The formation of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) could be considered as a foremost alliance in the Tamil polity and this formation remained formidable making the TULF a powerful political entity when the Executive Presidential system came into effect with a new Constitution in 1978.
The landslide victory gained by the TULF in the 1977 General Election even made the party become the first Tamil opposition party in Parliament, with TULF General Secretary A. Amirthalingam becoming the first Tamil opposition leader.
However the dominance of the TULF in the Tamil political scene didn’t last long with the emergence of Tamil militancy. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with its powerful armory was in the forefront along with four other militant outfits launching an armed struggle for a separate Tamil State – Tamil Eelam.
Even the Tamil militant outfits operating from the State of Tamil Nadu in India had formed an alliance among them called Elam National Liberation Front (ENLF). However the formation was short lived from 1984 to 1986, with the LTTE going all out to get rid of its allies in the ENLF.
The LTTE succeeded in gunning down the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) leader Sri Sabaratnam and hundreds of cadres of the outfit. Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) leader K. Pathmanabha and People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) leader Uma Maheswaran, along with their cadres were also targeted by the LTTE, weakening the two outfits to a great extent.
The LTTE always sought its stance as a dominant Tamil militant outfit, annihilating other Tamil militant outfits. Thus, the unity and integrity among the Tamil militant outfits didn’t happen in a healthy way and they failed badly in creating an alliance among them.
A similar situation even prevailed in the Tamil moderate political scene where the Tamil United Liberation Front retained the word ‘united’ though there was hardly any form of unity in the TULF.
In 1987 with the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord, along with annexing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, former Tamil militant outfits, except for the LTTE, joined hands with the Lankan and Indian governments in supporting the Indo-Lanka Accord, as well as implementing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
However, the coordination within the Tamil moderates or the militants was short-lived, creating a chaotic situation in the Tamil political atmosphere. The rivalry that emerged among the Tamil militants led to a blood bath.
It is in this backdrop that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was formed with the support of the LTTE as a political outfit to support it.
Since the TNA was formed with the support of the LTTE, from its inception the victories it had gained politically reflected the indirect support the voters had for the LTTE through the TNA.
A recent attempt between the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) to work jointly had also failed in reaching any agreement among them, though they agreed to support a Tamil Party remain in the forefront at the local bodies to become the ruling party.
In the meantime the Democratic Tamil National Front (DTNF) and the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) met two days ago and the meeting was mainly focused on mutual understanding.
Thus, right from the beginning, the alliances formed among Tamil political parties as well as among Tamil militant outfits have hardly achieved anything constructive. The manner in which they functioned clearly indicates that more than making the alliances effective, in the past the individuals in the alliances, whether moderates or the militants, have focused more on their own personal political gains.
