The Politics Of Aid

More than Rs 45 lakh donated by the DMK and MDMK through the Tamil Nadu chapter of the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) is stuck at the New Delhi account of the society. One of the main reasons for the non-transference of the donations is the Rao Government's apprehension that it could annoy Sonia Gandhi, something the Congress would not like to with the elections just a few months away. As a Congress MP from Tamil Nadu says, "PMO officials feel that the release of the relief materials meant for the suffering Tamils across the Palk Strait may be interpreted as a pro-LTTE move by the Sonia sycophants. Remember her Amethi outburst." 

The current impasse is an indication of Tamil Nadu's diminishing influence in Indo-Lankan ties. While the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardene Accord in 1987 took the steam out of the Tamil Nadu factor, Gandhi's assassination conclusively obliterated the Tamil lobby. But when the Chandrika Kumaratunga government launched its offensive on Jaffna, voices of protest started emanating from the south Indian state. Barring the Congress, AIADMK and CPI(M), all other parties were vocal in their protest.

The DMK was the first to take up the issue of displaced people and its executive committee resolved to donate Rs 25 lakh. Since the only channel to reach the intended recipients is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), DMK Treasurer Arcot N. Veeraswamy handed over the cheque to V. Karthikeyan, the then president of the Tamil Nadu chapter of the IRCS. Soon after the MDMK chipped in with Rs 20 lakh. Karthikeyan forwarded the money to the IRCS head office in Delhi.

Besides, the MDMK collected medicines and organised blood donations. But these supplies also met with the same fate and are stuck in Madras. Says MDMK General Secretary Gopalasamy: "I hold Narasimha Rao solely responsible for this."

But the IRCS is yet to get a clearance from the Government. Says Barghavi Devendra, honorary secretary of the IRCS: "We can't directly send money across to a foreign country as it involves foreign exchange regulations. Our Delhi office is trying to do something about it. And Indian Airlines had offered to airlift the blood and the medicines for us to Colombo. But we haven't got clearance from the Government." 

On their part, Tamil political parties are quite convinced about a conspiracy between the Indian and Sri Lankan Governments. Exclaims S. Ramdoss of the PMK: "On the one hand the combine has forcibly blocked the route for the refugees to flee from Sri Lanka; and on the other, they are denying the means for us to express our solidarity with the suffering masses." It is being argued that if New Delhi could rush relief in 1987 to the island nation and threaten to intervene militarily, what prevents it from even issuing a statement condemning the war? It is claimed that India's deafening silence only confirms the LTTE propaganda that the intervention was not on behalf of Tamils, but only to serve its own geo-political interests. "Otherwise why should it prevent relief material meant for the hapless?" asks M.S.S. Pandian of the Madras Institute of Development Studies.

However, some Sri Lankan refugee organisations in Tamil Nadu say the withholding of relief is a "perverse act of the Chandrika government". Says S.C. Chandrahasan of ProTEG (Protection of the Tamil Eelam from Genocide and Other Violations of Human Rights): "Barring the ICRC and UNHCR, no other relief agency has been permitted to work in the affected areas." He notes that since in any internal conflict, the ICRC needs the local government's clearance, Colombo wields the upper hand.

And as the controversy attracts its share of theories, there seems to be no hope in sight for Jaffna residents. To make matters worse, this is the rainy season, raising the possibility of epidemics. But then, such problems rarely affect political decisions.