Influx of Sri Lankan citizens into Tamil Nadu

Nearly ten years after the killing of LTTE top leader V Prabhakaran and his men, there is a steady influx of people from Sri Lanka into Tamil Nadu. This has nothing to do with the ethnic conflict but because of the prevailing precarious situation, political turmoil, economic crisis, over 12-hour power outage, scarcity and skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, fuel and LPG in the Island nation.

Hospitals are on the verge of closing because there are no medicines. India recently announced to extend a USD 1 billion line of credit to Sri Lanka as part of its financial assistance to the country to deal with the economic crisis following a previous USD 500 billion line of credit in February. Medicines, petrol and diesel are also supplied to the crisis-ridden Island nation.

Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared an Emergency on 1st April. Earlier, President Maithripala Sirisena had declared an emergency in March 2018. Previously, Sri Lanka was under continuous emergency for 27 years (from the anti-Tamil riots of July 1983 to August 2011).

After rejecting Rajapaksa’s invitation for all parties to join the interim Cabinet to tackle the current economic crisis and withdrawal of support by coalition partners, the government lost its majority in Parliament.

There has been a steady inflow of refugees from Lanka into Tamil Nadu. Since the civil war began in Sri Lanka in the early 1980s, over 1 lakh Tamils from the northern part of Sri Lanka arrived in Rameswaram (40 nautical miles from Mannar). Sri Lankan Tamilians prefer Tamil Nadu not only because of ethnic affinity but also for the reason that the state is a transit point to western nations, mostly Europe. On March 22 this year, 16 Sri Lankan Tamils arrived at the Rameswaram coast in two batches. The number may increase in the coming days as more will be desperate to move to TN. For them, it is a natural destination, and TN people and political parties are ready to accept them.

As per 2019 data, there are close to a lakh Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in the State, of which 59,714 people live in 107 Sri Lankan Tamil Rehabilitation camps and about 30,000 live outside the camps under the 24×7 Q-branch surveillance. They are not included in the CAA law ambit.

Those who arrived before 1983 were mainly Indian-origin Tamils whose forefathers had migrated to Sri Lanka to work in the tea plantations. Due to an agreement between Prime Ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, India allowed 9,75,000 people of its origin from Sri Lanka to become citizens of the country of their choice.

“After the assassination of PM Rajiv Gandhi, the second wave of arrivals began after the war flared up in June 1990, and about 1,22,000 Tamils fled the island. The third wave of arrivals began in 1995 and continued until 2002, a period that saw intense fighting in Northern Sri Lanka. The exodus turned into a flood in 2008-09, the final years of the war,” says reports.

As per the latest records, about 19,000 Sri Lankan families or 58,822 individuals, including about 10,000 children below 8, live in 108 refugee camps. They are beneficiaries of various social welfare schemes like ration and a monthly allowance of RS. 1000. CM MK Stalin met PM recently in Delhi and said many Lankan Tamils are coming to Tamil Nadu by sea due to the crisis. Sixteen people who came recently have been given shelter at the Mandapam transit camp.