Lessons from Kosovo for the Tamil Eelam lobbyists
Tamils account for 76million the world over. The British transported Tamils all round the world as indentured labor during colonial times. The Tamils functioned as loyal slaves of the British. Disproportionate opportunities and privileges paved the way for Tamils to mentally believe they were superior and above all others and from this has sprouted the notion for the Tamils to have a separate state. While there are hardly 2million Tamils physically living in Sri Lanka, 72million Tamils actually live in an Indian State that is referred to as State of the Tamils (Tamil Nadu) where Tamils are over 99% of the population, where Tamil language is the state language, where Tamil culture dominates, where Hinduism prevails – virtually all ingredients need for self-determination in a state that was amalgamated by the British to be called India. It is these arguments that the Tamils of Tamil Nadu started using to demand separatism from India but with India passing the pillow to Sri Lanka by creating Tamil militancy/LTTE Sri Lanka has become saddled with India’s headache. Nonetheless, carving out separate states being the newest norm of the capitalist West outcome of which Kosovo came about in 2008 the latest attempt is Tamil Eelam but there are serious lessons for Tamils themselves to learn from. They first need to come down a peg or two from cheering an eelam to wondering if Eelam will become a nightmare as the Kosovars are now discovering with no return too!
