As we witness the upsurge in Tamil Nadu expressing solidarity with the Sri Lankan Tamils, we realize that blood is thicker than water. As a result of this expression of solidarity by the people of Tamil Nadu, the Indian bureaucracy directing the central government against the aspirations of the Tamil people has now been silenced. It was this Indian bureaucracy that persuaded Rajiv Gandhi, who was new to politics to work against the aspirations of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

Polls take place at regular intervals and power changes from one party to another but the bureaucracy goes on without any change. Whenever there is a week government, the bureaucracy gives direction to the political leadership according to its whims and fancies.

This is what happened when young Rajiv became Prime Minister. Indian bureaucracy headed by Romesh Bandari, the then Foreign Secretary misdirected the new Indian Prime Minister and made the Indian Government take a stand that was detrimentalto the Interests of Sri Lankan Tamils. It is a tragedy that it has taken us 18 long years to overcome bitter experience.

It is a great solace that, now, there are indications that the situation is changing. On the one hand, Tamil Nadu is strongly supportive of the freedom struggle of the Sri Lankan Tamils, and on the other, the Colombo government is holding hands with anti India forces.

We feel in this context it has become necessary for India to identify forces friendly and those inimical to the interests of India.

In the fifties, the Sri Lankan government disfranchised the Tamils of Indian origin and made them stateless people. During the Indo-Pakistan war, Sri Lanka took up a position favourable to Pakistan.

Although India sent its troops to help the Sri Lankan government to put down the insurrection by the JVP in 1971, Sri Lankan government in return permitted Pakistan war planes to use Colombo International Air Port for transit and refuelling during the Bangladesh war. While the North-East mourned the assassination of Indra Gandhi, the south of Ceylon rejoiced over it.

It is true India is a super power in this region but the reality is there isn’t a single country that is friendly to it around the region. This is the result of poor diplomacy by the Indian bureaucracy. The truth is that as long as there is a powerful state government in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lankan government's friendly ties with India will be at its low.

It is the traditional homeland of the Tamils in the North-East, that can really have friendly ties with India. India needs a friendly country to strengthen its position as a super power in the region in as much as America has Israel as its friendly country in the midst of Arab countries. Why can’t the Tamil homeland be such an allied force for India?

Time has come for the Indian political leadership to take of cognisance of the political reality and act independently without being misdirected by its bureaucracy!

An English translation of the editorial in Uthayan, a Tamil daily, based in Jaffna

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