Lankan refugees cause doesn't excite Tamil voters anymore

Right outside India's largest refugee camp at Mandapam in the south eastern tip of Tamil Nadu, is a shop selling coconuts and packaged water belonging to a Sri Lankan refugee, Ayub Khan (28). Called 'Lanka Store', Ayub says he deliberately removed the word 'Sri' from Sri Lanka.

"The war might be over but Sri Lanka has become a more dangerous place to live for Tamils. I won't use Sri for Lanka on my shop because the country has gone to the dogs" says Khan, a Tamil Muslim.

In India, Ayub is a criminal, having served time in a Chennai jail for offences under the Passports Act. But for him, there could be no better place in the world.

In 2015, Ayub claims, he fled Sri Lanka after being detained by a Sri Lankan army firing squad. He was heading a Rural Development Society (RDS) in Mannar district when he was picked up by the army and detained for two weeks. They took his passport and asked him to leave the country or "face consequences." He escaped by boat, the preferred mode of escape for many Tamil refugees, and landed on Indian shores. With no identification, he was booked under the Passports Act and spent six months in Chennai's Puzhal prison. Now a free man, he is back to the refugee camp trying to start a new life.

"I have to sign a register at the police station in Mandapam every evening since the charges are still pending. But I don't mind at all. I am happy in India. In Sri Lanka, we still have to live like second class citizens" says Ayub
The AIADMK led by Jayalalithaa has promised dual citizenship for all Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa's promise seems to be a desperate attempt to showcase her sympathy for the Tamil cause, which till now has been spearheaded by the Karunanidhi led DMK. Jayalalithaa's promise rings hollow because India does not recognize dual citizenship. For Jayalalithaa to fulfill her promise, India's constitution would have to be amended specifically for Sri Lankan refugees. And with the BJP not exactly benevolent towards the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, that might be a hard task.

"It is an impractical idea. If India gives us dual citizenship, similar demands will be raised by refugees from Bangladesh" says Ayub.

In 2011, when Jayalalithaa was voted to power, she announced a monthly grant of Rs 1000 for every Tamil refugee family in the state. But for many in Mandapam, the dole was insufficient and erratic.

Selvakumar and Pavitra, came to Mandapam from the village of Pesalai in Mannar district a decade back at the height of the war. They met for the first time inside the camp and got married. Now they have three children and survive doing odd jobs and on Amma's dole.

"For a few months we got Rs 1000 on the fifth day of every month. But since the last couple of years, the payments have been unpredictable. Sometimes we never get it for months. Now the money comes at the end of every month" says Pavitra.

"I cannot find much work here except doing odd jobs. Now that they are rebuilding our homes in Sri Lanka, I hope to go back to Mannar by next year. If things work out, I will soon join my relatives who have been given asylum in Canada" says her husband Selvakumar.

The post office right outside the gate of the Mandapam camp is testimony to the growing network of Tamil refugees across the world. The post office opened exclusively for refugees receives 80 mails a month on an average.

"Most of these are from Sri Lanka and Australia. Money transfers at the post office average around 30 a month, mostly from Australia and Canada" says Kriba, the sub postmaster.

Tamil Nadu's political parties often hope to play on the sympathy of Tamil voters by promising help to refugees. But with the horrors of war fast fading from the collective conscience of Tamil voters, the sympathy votes are quickly vanishing. The ordinary Tamil voter no longer seems to care much about Tamil refugees and their rehabilitation.

Many refugees are concerned that the vanishing benignancy for their cause in Tamil Nadu does not bode well for their future. Navakuleswaran (44), a resident of the Mandapam camp says, "Most of the LTTE members released from jail are now being re-arrested in night raids by the police. Sri Lanka is still unsafe for us and our children."