a strong votary against terrorism and a vocal critic of LTTE. Even assuming that the persons being shot dead in the footage telecast were LTTE activists, “executing them summarily without a trial was barbaric, inhuman and contrary to civilised norms.”
''It also violates international law relating to treatment of prisoners of war,'' she added.
The AIADMK did not expect the ruling DMK to protest against the atrocities being perpetrated upon the Tamils in Sri Lanka. ''but we expect New Delhi to ensure the life and dignity of the hapless civilian Tamil population of Sri Lanka languishing in various refugee camps in abominable conditions,'' she added.
''If the Indian Government does not act immediately, the AIADMK, along with like-minded political parties, will be forced to launch a mass agitation to focus world vision on the brutal civil liberties violations in Sri Lanka,'' she warned.
CHENNAI, 22 September (asiantribune.com): The Opposition All India Anna DMK in Tamil Nadu today threatened to launch a mass agitation if the Centre did not act immediately on the brutal civil liberties violations in Sri Lanka.
AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa said in a statement here the TV visuals on the brutal execution of Tamils by the Lankan military personnel, shown by some channels, were disturbing. The footages were reportedly filmed by a soldier on a mobile phone camera.
The visuals showed young Tamils stripped naked and blindfolded with their hands and feet bound, kicked and shot through the back of their head by uniformed military personnel. ''The gruesome footage reinforces my earlier claim that civil liberties are non-existent in Sri Lanka and that the Tamil population there is subject to barbaric atrocities at the hands of the Sri Lankan Army,'' she noted
Though these visuals have been appearing on Indian TV and press, neither the Indian Government nor the State Government lodged a protest with the Sri Lankan Government, she said.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said the AIADMK was a strong votary against terrorism and a vocal critic of LTTE. Even assuming that the persons being shot dead in the footage telecast were LTTE activists, “executing them summarily without a trial was barbaric, inhuman and contrary to civilised norms.”
''It also violates international law relating to treatment of prisoners of war,'' she added.
The AIADMK did not expect the ruling DMK to protest against the atrocities being perpetrated upon the Tamils in Sri Lanka. ''but we expect New Delhi to ensure the life and dignity of the hapless civilian Tamil population of Sri Lanka languishing in various refugee camps in abominable conditions,'' she added.
''If the Indian Government does not act immediately, the AIADMK, along with like-minded political parties, will be forced to launch a mass agitation to focus world vision on the brutal civil liberties violations in Sri Lanka,'' she warned.
Quantum computer is not far off
CHENNAI, 23 September: Quantum computer, a new paradigm computer, would become a reality in 10 more years, said Eric A. Cornell, physicist, who shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics with Carl Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterie.
Answering questions from students after delivering the Honeywell-Nobel Laureate lecture at Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE) here on Wednesday, Dr. Eric said that he would have said "never" ten years ago for the quantum computer to become reality. Though the hurdles to research on this "more powerful than conventional computers" were formidable it would take at least 10 more years for it to become reality. He was much more optimistic now, Dr. Eric added.
Delivering a lecture on ‘Stone cold science: Bose-Einstein Condensation,’ the Nobel laureate said that the future was in the direction of "very, very small" structures. He explained how record low temperatures were reached in Bose-Einstein Condensation and their implications and the theory of superfluidiity. He opined that Indian physicists were as strong as anywhere in the world today.
Anil P. Gupta, Country Manager, Honeywell India, said that the lecture series was a global initiative launched jointly by Honeywell and Nobel Foundation. It served as a bridge between the industry and academia and Dr. Eric’s visit was the first of its kind to Tamil Nadu.
Later, addressing reporters, Dr. Eric said that Bose-Einstein Condensation would find new applications in remote sensing, navigation of submarines and satellites and cold refrigeration for quantum computers.
Krishna Mikkilineni, Managing Director, Honeywell Technology Solutions, said that the partnership they had with the TCE was the best such relationship in the world and the Honeywell facility here was providing training to students in batches, besides involving itself in research.
The correspondent of TCE, Karumuttu T. Kannan, said that it was a "great model" of industry-institute collaboration that had worked over the years well. The institution, he said, was now focussing on an unexploited area of engineering education – research.
