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Rajive Gandhi   Piraphaaran       By D. b. s. jeyaraj

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist, Anton Stanislaus Balasingham has revealed in a recent book that former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Tiger Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan had entered into a secret "gentlemen's agreement" in the early hours of July 29, 1987 in New Delhi. Balasingham says that it was only after entering into a "Rajiv-Prabha accord" around 2 a.m. that the Indian Premier flew to Colombo at 9 a.m. to sign the Indo-Lanka accord with Junius Richard Jayewardene at 3 p.m. the same day.

According to Balasingham former AIADMK Tamil Nadu State Minister "Panrutti" S. Ramachandran was present during this historic meeting between Rajiv and Prabha. He says that the LTTE supremo neveragreed to the terms of the Indo-Lanka accord when provisions of it were shown. Rajiv apparently accepted the LTTE position and only wanted the Tigers to refrain from opposing it in public.

Rajiv also agreed to let the Tigers make a token surrender of old and useless arms for exhibitionistic purposes. He also agreed to awarding a dominant position on the north east Interim Administration (IA) to the LTTE. Gandhi also agreed to pay Indian Rs. 5 million per mensem to the LTTE to carry on their administration without taxing the people. He also assured the LTTE that he would see to it that then President Jayewardene would never implement the provision regarding the referendum to de-merge the north and east.

Secret understanding

Bala reveals all these and more in his new book Viduthalai or Liberation released early this month in London. The book is a collection of essays and articles. One of them is about the Rajiv-Praba meeting and their secret understanding. The article has been carried in instalments in the LTTE newspaper Eelanatham published in the north. It is titled "Rajiv-Piraba Santhippu: Eluthappadaatha Oru Oppantham" (Rajiv-Prabha meeting: An unwritten agreement).

Balasingham notes that while everyone knows about the written agreement between Rajiv and JR signed on July 29, 1987 few people know about the agreement reached between Rajiv and Prabha. The talks started on July 29th night and went on till after midnight and concluded around 2 a.m. on July 29th. He says the Rajiv administration kept this a closely guarded secret. As a person involved in the exercise, Bala says that it is his important duty to record this historic agreement.

Pirapaharan, Balasingham, Yogi and Thileepan were "invited" to New Delhi and placed under house arrest at Hotel Ashok in New Delhi. Attempts were made to force down the proposed Indo-Lanka accord down the Tiger throats. The LTTE resisted. The fact that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran also sided with the LTTE on this made the position difficult and embarrassing for Rajiv Gandhi.

In a change of tactics Rajiv decided to woo Prabha personally and obtain his approval before embarking to Sri Lanka on July 29.  So close upon midnight on July 28th Indian officials woke up the sleeping Tigers and summoned them to a meeting with the Indian Premier. So Prabha, Bala and Yogi left under armed "Black Cat Commando" escort to meet Rajiv, leaving Thileepan behind at Ashok.

Personal welcome

Rajiv himself welcomed the Tigers at the entrance of his residence. Along with him was M. Narayanan,  then head of the CBI and Panrutti S Ramachandran, a minister in MGR's Tamil Nadu administration. According to Bala this was the first time Rajiv and Prabha were meeting face to face. "I have heard a lot about you. I am happy to meet you now," greeted a smiling Rajiv.

As the meeting progressed Rajiv asked Prabha about the dissatisfaction the Tiger chief had in regard to the proposed accord that had been shown to the Tigers earlier. He wanted the LTTE to pinpoint the shortcomings in the draft. Prabha asked Bala to relate them. There upon Balasingham expressed LTTE criticism of the proposed agreement on an itemised basis.

Chief among these were the proposal to de-merge the north and east by referendum, the limited scope of devolution envisaged and the 72 hour deadline to surrender arms. Rajiv listened attentively and took down notes.

Thereafter, according to Balasingham, Rajiv had said "Our government is sincerely involved in trying to find a just solution to the problems of your people. Your cooperation is vital to us in this. As you have pointed out there are certainly flaws in this accord. The provisions regarding a provincial council are only temporary arrangements. I will talk to Jayewardene later and try to rectify them. I will also persuade Jayewardene to postpone the referendum indefinitely. You must trust the Indian government. We are acting with great concern about the welfare of the Tamils. So we need your support. This accord will win back the rights of the Tamil people and ensure their security. Your supporting the accord will strengthen our hands."

Rejected

Panrutti Ramachandran interpreted Rajiv's comments in Tamil for Prabha. According to Bala the LTTE Leader responded thus "This agreement does not serve the interests of the Tamil people. On the contrary it affects their interests adversely. Therefore we cannot accept this accord," said Prabha with firm conviction.

Rajiv understood the position. He realised that Prabha will stand firm in his beliefs. Rajiv did not want to seriously disagree with the LTTE and worsen the situation. So he altered his approach suddenly.

Rajiv said "I understand your position. I am not asking you to change your decision or policy. You don't have to accept this accord. But if you don't oppose it openly that would be enough."  Immediately Ramachandran jumped in enthusiastically.

"See the PM himself has agreed to your stance. You don't have to accept the accord. That's your position. No need to accept it. But the Prime Minister is only requesting you to refrain from opposing it publicly.Don't you think you can oblige the Indian government in this small matter?" queried Ramachandran on behalf of Rajiv.

Bala observes that the reason for Ramachandran being present became clear then. Both Prabha and Bala were not satisfied with Rajiv's and Ramachandran's explanation. "If we don't accept something then does it not mean that we are opposed to it?" whispered Prabha in Bala's ear.

