Chennai, Aug. 19 :    Chennai, Aug. 19:  One became a robber from a revolutionary. The other has turned a revolutionary from a robber. Veerappan is not the first robber to be let into the pantheon of the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army, the phantom group now riding piggyback on the bandit's infamy and suspected to be the real voice behind his demands. The group's founder himself, Thamizharasan, was stoned to death by a mob while trying to escape after robbing a bank in 1987. If ideology fired Thamizharasan, an engineering dropout and said to be a master at making explosives, to break into a bank, the dread of obscurity is now driving his surviving followers to Veerappan's camp. 'Veerappan is no more a brigand. We have changed him. He provides the terrain and we the ideology. There's no stopping us,' claims a functionary of the Marxist Communist Party of Tamil Nadu, supposedly the political wing of the TNLA. The liberation force was born from the ruins of the People's War Group of the CPI(M-L). 'The CPI(M-L) was his first exposure to Marxism,' said an associate at whose hands Thamizharasan's initiation took place. Born into a middle-level peasant family at Srimushnam, a Vaisnavite pilgrim centre in northern Tamil Nadu, Thamizharasan struck out on his own to pursue the 'revolutionary project' after the CPI(M-L) disintegrated under a police crackdown in the mid-eighties. It was he who came up with the theory that the first task before the different nationalities making up India was to liberate themselves from the upper castes. The stress was on ethnic identity, the proletariat revolution could come later. Pulavar Kaliyaperumal, in his seventies and one of the early associates of Thamizharasan, said: 'When we failed to convince our comrades of the need for mobilising our people on ethnic lines and the futility of the class struggle approach, given the Indian realities, we had to walk out and float our own outfit. Thanks to his inspiring leadership, we flourished.' Opinion is divided on whether the group flourished or not, but it made its presence felt with some spectacular strikes in mid-eighties, including the derailing of a passenger train in which 25 people were killed. But the rising graph tapered off after the brutal death of Tamizharasan. The TNLA is yet to come to terms with the loss. But the rising graph tapered off after the brutal death of Tamizharasan. The TNLA is yet to come to terms with the loss. 'The masses did not understand what he was doing. There were also some policemen in mufti who egged on the crowd. But that he did not use his gun against the people who were attacking him shows how much he loved them,' said an associate of Tamizharasan. The TNLA shrank after his death, many of the remaining cadre taking to extortion and even dacoity, according to state police. Veerappan is a godsend for Tamizharasan's old friends, who now believe that they have one more innings to play. After their founder, Tamil Tiger leader Prabhakaran was the TNLA's sole lode-star. 'Prabhakaran has shown that ethnic mobilisation could be very effective. That he is a Tamil makes us feel all the more proud,' said Kaliyaperumal. He claims to have shared a prison cell with Prabhakaran in Chennai in 1983. 'Now, in Veerappan, we have found a very effective ally. He has shown up all politicians as an incompetent bunch. By focusing on the interests of the Tamil community at large, he has demonstrated that he is more sincere than these rabble-rousers. The TNLA will go from strength to strength with the help of the brave Veerappan,' Kaliyaperumal said. But police officers dismissed the TNLA as a 'group of goons' who might have succeeded in terrorising the people, but have no grassroot support. Popular support for the group was not evident on the ground, but there was unconcealed admiration for Veerappan's ability to hold the establishment to ransom. An ideologue who was once part of the PWG also ridiculed the resurgence. 'These people are glorified Don Quixotes, that's all. In their search for some quick-fix for revolution, they resort to all kinds of strategies. One can only pity them, a lot of innocent lives would be ruined in the crack-down that would follow once the hostage crisis ends,' he added. The police are not worried too much now since the five Tamil Nadu prisoners sought to be freed by Veerappan were not high on the wanted list. 'But if the new momentum is sustained and the TNLA is able to widen its base, we could be in for some deep trouble,' an officer conceded.