He was confident that the visit of a Nobel laureate and the support provided by Honeywell would give a great impetus to research. V. Abhaikumar, Principal, said that the college was transforming into a centre of research, thanks to the support from Honeywell.
Answering questions from students after delivering the Honeywell-Nobel Laureate lecture at Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE) here on Wednesday, Dr. Eric said that he would have said "never" ten years ago for the quantum computer to become reality. Though the hurdles to research on this "more powerful than conventional computers" were formidable it would take at least 10 more years for it to become reality. He was much more optimistic now, Dr. Eric added.
Delivering a lecture on ‘Stone cold science: Bose-Einstein Condensation,’ the Nobel laureate said that the future was in the direction of "very, very small" structures. He explained how record low temperatures were reached in Bose-Einstein Condensation and their implications and the theory of superfluidiity. He opined that Indian physicists were as strong as anywhere in the world today.
Anil P. Gupta, Country Manager, Honeywell India, said that the lecture series was a global initiative launched jointly by Honeywell and Nobel Foundation. It served as a bridge between the industry and academia and Dr. Eric’s visit was the first of its kind to Tamil Nadu.
Later, addressing reporters, Dr. Eric said that Bose-Einstein Condensation would find new applications in remote sensing, navigation of submarines and satellites and cold refrigeration for quantum computers.
Krishna Mikkilineni, Managing Director, Honeywell Technology Solutions, said that the partnership they had with the TCE was the best such relationship in the world and the Honeywell facility here was providing training to students in batches, besides involving itself in research.
The correspondent of TCE, Karumuttu T. Kannan, said that it was a "great model" of industry-institute collaboration that had worked over the years well. The institution, he said, was now focussing on an unexploited area of engineering education – research.
He was confident that the visit of a Nobel laureate and the support provided by Honeywell would give a great impetus to research. V. Abhaikumar, Principal, said that the college was transforming into a centre of research, thanks to the support from Honeywell.
Fishermen issue: AIADMK demonstration at Rameshwaram today; DMDK’s at Delhi on Sept. 29
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 25 September (asiantribune.com): The AIADMK supremo Ms. Jayalalithaa has asked her party workers to hold a massive demonstration at Rameswaram on Friday urging the DMK government to act immediately to ensure the release of 21 Tamil fishermen, in which MGR Mandram secretary D Jayakumar and other office bearers would take part.
Condemning the ‘abduction’ of 21 fishermen from Rameswaram by the Sri Lankan navy last week, Ms Jayalalithaa charged that chief minister M. Karunanidhi remained a silent spectator to the continuing atrocities of the Sri Lankan navy on Tamil fishermen. He did the same during the last phase of Sri Lankan war when thousands of Tamil civilians were massacred, she said.
Ms Jayalalithaa said the Lankan navy had abducted 21 fishermen and five fishing boats when nearly 400 fishing boats ventured into the sea from Rameswaram on September 16. She pointed out that the incident had even set off an indefinite strike by the fishermen. But Mr. Karunanidhi had stopped with a statement of condemnation, she said.
Issuing statements would not help the fishermen who are suffering at the hands of Sri Lankan navy, the AIADMK supremo said and added Mr. Karunanidhi was soft attitude towards the Centre. And “Central government does not give any significance to the issue of fishermen,” she said.
DMDK fast at New Delhi
The DMDK president Mr. Vijayakanth has called for a fast in New Delhi on September 29 and has sought an appointment with the Prime Minister and the Union Minister for External Affairs S.M. Krishna.
The DMDK president dubbed the Congress-DMK MPs’ delegation to New Delhi a couple of days before to petition prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh on IDPs in the island nation as “nothing but an eye wash.”
He wondered why Union minister for chemicals and fertilizers M. K. Alagiri was not part of the New Delhi delegation when other “ministers enacted the drama.”
Demanding a permanent solution to put an end to Sri Lankan Navy’s continuous attack on Indian fishermen Mr. Vijayakanth held Mr Karunanidhi responsible for all harassment the Indian fishermen were subjected to by the Lankan Navy. He said Karunanidhi had maintained silence when the islet was ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 during his regime.
