Karunanidhi and the long shadow of Sri lanka

Rajiv Gandhi, then prime minister, wished to solve the problem by persuading the militant groups and the Sri Lankan government to come to the table for a dialogue. Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene didn't like the Tamil Nadu chief minister MGR and other leaders giving arms and cash to the LTTE. The LTTE, the most ruthless of the groups, was the stumbling block. Since Prabhakaran had received a lot of help from MGR, he was expected to listen to him. But Prabhakaran was not amenable to holding any talks, and MGR asked the Tamil Nadu IGP Mohan Das to confiscate all the weapons given to Prabhakaran. In protest, Prabhakaran went on a fast. Fearing it would upset prospects of a peace accord the Centre announced it was neither consulted nor informed. Karunanidhi too joined the bandwagon and criticized MGR's orders against Prabhakaran.

While Karunanidhi had often spoken against the LTTE's violence, he was against the arms being taken back from them, which according to him had been given for their self-defence in the civil war in Sri Lanka.