The Hindu : National : In the cashew belt, a lingering sense of unease

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Thursday, Apr 27, 2006

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National

In the cashew belt, a lingering sense of unease

The extremists may have gone underground, but authorities are not taking any chances, says S. Dorairaj

Photo: T. Singaravelou

Farmers harvesting the cashew crop in Villupuram.

In Tamil Nadu's cashew belt — spread over Perambalur, Cuddalore and Villupuram districts — extremism may have been driven underground but a sense of unease lingers.

With the March 8 election fast approaching, campaigning has picked up in these poverty-stricken districts, and the contending parties appear unperturbed by the fact that these areas till recently were the centre of heightened extremist activity.

Party leaders and activists claim there is no perceived threat from the Tamil nationalist extremists in these areas; but privately, they admit that extremism is not totally wiped out despite the Centre and the State Government banning many of the groups.

"They are keeping a low profile. Activists of the Tamil National Liberation Army (TNLA), Tamil Nadu Retrieval Force and Tamizhar Viduthalai Iyakkam (TVI) have gone underground after the ban. But extremism has not been extinguished and is just waiting for an opportune time to rear its head."

This is the impression given by a cross section of political functionaries, social activists, farmers' leaders and trade unionists.

As long as poverty, unemployment, untouchability and backwardness continue in these areas it is not easy to eliminate extremism, leaders of the Left parties argue.

High poverty ratio

Official data on poverty is revealing. For instance, of the 3.47 lakh families in Cuddalore district, 1.14 lakh are below the poverty line (BPL). Of the 2.73 lakh families in Perambalur district, 73,589 fall into this category.

In Villupuram district, Dalits form over 49 per cent of the population. Discriminatory practices against them reportedly continue in the three districts.

Farmers, more particularly the cashew growers, have to contend with their own problems.

Given the poverty and unemployment, jobless youth are attracted by the ideology of the extremists; and some of them have joined the ranks of the ultra Tamil nationalist outfits. The radical groups reportedly enjoy some support in the villages and towns around Neyveli, Vadalur, Perambalur, Jayamkondam, Andimadam and Ariyalur.

Despite their origins in the ultra-left Naxalite movement, these groups switched to Tamil nationalism in the early 1980s under the guidance of veteran `Pulavar' Kaliaperumal and Tamilarasan.

Splits in TNLA

In the beginning, many saw them as the modern-day Robin Hoods. But after Tamilarasan was lynched by a mob when he and his comrades tried to rob a bank in Ponparappi village in 1987, the TNLA suffered splits.

The cashew belt saw violent clashes among the warring factions, even as the groups targeted police stations, rail bridges, television transmission towers, statues of national leaders and the power grid from the late eighties to 2002.

The rot began to set in when the splinter groups attempted to assert their control over the vast stretches of cashew groves, which offered them a safe haven. The internecine clashes, support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and forest brigand Veerappan, `kattapanchayats', extortion, murders and secessionist slogans lost them considerable public support.

Many groups banned

The arrests of top extremist leaders, including TNLA leader Maran and TVI chief Suba Ilavarasan, and the banning of the groups, set back the extremists further. They have now either gone underground or joined political parties sympathetic to the cause of Tamil nationalism, Left activists say.

The authorities do not foresee any problem from the extremists in the cashew belt, but are not leaving anything to chance, particularly during the polls, as indicated by the Collector of Perambalur, D. Vivekanandan.

"We are planning to deploy Central paramilitary forces, besides arranging for police pickets with strike forces around the sensitive booths and areas," he said.

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