LTTE chief Prabhakaran still ‘alive and doing well’, claims Tamil leader Nedumaran

“I want to say that Prabhakaran is still alive and doing well. I’m happy to tell the Tamil diaspora about that. All the rumours and questions about him might be thus answered. He would announce his next plan (to liberate) Tamil Eelam very soon himself,” Nedumaran claimed, urging Tamils around the world to come out to welcome him.

“When the LTTE was still around, they never let any anti-Indian forces use Sri Lankan land. But we can see that China’s influence in Sri Lanka has grown and that China now controls Sri Lanka… They are also getting more power over the Indian Ocean. I ask the Indian government to do what needs to be done to stop this geopolitical situation,” he said, calling upon “all Tamil people and parties” to rally in support of Prabhakaran.

Nedumaran said Prabhakaran’s “return” would also be important for protecting India’s geopolitical interests. “The Indian government is aware of the risks,” Nedumaran said. “This can be fixed by taking proactive steps to protect India’s interests, which will also help Eelam Tamils get justice.”

He claimed that Prabhakaran’s family was in touch with him, which led him to ascertain the “truth” about the slain LTTE leader. He hoped that the news would give a “new lease of life” to the “Tamil Eelam cause”.

“I am revealing the news about Prabhakaran with the permission of his family. Where is he and when will he show up – these are all valid questions, but I’ll just say that he’ll be back soon and everyone will know,” Nedumaran said.

This was however not the first time that Nedumaran made such a claim about

Prabhakaran being alive.

In an April 2018 interview with The Indian Express, Nedumaran had made similar claims about Prabhakaran being alive and about the days when the Indian agencies used a Madurai farm house owned by his relatives to train the LTTE. “I know for sure that Prabhakaran is still alive, that he was never caught, and that he ran away,” he had then claimed. In the interview, he also said how India had “helped” in the formation of the LTTE by giving the rebels weapons and training.

A former Congress leader, Nedumaran had been close to former Tamil Nadu chief minister and Congress stalwart K Kamaraj. He was said to have even accompanied Kamaraj a few time when the latter met former prime minister Indira Gandi. He quit the Congress after Kamaraj’s demise.

Nedumaran was among the Tamil nationalist leaders in India who got along well with Prabhakaran. He visited the LTTE leader in Lanka during the war. He has also written a biography of Prabhakaran in Tamil, which has sold thousands of copies.

Ramu Manivannan, a retired political science professor from the University of Madras and the author of “Sri Lanka: Hiding the Elephant”, a book on the atrocities against civilians during the last phase of the Lanka war, told the Express that Nedumaran’s claims seemed to be “aimed at creating an impact”. “Why is he telling us this, instead of the people who are in charge in the Eelam movement? Or is Nedumaran being pressured by someone who wants to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government? How different is Indian government’s view from Nedumaran’s? I’m interested to know if the Indian government agrees with his claims. Anyway, as a senior politician, he should be able to back up what he says with some reasonable supporting evidence,” Manivannan said.