The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has spoken its mind. A steady unwillingness to discourage support for the Tamil Tigers, poems on the death of a front-ranking rebel by no less than the party chief, and more such actions are sufficient reason to suspect that the DMK’s heart still bleeds for the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka. Even then, that a resolution asking for the Indian government’s re-engagement in facilitating peace talks between the warring parties in Sri Lanka was moved by the DMK and passed by a voice vote in the Tamil Nadu assembly suggest a new confidence in the DMK. This has enabled it to break its uncomfortable silence over the matter since the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. It is obvious that Priyanka Gandhi’s visit to Vellore has provided a powerful impetus to the DMK move. The chief minister and party chief, M. Karunanidhi himself, admits that. But it is perhaps the party’s political pragmatism more than the stance of the Nehru-Gandhis that has prompted the DMK to go for the kill.

The support of the DMK’s members of parliament from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry remains a crutch for the Congress at the Centre, and the need for support cannot but be most keenly felt in an election year. The DMK can manipulate this need in various ways. It can be used to push through the DMK’s pet Sethusamudram project, to which the Congress has so far showed only tepid support. It can also be banked upon to bring to the fore the Sri Lankan Tamil issue that continues to have tremendous emotive appeal in Tamil Nadu. Even if there is little chance that the Congress-led government will second Mr Karunanidhi’s concern for the Tamil movement, there is now a hope that it will be tolerated. However, it is unlikely the government of India, irrespective of which party is at the helm, will re-enter the troubled waters in the South. The Sri Lankan government will never believe India is a disinterested party, and for India, the Tamil Tigers will continue to remain creatures too difficult to trust.