“It is not clear just whose thoughts the poll results reflect. Is it indeed that of the people of Tamil Nadu or also those of the people abroad who access the website? Maya Ranganathan describes its pro-LTTE findings.”
by Hoot
(August 08, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Yet another amazing media poll result hit Tamil Nadu on July 31st, the state where in the past media polls predicting the ascendancy of some political personalities have ended up changing political equations forever! This time round it is by the Vikatan Group of publications which had, just the week before, announced a poll to ascertain what the common ‘Tamilian’ thought and felt about the trajectory that Sri Lankan Tamil issue should take.
A day before the ‘Ananda Vikatan’ issue was to hit the stands, posters appeared with a teaser on the poll results indicating that the people backed the creation of a separate Eelam while at the same time demanding the arrest of the LTTE supremo Prabhakaran in connection with the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The poll results presented at the end of a glowing introduction of the LTTE’s role in the struggle for a separate state for the Sri Lankan Tamils supported largely by die-hard supporters of the LTTE (the lone critic being political commentator Cho Ramasamy who has raised the issue of child conscription) state that 54.25 per cent have always supported the LTTE; that 55.44 per cent of the people think that the solution to the problem lies in the creation of Eelam and that 47.65 per cent people want the ban on the LTTE to be revoked. Not surprising when viewed in the context of Tamil media’s often covert and the occasional overt sympathy expressed for the Tigers. Even if 43.02 per cent feel that Prabhakaran, ‘who has been charged in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi’ should be arrested, people seem to think more kindly of him, for 40.07 per cent have said that he can be pardoned and 16.90 per cent feel that he is not guilty. And 47.48 per cent think that the DMK government should go all out to support the Tigers without worrying about their political future.
What makes the results truly ‘amazing’ is the fact that the support of the LTTE and its leader is despite the fact that 43.14 per cent are unable to support the Tigers’ exterminations of other ‘Tamil personalities who differ from the LTTE’s policies’. At a time when reports that the Tigers are literally losing ground to the Sri Lankan Army are trickling in and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has left for Colombo, the sedate ‘Ananda Vikatan’ (in comparison to its politically-oriented sister publication ‘Junior Vikatan’) declared that this survey revealed without doubt that ‘this is the perception of the Sri Lankan Tamil issue here.’ (Emphasis added.) Now, the question arises: just ‘where’?
Considering that the poll results are the consolidation of the responses of 2,065 persons collected by a team in Tamil Nadu and 2,130 persons who filled up the survey questionnaire online, it is not clear just whose thoughts the poll results reflect. Is it indeed that of the people of Tamil Nadu or also those of the people abroad who access the website? It is no secret that the readers of Tamil magazines online are spread across countries and that an overwhelming number of Sri Lankan Tamils could have participated in the online poll.
Or is simply no distinction sought to be made between the Tamilians ‘here’ and Tamils elsewhere who may not be Indian nationals? Is it not a little specious to assume that all who speak the language think the same irrespective of their nationality? The dichotomy was best reflected in the magazine’s website that incorporates a comments column on every article. In the rapidly filling up responses section runs a heated debate between votaries of the LTTE (presumably largely Sri Lankan Tamils although some Indians express support) and those who question its methods (mostly Indians).
Despite the inclusive Tamil identity sought to be created by some vernacular publications time and again, the Indian media has largely been guided by the national interest in dealing with such problems. Thus, the once-sympathetic Tamil media changed its stand following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. Perhaps, the current turn around is to be read in a different context, in the growing (paid) readership of its online editions.
Around the same time Tamil superstar Rajinikant (who worked as a bus conductor in Bangalore before he entered Tamil films) has had to apologise for his statements favouring Tamil Nadu in the Cauvery water issue to ensure that his latest film ‘Kuselan’ can be released in Karnataka inviting acerbic comments from film star-turned politician Sarath Kumar (See Times of India, Chennai edition, Aug 1, 2008, page 5) and film actor Satyaraj and director Barathiraaja (Times of India, Chennai edition, Aug 2, 2008, page 5). Somewhere in the media’s methods is perhaps money that calls the shots!
