The Bharatiya Janata Party has questioned the silence of the Congress party on the issue of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Vijay Joseph paying tribute to former LTTE chief V Prabhakaran on the latter’s death anniversary. Reacting to Vijay’s tribute, BJP leader Amit Malviya said that Rahul Gandhi would have no problem with it, as long as the Congress gets a slice of power. He reminded Congress that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the outfit.

“Tamil Nadu’s new Chief Minister has paid homage to LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, whose outfit assassinated former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Of course, Rahul Gandhi would have no problem with it, as long as the Congress gets a slice of power. After all, the DMK too was an LTTE apologist, yet Congress remained perfectly comfortable in alliance with it,” said Malviya.

Tamil Nadu CM Vijay’s LTTE Tribute

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and TVK leader C. Joseph Vijay paid tribute to LTTE founder V. Prabhakaran on his death anniversary. Taking to X, he said, “We will carry the memories of Mullivaikkal in our hearts! We will always stand in solidarity for the rights of our Tamil kin living across the sea!” Mullivaikkal is in Sri Lanka where Prabhakaran was shot dead by the Lankan army in 2009.

India’s Ban on LTTE

India currently bans the LTTE due to its role in the 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Authorities had named Prabhakaran as the prime accused in that assassination case. Meanwhile, the global Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora and many Tamils in India observe May 18 as Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day, also known as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. This date marks the tragic end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009. It honours the tens of thousands of Tamil civilians who were killed, injured, or went missing during the final, brutal military offensive in the coastal village of Mullivaikkal.