Coimbatore: MDMK founder Vaiko on Wednesday celebrated 60th birthday of slain LTTE founder Prabhakaran and called for grand celebrations.
Vaiko, a self-confessed supporter of Prabakaran and his idea of a separate homeland for Tamils, the Tamil Ealam, called for celebrations and prayers in places of religious worship.
Celebratory chants should ‘reverberate’ the cause of Tamil Ealam on that day, he had said in a statement.
Vaiko said, “If Prabhakaran is branded a terrorist so what, Bhagat Singh, Netaji Bose, Mandela were also branded terrorists.”
Prabakaran founded a militant group called Tamil New Tigers in 1972 and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1976 and waged a prolonged war against the Sri Lankan Army in the backdrop of the ethnic strife-involving majority Sinhalas and minority Tamils.
He was killed in a military offensive in May 2009.
The LTTE, which is accused of assassinating former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, has been outlawed in India since 1992.