- Sri Lanka Guardian
by Hoot
(August 08, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Yet another amazing media poll result hit Tamil Nadu on July 31st, the state where in the past media polls predicting the ascendancy of some political personalities have ended up changing political equations forever! This time round it is by the Vikatan Group of publications which had, just the week before, announced a poll to ascertain what the common ‘Tamilian’ thought and felt about the trajectory that Sri Lankan Tamil issue should take.
A day before the ‘Ananda Vikatan’ issue was to hit the stands, posters appeared with a teaser on the poll results indicating that the people backed the creation of a separate Eelam while at the same time demanding the arrest of the LTTE supremo Prabhakaran in connection with the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The poll results presented at the end of a glowing introduction of the LTTE’s role in the struggle for a separate state for the Sri Lankan Tamils supported largely by die-hard supporters of the LTTE (the lone critic being political commentator Cho Ramasamy who has raised the issue of child conscription) state that 54.25 per cent have always supported the LTTE; that 55.44 per cent of the people think that the solution to the problem lies in the creation of Eelam and that 47.65 per cent people want the ban on the LTTE to be revoked. Not surprising when viewed in the context of Tamil media’s often covert and the occasional overt sympathy expressed for the Tigers. Even if 43.02 per cent feel that Prabhakaran, ‘who has been charged in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi’ should be arrested, people seem to think more kindly of him, for 40.07 per cent have said that he can be pardoned and 16.90 per cent feel that he is not guilty. And 47.48 per cent think that the DMK government should go all out to support the Tigers without worrying about their political future.
What makes the results truly ‘amazing’ is the fact that the support of the LTTE and its leader is despite the fact that 43.14 per cent are unable to support the Tigers’ exterminations of other ‘Tamil personalities who differ from the LTTE’s policies’. At a time when reports that the Tigers are literally losing ground to the Sri Lankan Army are trickling in and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has left for Colombo, the sedate ‘Ananda Vikatan’ (in comparison to its politically-oriented sister publication ‘Junior Vikatan’) declared that this survey revealed without doubt that ‘this is the perception of the Sri Lankan Tamil issue here.’ (Emphasis added.) Now, the question arises: just ‘where’?
Considering that the poll results are the consolidation of the responses of 2,065 persons collected by a team in Tamil Nadu and 2,130 persons who filled up the survey questionnaire online, it is not clear just whose thoughts the poll results reflect. Is it indeed that of the people of Tamil Nadu or also those of the people abroad who access the website? It is no secret that the readers of Tamil magazines online are spread across countries and that an overwhelming number of Sri Lankan Tamils could have participated in the online poll.
Or is simply no distinction sought to be made between the Tamilians ‘here’ and Tamils elsewhere who may not be Indian nationals? Is it not a little specious to assume that all who speak the language think the same irrespective of their nationality? The dichotomy was best reflected in the magazine’s website that incorporates a comments column on every article. In the rapidly filling up responses section runs a heated debate between votaries of the LTTE (presumably largely Sri Lankan Tamils although some Indians express support) and those who question its methods (mostly Indians).
Despite the inclusive Tamil identity sought to be created by some vernacular publications time and again, the Indian media has largely been guided by the national interest in dealing with such problems. Thus, the once-sympathetic Tamil media changed its stand following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. Perhaps, the current turn around is to be read in a different context, in the growing (paid) readership of its online editions.
Around the same time Tamil superstar Rajinikant (who worked as a bus conductor in Bangalore before he entered Tamil films) has had to apologise for his statements favouring Tamil Nadu in the Cauvery water issue to ensure that his latest film ‘Kuselan’ can be released in Karnataka inviting acerbic comments from film star-turned politician Sarath Kumar (See Times of India, Chennai edition, Aug 1, 2008, page 5) and film actor Satyaraj and director Barathiraaja (Times of India, Chennai edition, Aug 2, 2008, page 5). Somewhere in the media’s methods is perhaps money that calls the shots!
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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