“While the LTTE was blamed for the firing at fishermen till sometime back, how is it, it is continuing when the Sri Lankan government claims to have eliminated the movement?” he asked.
CHENNAI, 25 September (asiantribune.com): The AIADMK supremo Ms. Jayalalithaa has asked her party workers to hold a massive demonstration at Rameswaram on Friday urging the DMK government to act immediately to ensure the release of 21 Tamil fishermen, in which MGR Mandram secretary D Jayakumar and other office bearers would take part.
Condemning the ‘abduction’ of 21 fishermen from Rameswaram by the Sri Lankan navy last week, Ms Jayalalithaa charged that chief minister M. Karunanidhi remained a silent spectator to the continuing atrocities of the Sri Lankan navy on Tamil fishermen. He did the same during the last phase of Sri Lankan war when thousands of Tamil civilians were massacred, she said.
Ms Jayalalithaa said the Lankan navy had abducted 21 fishermen and five fishing boats when nearly 400 fishing boats ventured into the sea from Rameswaram on September 16. She pointed out that the incident had even set off an indefinite strike by the fishermen. But Mr. Karunanidhi had stopped with a statement of condemnation, she said.
Issuing statements would not help the fishermen who are suffering at the hands of Sri Lankan navy, the AIADMK supremo said and added Mr. Karunanidhi was soft attitude towards the Centre. And “Central government does not give any significance to the issue of fishermen,” she said.
DMDK fast at New Delhi
The DMDK president Mr. Vijayakanth has called for a fast in New Delhi on September 29 and has sought an appointment with the Prime Minister and the Union Minister for External Affairs S.M. Krishna.
The DMDK president dubbed the Congress-DMK MPs’ delegation to New Delhi a couple of days before to petition prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh on IDPs in the island nation as “nothing but an eye wash.”
He wondered why Union minister for chemicals and fertilizers M. K. Alagiri was not part of the New Delhi delegation when other “ministers enacted the drama.”
Demanding a permanent solution to put an end to Sri Lankan Navy’s continuous attack on Indian fishermen Mr. Vijayakanth held Mr Karunanidhi responsible for all harassment the Indian fishermen were subjected to by the Lankan Navy. He said Karunanidhi had maintained silence when the islet was ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 during his regime.
“While the LTTE was blamed for the firing at fishermen till sometime back, how is it, it is continuing when the Sri Lankan government claims to have eliminated the movement?” he asked.
Nedumaran condemns Jayalalithaa
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 25 September (asiantgribune.com): P Nedumaran, President of World Tamils Forum, condemned AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa for describing the LTTE as a movement that had degenerated into a terrorist organisation that annihilated anyone who did not toe its line.
He said in a statement here on Wednesday that Ms. Jayalalithaa had made these remarks without knowing history.
If what Jayalalithaa said was true, then the LTTE would have lost its popularity among the Lankan Tamils, Nedumaran said. “But they stood behind the Tigers through all the sufferings.’’
He said Lankan Tamils would not forgive those who had attempted to malign the LTTE.
CHENNAI, 25 September (asiantgribune.com): P Nedumaran, President of World Tamils Forum, condemned AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa for describing the LTTE as a movement that had degenerated into a terrorist organisation that annihilated anyone who did not toe its line.
He said in a statement here on Wednesday that Ms. Jayalalithaa had made these remarks without knowing history.
If what Jayalalithaa said was true, then the LTTE would have lost its popularity among the Lankan Tamils, Nedumaran said. “But they stood behind the Tigers through all the sufferings.’’
He said Lankan Tamils would not forgive those who had attempted to malign the LTTE.
Jayalalithaa dubs Karunanidhi’s Tamil conference a farce
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 26 September (asiantribune.com): Tamils world over are in a state of distress and in turmoil. Chief Minister Karunanidhi has done little for the cause of Tamils world over. Former chief minister and AIADMK general secretary Ms. Jayalalithaa, launching a tirade against the former organising the World Tamil Conference, dubbed the proposed meet a farce and “self aggrandizement.”
