Hours before his arrest under POTA, defiance was writ large on the face of MDMK leader Vaiko as he arrived at Mumbai airport early on Thursday. A transit passenger, the Sivakasi MP cancelled his customs clearance and instead walked out to speak to the waiting media, aware that Jayalalithaa may not give him another chance to speak once he touched down at Chennai. SATISH NANDGAONKAR caught up with him. Excerpts:Do do still justify your support for the LTTE?An armed struggle has been thrust on the Tamil people of Ceylon. We support the concerns of the Tamil Eelam. The LTTE is their only representative body. Can you talk about the Palestine problem without talking about the PLO, or about N. Ireland without referring to the IRA ? Is it possible to resolve the crisis in Ceylon without involving LTTE in talks? I don’t hide my support. I have said in Parliament that I support the LTTE. If I have to suffer, I am happy to suffer.What were your remarks about the LTTE in the June 29 meeting? I will place my arguments legally at an appropriate forum at the appropriate time. I would not like to talk about it now.Do you expect more such measures against you?Fear cannot come near Vaiko’s shadow. I am a born fighter. I will fight this to the end. The picketing programme will continue, but I have given instructions to partymen not to indulge in violence. Has any NDA leader helped?I spoke to George Fernandes last week. I told him I would be last person to cause embarrassment to the Centre. I will not seek its intervention. My principle is the Centre should not enter the domain of the state, whatever happens.Why is Jayalalithaa indulging in vendetta?She thinks she can do anything because she has POTA in her hands.She has failed on all fronts. She has been making irresponsible statements on the Cauvery issue. She has refused to meet the PM for talks. She has not convened an all-party meeting. She recently said she would whip government staff to extract work from them. The arrests of MDMK workers show her aggressive tendencies have come to the fore again.But weren’t MDMK and the AIADMK friends 4 years ago? We had joined hands with the AIADMK to make Vajpayee the Prime Minister. There was no tie-up at the state-level. But see how Jayalalithaa betrayed Vajpayee. What will you do if the Centre intervenes at a later stage?POTA was passed under extraordinary circumstances. The NDA has said this Act should not be used for political vendetta. But, I will not knock at the Centre’s doors to rescue my party. This is my party’s finest hour. Through struggle and sacrifice, we will show again the MDMK is the real Dravidian party.
