Indian Express survey shows Tamil Nadu support for LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2008, 09:42 GMT]
A survey undertaken in 10 cities in Tamil Nadu by the best-selling daily newspaper The New Indian Express and the research agency C fore has reported that one-third of the respondents favoured the ruling DMK Government to snap ties with the Union Government for arming and training the Sri Lankan military. A clear majority of the respondents wanted India to lift the ban on the proscribed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and 66% of the respondents said the LTTE is either freedom fighters and/or the sole and genuine representatives of Tamil voice.

More than a third of the respondents claimed that the LTTE was the "sole and genuine representation of Tamil voice in Sri Lanka," another third viewed the organization as "freedom fighters" and 22% viewed them as "working with others to promote Tamils' cause."

The survey, taken in the cities of Chennai, Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Madurai, Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Thirunelveli, Sivaganga and Thanjavur, also showed a overwhelming emotional bond between the Tamil bretheren: 62% of Tamils in Tamil Nadu said that they would gladly donate money and material to Tamil Eelam, and allow Tamil Nadu to be used as a shelter for refugees from Tamil Eelam.

The New Indian Express reported that "a significant percentage also supported the idea of sending our [Indian] armed forces into Sri Lanka if LTTE chief V Prabhakaran was in imminent danger of being cornered."

The active involvement of Tamil Nadu's leaders in the Sri Lankan issue was seen as logical by the people because it involved Tamil people. The respondents were also supportive of political steps such as declaring a bandh, going on a fast unto death or levying a special tax for the sake of Eelam Tamils.