Prabhakaran’s ghost returns to haunt DMK

Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa has moved on after LTTE, and has won the presidential and parliamentary elections with thumping majorities. But the DMK government in Tamil Nadu is still struggling to rid itself of the slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran’s ghost.

The decision of the immigration authorities at the Chennai international airport to deport Prabhakaran’s ailing mother Parvathi Velupillai to Malaysia in the same flight in which she had arrived late on Friday without even deplaning has drawn a lot of flak.

Parvathi, who is suffering from a paralytic stroke, arrived in Chennai by a Malaysian Airline flight on Friday night with a medical visa valid for six months. She was accompanied by a female attendant.

However, the 79-year-old was not allowed to disembark and forced to return by the same flight.

“We don’t see how a 79-year-old ailing lady could be a threat. When the Sri Lankan authorities have clearly signalled the end of LTTE, what is the DMK government afraid of? May be the DMK government does not want to rub the Congress on the wrong side,” Sumathi Narayanan, a 45-year-old entrepreneur who travels a lot to Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore, told DNA.

Even DMK’s close ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) strongly condemned the action of the immigration authorities. “The inhuman attitude of the immigration authorities is highly condemnable. Annai (mother) Parvathi has suffered in mind and body. She has lost her husband recently. The entire episode is regrettable,” VCK founder Thol Thirumavalavan said in a strongly worded statement. “I request the DMK government to ensure treatment to her in Chennai,” he added.

Former DMK ally PMK, a party which is now again trying to woo Karunanidhi’s support, also assailed the decision to deport Parvathi.

“Even worst criminals are allowed medical aid on humanitarian ground. It is unfortunate that the immigration authorities behaved in such an abominable manner,” he said.

Tamil Nationalist Movement leader P Nedumaran and MDMK founder Vaiko were at the airport to receive Parvathi. But the two political leaders were not allowed to meet her citing security reasons.

Some of the pro-Tamil parties staged demonstrations in various parts of the state against the decision to deport Parvathi.

Parvathi has been under the care of a distant relative MK Sivajilingam after the death of her husband Thiruvengadam Velupillai in January this year.

Sivajilingam proposed to send Parvathi to her daughter Vinothini Rajendran, who lives in Canada.

As the Canadian visa is expected to take around three months to process, he decided to send her to India for treatment.