Ugly scenes witnessed at Thileepan’s memorial ceremony in Nallur

It is a well known secret that almost all Tamil nationalist parties based in the North, including one-man led splinter groups, are trying to capitalise on the otherwise questionable legacy of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The main purpose is to keep its legacy intact and convert whatever goodwill it had into electoral votes. Some parties have been fairly successful in doing so in the recent past.

An ongoing competition to claim ownership for the LTTE’s legacy unfolded at Nallur in Jaffna this week during the commemoration ceremony to remember one of the outfit’s commanders–Rasaiyah Partheepan–whose nom de guerre was Thileepan. The ceremony was held near his demolished memorial.

The Tamil National Peoples’ Front was among the parties which was on the front line when it came to organising various events to mark the day, but some splinter groups from the party and another self-proclaimed group of former LTTE cadres tried to grab the credit on Tuesday.

The event turned ugly when it came to who was going to light the oil lamp as many individuals claimed they would be the fit and proper person to commemorate the slain LTTE commander who passed away on a fast-unto-death campaign in 1987. During the heated arguments minutes after a former cadre was eventually given the opportunity, others tried to stop him–leaving an individual with burn injuries, while another was badly assaulted.

As these ugly scenes unfolded, some Tamil political leaders who claimed to represent the people were on the sidelines witnessing the events, refusing to intervene in the mayhem.

A war survivor who came all the way from Kilinochchi to take part in the event was heard saying in the crowd, “Do not try to do politics with the LTTE tag, if they cannot do anything for the people other than this, they can simply leave and go somewhere.”