Very pertinent tweets by @RKRadhakrishn.

Thread.

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Tamils in Sri Lanka aren't one undifferentiated unit. There fall under:
1. Northern Tamils.
2. Eastern Tamils.
3. Muslims (initiated by Sinhalese treachery).
4. Plantation Tamils (of Indian origin). https://twitter.com/RKRadhakrishn/status/1317066050882531329

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The Sinhalese engaged in cunning divide and rule tactics and wedged Muslims away from the rest.

Plantation Tamils were never treated as humans. They were taken to Sri Lanka by the British Empire which ruled over India and Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was known back then).

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During the late 19th century. They carved out a prosperous economy from the wilderness of central Sri Lanka.

The British Empire left Sri Lanka and the latter celebrated its independence on February 4, 1948, almost 6 months after India and Pakistan.

Sinhalese Buddhists

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were the majority. In 1955, the Ceylon Citizenship Act was promulgated and it instantly turned Sri Lanka's Plantation Tamil population into stateless refugees. What did the Northern and Eastern Tamils do? They turned a blind eye to the plight of the Plantation Tamils.

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The Sinhalese eventually targeted them. During the 1970s, Tamils took to militancy. But there was a catch: Almost all of them except the EPRLF considered Plantation Tamils as pests to be eradicated. Such was the contempt they had for that disenfranchised population.

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In the 1980s, due to Sinhalese dirty games, Muslims were weaned away from the rest and eventually joined the Sinhalese majority.

It was during this decade that rivalries between LTTE and other Vellalar-led Eelam groups broke out. By the mid-1990s, LTTE's Prabhakaran

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eradicated all other groups (which were led by Northern Vellalars).

Northern and Eastern Tamils were united only after Rajiv Gandhi and Junius Richard Jayawardene signed a pact. Before that, they were discrete entities.

On May 21, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated/

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By a LTTE suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur near Madras in India. That assassination led to the rise of Jayalalithaa in the state of Tamil Nadu and India officially designating LTTE as a terrorist organization.

Till the end of the Eelam war in 2009, Jayalalithaa firmly/

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opposed LTTE and Prabhakaran. After they were eradicated, Jayalalithaa's hired hoodlum Seeman began his political career using Prabhakaran and Eelam as a theme. He helped Jayalalithaa's ADMK win in 2011, 2014 and 2016.

While Kalaignar MK, Vaiko, Thiruma, etc., actually

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supported the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils and batted for their human rights, dignity and justice, Jayalalithaa decided to play the Indian nationalist card to the hilt.

Soon after that, she did a volte-face and made Eelam one of her promises if she became PM and won 2014!

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While the rights of Sri Lankan Tamils were definitely a powerful factor in Tamil Nadu's politics, what happened due to the likes of Seeman and Ranjith is that it became a parody.

The recent episode of a Sri Lankan Tamil who threatened Indian actor Vijay Sethupathi's

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daughter with rape further intensified Indian Tamil aversion and disgust towards Sri Lankan Tamils.

It seems I've strayed far off course. Now to get back on track.

Northern Tamils treated Plantation Tamils with utter contempt. Even today, Sri Lankan Tamils consider

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Tamils from India, Singapore and Malaysia as lower than themselves. You could think of Sri Lankan Tamils as the Palestinians of South Asia.

Palestinians have nothing but contempt for others. This is a hard truth Indian/Pakistani Muslims learn when they run into them.

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Please note that this is my personal observation.

Sri Lankan Tamils having lost all hope of getting basic human rights, dignity, peace and justice are now taking out their rage, online and offline, on Indian Tamils whom they consider as inferior to themselves.

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The actions of India's central govt in recent days have pushed Tamils there to the edge. There's no wall, there's only the deep blue Indian Ocean.

In other words, Indian Tamils are besieged. On the one hand, they must put up with the BJP regime and its puppet govt.

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On the other hand, they must put up with stray nihilist Sri Lankan Tamils itching to stab them in their backs.

A decade ago, Eelam roused a flaming passion among Indian Tamils. Thanks to Seeman and gang, in recent years, it has induced nothing but contempt and aversion.

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Now one can't blame Sri Lankan Tamils for their suffering. What they went through was an unprecedented tragedy. But they let scoundrels like Seeman milk it for their own personal enrichment, hence it's no longer a case of human rights, it's now a business.

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Just like Tibet is now a business (thank you very much Dalai Lama). Just like Palestine is now a business (thank you very much Yasser Arafat, Iran and Turkey).

With no shame, Sri Lankan Tamils have let their tragedy become a business, and a very cheap one at that.

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And that's what they must be blamed for. Keep the facts in focus at all times.

Taking out their anger on cricketer Muthiah Muralidharan is cheap politics. He's one of those Plantation Tamils whom native Sri Lankan Tamils treated with utter disdain. Furthermore

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the troubles this demography went through to keep their kids safe from Prabhakaran will need a book to write down.

From 2004 to 2009, Prabhakaran was dragging kids to war against the wishes of their parents and other people while his own son was a British citizen.

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So what exactly should Muralidharan fight for? After all, Sri Lankan Tamils treated his own community with disdain.

Go to @TheDohaTalkies' TL for more on this topic.

This is the end of my thread.

Thank you all for reading. Have a nice day.