According to Bala, Rajiv realised that he could not satisfy us by differentiating between "not accepting" and "opposing." He took off in a new direction.

"Even we know that your movement and the Tamil people at large have no faith in Jayewardene. We also don't trust him but we have exerted tremendous pressure on him and formulated this agreement. Even though there are deficiencies in the provincial council scheme don't you think that we can hold further talks in the future and enhance autonomous powers for the Tamils? Also it is not possible to implement this provincial council scheme immediately. We need some time. Prior to that we can set up an interim administration for the north and east. Your organisation can be given the major role in that. I am prepared to enter into a secret agreement with you regarding that interim government," said Rajiv then, says Bala now.

Then Panruti Ramachandran chipped in again. "Don't let slip this opportunity. This is a fine chance to establish a Tiger administration in the Tamil homeland. Don't reject the proposal to enter into a secret pact with the Prime Minister of India. Don't worry too much about the Indo-Lanka accord. The Rajiv-Prabha accord is going to materialise before that. There is no need to publicise this. We can keep it as a secret," he said.

Well rehearsed

Balasingham goes on to observe that everything seemed a well-rehearsed drama. Pirapaharan did not trust anyone or anything. He seemed totally disinterested. But Ramachandran kept on eagerly trying to structure a Rajiv-Prabha agreement.

It was decided to set up an interim administration for the north and east and provide majority representation on it to the LTTE. Rajiv wanted all Tamil militant outfits in Eelam to be represented on it. Prabha disagreed. Finally it was agreed that the TULF and EROS will get limited representation on the IA. Rajiv gave assurances about the formation, powers and functions of the proposed interim administration. Prabha demanded that Sinhala colonisation of the Tamil homeland must end and that opening of new police stations in the north and east by the Sinhala government should cease. Rajiv Gandhi agreed to both says Balasingham.

Rajiv then asked Prabha as to whether the LTTE could stop its taxation of the people. He said that the Jayewardene government was complaining thatthe Tigers were forcibly taxing the Jaffna people. Prabha replied that the taxes were used to finance the LTTE's administrative costs. If the Indian government provided that money, the LTTE was prepared to end taxation said Prabha. Rajiv then asked "How much are you earning through taxes for  a month?" Prabha said it was about a crore or Sri Lankan Rs. 10  million. "If so, it will amount to about Indian Rs. 50 lakhs, I will give you that money," promised Rajiv.

Finally the question of arms surrender arose says Bala. "We are not asking you to surrender all your weapons. A small amountbeing surrendered as a gesture of goodwill is enough. The Indian peace keeping force will protect the people and the militants in the north and east. A ceasefire with the Sinhala armed forces will continue. In such an environment you will not be needing all your weapons," said the Indian Prime Minister. Instead of replying Prabha was immersed in deep thought.

Panruti Ramachandran interrupted again. "What is there to think about? It is enough if you give back some of the old, unusable, rusty weapons from the arsenal given by India," he suggested. Prabha replied in mocking tones "All the weapons given by India were like that." "Then its all right no? Give back some of those weapons. When the time comes the Indian governmentwill replenish those with new weapons, no," said Minister Ramachandran. He then translated in English what he told Prabha for Rajiv's benefit. The PM nodded in agreement says Balasingham.

The time was around 2 a. m. Rajiv was scheduled to leave for Colombo at 9 a.m. and sign the accord at 3 p.m. Rajiv seemed happy that he had arrived at an agreement of some sort with Pirapaharan. Pirapaharan was not happy. His face clearly indicated it. Ramachandran was smirking as if he had achieved something great. We were all tired due to sleeplessness."

When the meeting was about to end, Balasingham asked Panrutti Ramachandran "We spoke about a lot of matters concerning the Rajiv-Prabha agreement. The Premier has given a lot of promises. Why don't we write these up briefly and get the PM to sign and endorse it?"

Money matters

After some thought Ramachandran replied. "There are many controversial matters in this secret accord. There are money matters. There is the arms surrender issue. If these things become public there will be a political cyclone in India and Sri Lanka. Don't you have faith in the Prime Minister?This is a gentlemen's agreement. Let this be an unwritten accord between two great people," he said and interpreted what he said in English to Rajiv Gandhi.

"You don't have to worry about anything. I will implement my promises. Let this be as the Minister said an unwritten gentlemen's agreement," said Rajiv. Bala says that he did not want to contradict the PM at the final stage of the meeting. "Finally he agreed to remove our detention and make arrangements to be sent back to Tamil Eelam."

We bade farewell to Rajiv and reached Ashok Hotel around 3 a. m. Prabha told Bala "Anna wait and see. These secret accords and pledges will never ever be implemented. The whole thing is a deceptive trick," and entered his room in a state of frustration.

Later Balasingham related to Thileepan what had transpired. After listening intently Thileepan asked "What does Annai (Prabha) say?" Bala replied "Prabha is not happy. He is firmly convinced that this will not work." After deep thought Thileepan said "What Annai (Prabha) said will only take place."

Finally Balasingham goes on to say "That is what happened. The secret accord was not implemented. The IA was not set up. Thileepan angered by Rajiv Gandhi's non-implementation of pledges given to Pirapaharan went on a death fast to expose India to the world at large. By sacrificing his life Thileepan did so. The unwritten Rajiv-Prabha agreement exploded as a political earthquake. It created a tremendous upsurge in Tamil Eelam."

The article by Balasingham makes interesting reading and throws new light on Indo-Tiger relations before the accord. Details of the Rajiv-Prabha understanding are revealed for the first time. It also explains several consequent developments that are well known.