In a statement from Kodanadu where she staying, Ms. Jayalalithaa, referring to the state government's announcement that the conference would be organised in Coimbatore in January 2010, said ''like all utterances of Mr Karunanidhi, this one too smacks of vested interest and has nothing to do with his self-proclaimed love for Tamil language''.
The fact that no country has come forward to host the 9th World Tamil Conference for 14 long years since 1995 is an indication of the turmoil the Tamil world is going through, she said.
Ominous silence when Tamils suffered
“What does Karunanidhi plan to do about the fate of Tamils world over? What does he have to say about the ominous silence when the Tamils were being massacred in Sri Lanka, with the support and backing of the Indian government, of which his party is a part? Why was he unperturbed by the suppression of Tamils in Malaysia? What has he done to ensure that the classical status of Tamils in India exists beyond mere nomenclature?,” Ms. Jayalalithaa asked.
Malaysian Tamils, who hosted the first International Tamil Conference in 1966, feel that they are relegated to the status of secondary citizens in that country. Last year they had given vent to their feelings by coming out on the streets in protest, but were put down by brutal suppression without evoking even a token protest from Karunanidhi, the self-proclaimed saviour of the Tamil race, she said.
The Tamils of Sri Lanka, who hosted the fourth International Conference in Jaffna in 1974, are living in refugee camps in their own country. Their struggle for self determination was ruthlessly snuffed out by the Sri Lankan government with military aid and logistical support from Indian government in which Karunanidhi’s DMK party is a vital component
Karunanidhi never raised his voice, let alone his little finger, when the massacre of Sri Lankan Tamils was on, she alleged.
‘No’ for Tamil in Parliament
“Here in India, Karunanidhi’s own son M K Alagiri, who is a cabinet minister in the Union government, thanks to his father’s bargaining capabilities, is unable to even speak in the Parliament in Tamil. Obviously, Karunanidhi has been unable to do as much for Tamil as he has done for his sundry sons and grandnephews,” Jayalalithaa said.
“Why is he unconcerned about the fact that his son Alagiri has been disallowed to speak in Tamil in the Indian Parliament? Why is he still backing a central government that has heaped such a great indignity on the Tamil language and the Tamil people?” she asked.
''With this sort of track record in the service of the Tamil language and the Tamil people, Karunanidhi’s World Tamil Conference is nothing but a farcical charade for self-aggrandizement and holds nothing whatsoever for Tamil and the Tamil people. Those on show will be himself, literary figures in his party, his children and grandchildren.”
Does it qualify 9th Tamil conference?
The past eight conferences—Kuala Lumpur, Chennai, Paris, Jaffna, Madurai, Kuala Lumpur, Mauritius and Thanjavur—held were organized under the auspicious of the International Association of Tamil Research (IATR). “The 1995 conference at Thanjavur, which was held when I was Chief Minister, was organized by Japanese academician and an authority of Tamil language, Prof. Noboru Karashima, the president of IATR. Karunanidhi’s announcement of ‘his’ World Tamil Conference makes no mention whatsoever of the IATR.
Karunanidhi’s government has no locus standi to organize IATR’s series of International Tamil Conferences. If the 2010 conference is being organize by Karunanidhi, independent of IATR, then it cannot qualify to be called 9th International Tamil Conference as it is being made out to be, she said.
Karunanidhi, who talks so much about his so-called “political decency” was the first leader of Tamil political party to boycott International Tamil conferences.
He and his DMK party men stayed away from the fifth World Tamil Conference in Madurai in 1981, simply because the AIADMK government had hosted it under then Chief Miniser M G Ramachandran.
The DMK leader did it again in 1995 at the eighth World Tamil Conference in Thanjavur, which was held when she was the Chief Minister, she said.
''Having injected a brand of ''political decency'' into the International Tamil Conferences, does he expect the Tamils the world over to forget everything and
participate in the farce that he is organising in Coimbatore?'', she asked.
