On Monday Pazha Nedumaran’s statement to the media that LTTE leader Prabhakaran is alive received a lot of publicity in the Indian media. Not only in the Indian media but also in the international media, it got a lot of publicity.
Who is this Pazha Nedumaran…?
Nedumaran is a politician from Tamil Nadu. He started politics from Congress party. In 1979, when Congress leader Indira Gandhi was travelling to participate in meetings during election time in Tamil Nadu in an open Jeep, Karunanidhi’s DMK party supporters pelted stones at her jeep. Nedumaran saved her from that. Later, when Indira Gandhi came to power, he was offered a ministerial position, but he did not accept it. However his good relationship with the Gandhi family continued.
After the killing of Sri Lankan Mayor Duraiappah, by LTTE leader Prabhakaran he fled to Tamil Nadu, Nedumaran came to help Prabhakaran. When the Tamil Nadu police tried to arrest Prabhakaran and Uma Maheswaran in Tamil Nadu and deport them to Sri Lanka, Nedumaran summoned an all-party meeting in Tamil Nadu to force the Indian central government not to deport Prabhakaran back to Sri Lanka. There, Nedumaran objective was to pressurize the government not to deport Prabhakaran and Uma Maheswaran to Sri Lanka he wanted to reach an agreement between the parties. Karunanidhi’s DMK party did not participate in it.
But Chief Minister M.G.R. sent a representative. Prabhakaran and Uma Maheswaran were prevented from being deported to Sri Lanka. Madras court granted bail to Prabha and Uma. Nedumaran took care of Prabhakaran. He hid Prabhakaran in his house. The close relationship between Prabhakaran and Nedumaran started from there. One day Prabhakaran fled to Sri Lanka. He told only Nedumaran that he was going. After that, Nedumaran came to Sri Lanka by boat and met Prabhakaran. Prabhakaran, who was in India at the time of the signing of the Indo-Lanka Treaty, told Nedumaran that they would kill him if he remained in India. Prabhakaran secretly told Nedumaran this when he was putting the cyanide round his neck. Prabhakaran did not return to India after leaving India that day. But Nedumaran went to Vanni jungle in Sri Lanka to see Prabhakaran.
Prabhakaran trusted Nedumaran more than his theoretician Balasingham. At the end of the 2009 war, Nedumaran organized protest movements in Tamil Nadu to save Prabhakaran, but it was unsuccessful.
After Prabhakaran was killed, Nedumaran claimed several times that he was still alive. But it did not get much publicity. But this week, the Indian and international media gave a lot of publicity to the statement that Prabhakaran was alive, it is a matter of curiosity.