The Tamil National Council (TNC) has written to new Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, congratulating him on his electoral win and urging him to take up the political aspirations of Tamils in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces with the Indian central government and at international forums.
In a letter dated 6 May addressed to the President of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), the TNC described Vijay’s victory as a “new milestone in the political history of Tamil Nadu” and said he was “set to assume the high responsibility of Chief Minister with the immense support of the people”. The letter was signed by TNC President and Jaffna District parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam.
The Council framed the appeal around what it called the “umbilical cord relationship” between Tamils in Tamil Nadu and the Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka’s North-East, and recalled past support for the Tamil armed struggle.
“The boundless love and immense support shown by them toward the National Leader, His Excellency V. Prabhakaran, who led the Eelam liberation struggle, and toward our people, are etched in our history in golden letters,” the letter stated.
The TNC said the political grievances of Eelam Tamils remained unresolved despite decades of campaigning for “Tamil national recognition and security”, and asked Vijay’s administration to extend the “same firm support” to the community. It urged him specifically to raise the question of a political solution for Eelam Tamils with New Delhi and on international platforms.
The TNC outreach adds an explicitly nationalist Tamil-political dimension to congratulatory messages already sent to Vijay by SJB leader Sajith Premadasa and other Sri Lankan political figures including President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. It also lands as Vijay’s first-week welfare programme takes shape in Chennai. The “Eelam Tamil” framing is politically loaded in both jurisdictions; the TNC is a Sri Lanka-based parliamentary party distinct from Tamil Nadu’s state-level formations.