CHENNAI, 26 September (asiantribune.com): Tamils world over are in a state of distress and in turmoil. Chief Minister Karunanidhi has done little for the cause of Tamils world over. Former chief minister and AIADMK general secretary Ms. Jayalalithaa, launching a tirade against the former organising the World Tamil Conference, dubbed the proposed meet a farce and “self aggrandizement.”
In a statement from Kodanadu where she staying, Ms. Jayalalithaa, referring to the state government's announcement that the conference would be organised in Coimbatore in January 2010, said ''like all utterances of Mr Karunanidhi, this one too smacks of vested interest and has nothing to do with his self-proclaimed love for Tamil language''.
The fact that no country has come forward to host the 9th World Tamil Conference for 14 long years since 1995 is an indication of the turmoil the Tamil world is going through, she said.
Ominous silence when Tamils suffered
“What does Karunanidhi plan to do about the fate of Tamils world over? What does he have to say about the ominous silence when the Tamils were being massacred in Sri Lanka, with the support and backing of the Indian government, of which his party is a part? Why was he unperturbed by the suppression of Tamils in Malaysia? What has he done to ensure that the classical status of Tamils in India exists beyond mere nomenclature?,” Ms. Jayalalithaa asked.
Malaysian Tamils, who hosted the first International Tamil Conference in 1966, feel that they are relegated to the status of secondary citizens in that country. Last year they had given vent to their feelings by coming out on the streets in protest, but were put down by brutal suppression without evoking even a token protest from Karunanidhi, the self-proclaimed saviour of the Tamil race, she said.
The Tamils of Sri Lanka, who hosted the fourth International Conference in Jaffna in 1974, are living in refugee camps in their own country. Their struggle for self determination was ruthlessly snuffed out by the Sri Lankan government with military aid and logistical support from Indian government in which Karunanidhi’s DMK party is a vital component
Karunanidhi never raised his voice, let alone his little finger, when the massacre of Sri Lankan Tamils was on, she alleged.
‘No’ for Tamil in Parliament
“Here in India, Karunanidhi’s own son M K Alagiri, who is a cabinet minister in the Union government, thanks to his father’s bargaining capabilities, is unable to even speak in the Parliament in Tamil. Obviously, Karunanidhi has been unable to do as much for Tamil as he has done for his sundry sons and grandnephews,” Jayalalithaa said.
“Why is he unconcerned about the fact that his son Alagiri has been disallowed to speak in Tamil in the Indian Parliament? Why is he still backing a central government that has heaped such a great indignity on the Tamil language and the Tamil people?” she asked.
''With this sort of track record in the service of the Tamil language and the Tamil people, Karunanidhi’s World Tamil Conference is nothing but a farcical charade for self-aggrandizement and holds nothing whatsoever for Tamil and the Tamil people. Those on show will be himself, literary figures in his party, his children and grandchildren.”
Does it qualify 9th Tamil conference?
The past eight conferences—Kuala Lumpur, Chennai, Paris, Jaffna, Madurai, Kuala Lumpur, Mauritius and Thanjavur—held were organized under the auspicious of the International Association of Tamil Research (IATR). “The 1995 conference at Thanjavur, which was held when I was Chief Minister, was organized by Japanese academician and an authority of Tamil language, Prof. Noboru Karashima, the president of IATR. Karunanidhi’s announcement of ‘his’ World Tamil Conference makes no mention whatsoever of the IATR.
Karunanidhi’s government has no locus standi to organize IATR’s series of International Tamil Conferences. If the 2010 conference is being organize by Karunanidhi, independent of IATR, then it cannot qualify to be called 9th International Tamil Conference as it is being made out to be, she said.
Karunanidhi, who talks so much about his so-called “political decency” was the first leader of Tamil political party to boycott International Tamil conferences.
He and his DMK party men stayed away from the fifth World Tamil Conference in Madurai in 1981, simply because the AIADMK government had hosted it under then Chief Miniser M G Ramachandran.
The DMK leader did it again in 1995 at the eighth World Tamil Conference in Thanjavur, which was held when she was the Chief Minister, she said.
''Having injected a brand of ''political decency'' into the International Tamil Conferences, does he expect the Tamils the world over to forget everything and
participate in the farce that he is organising in Coimbatore?'', she asked.
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