A `Gandhian’ who backs LTTE chief Prabhakaran

David studied architecture in Australia and was working with the Sri Lankan government. When the Lankan government enforced the `Sinhala-only’ policy, he quit his job in protest and left for London to study town planning. He then became chief architect of the African country Mombossa.

But the scrawny bachelor with a flowing snow-white beard, confined in a 10×10 room in the suburbs of Chennai, bears little resemblance to the man who earned millions. English tuitions to Lankan Tamil children and interest on the small amount he has deposited in the bank sees him through now.

His hands trembling constantly, he however springs to life when the conversation veers towards the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. “I’ve chosen this path of my own accord. Why should I regret (it)? Compared to the sufferings of my people in the forests of Sri Lanka, this is nothing,” he laughs.

His eyes light up when he talks of his incarcineration in the Welikadi prison. The prison witnessed terrible incidents in the 1983 anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka. “Kuttimani and others met with a gory death. It was sheer luck that I escaped.”

He was shifted to Batticoala prison where he organised a sensational jailbreak with other Tamil inmates. Those who got away included Douglas Devananda, presently heading the Eelam People’s Democratic Party. But David scoffs at them now. “They have joined hands with the enemies,” he says.

Like many others, he came to Tamil Nadu after escaping from the Batticoala prison. David had originally cast his lot with People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), but he says he became disenchanted with the internal killings in the organisation. When he took up the matter with PLOTE leader Uma Maheswaran, the latter had warned him, “The same thing could happen to you if you kick up such issues.”

Subsequently, he was abducted by some PLOTE members. He was let off by one of the cadres. Thanks to him, David lives to tell his story.

Things have changed a lot for David. A `Gandhian’ wedded to the ideals of Periyar, he now strongly believes that Prabakaran alone can liberate the Tamils. How could one trust a man who ruthlessly kills his own people? “It was the PLOTE which started internal killings. Moreover, our greater enemies are the Sinhalese.”

As far as a solution for the ethnic crisis in concerned, David says Eelam alone will solve the problem. “Either we must get out of the rule of the Sinhalese or perish. This is our ideal,” he quotes late Tamil leader Dr Selvanayagam’s speech in the Sri Lankan Parliament. “When a Gandhian like Father Selvanayagam loses faith in peaceful co-existence, it can only mean that all other options are closed for good and secession is the only way out.”

The interview is over. Time for the next tuition. He picks up some papers, locks his room and strides out purposefully. Whatever David’s convictions may be, one cannot but admire this `karma yogi’ — a rare breed these days.