The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) wrote a letter to The New York Times on its mischiveous and tendentious representation of Sri Lankan terrorists as Hindus.
Dear Editor,
William Dalrymple, comparing the assassinations of Benazir Bhutto and Rajiv Gandhi (NYT, "Bhutto's Deadly Legacy", January 4, 2008), says "Mr. Gandhi was assassinated by Sri Lankan Hindu extremists because of his policy of confronting them."
Sri Lankan terrorists are not "Hindu extremists". The most well-known of the Sri Lankan extremist groups is the LTTE which stands for "Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam," and it is language (Tamil) and ethnicity (Tamilian) that are the influencing factors, not Hinduism. It was the LTTE that was connected to Rajiv Gandhi's killing. The LTTE finds sympathy and support from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party of the bordering South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which claims to be both anti-Hindu and atheist.
It is reported that the LTTE leader Pirabhakaran, originally from the Karaiyar caste, is a lapsed Methodist. Pirabhakaran named his son Charles Anthony, after one of his associates, Charles Lucas Anthony, alias Seelan, was killed in 1983. Anton Balasingham, who was LTTE's lead political strategist and thinker was a Christian. It is also said of the LTTE that "religion is not a major factor in his philosophy or ideology," and that it "does not cite any material from religion or religious texts in any of its ideological documents and propaganda but are driven only by the idea of Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism."
So, to assert that Rajiv Gandhi was killed by "Hindu extremists" is therefore both tendentious and mischievous.
Sincerely,
Ramesh N. Rao, Ph.D.
The Hindu American Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3), non-partisan organization, promoting the Hindu and American ideals of understanding, tolerance and pluralism.