LTTE supporters trend \'Methagu\' hashtag on Twitter, praise Prabhakaran

Chennai: Ahead of the trailer release for the upcoming biopic on slain LTTE supremo V Prabakaran, his supporters worldwide have trended a Tamil hashtag ‘Methagu’ on Twitter. ‘Methagu’, which means 'His Excellency' in Tamil, is the name of the biopic, scheduled for international release on November 26. The day also marks the 66th birth anniversary of the rebel militant leader, who was killed by the Sri Lankan security forces in May 2009.

Credits given in the digital posters say that the film is being brought out by Tamil Eelazha Thiraikalam, directed by T Kittu, produced by Riyaz and music is by Praveen.

LTTE supporters in India and abroad have been tweeting photographs, videos and quotes of Prabaharan with the hashtag. Besides, eulogising the Tamil leader as the ‘identity of Tamils’ in tweets, users even describe him as ‘the most honest and most talented and most loved leader of Tamils.’

Though it is difficult to ascertain various details of the film from the sea of tweets, vignettes from the past have been put out to highlight the greatness of the leader. One of them is a video of a speech by journalist Anita Pratap, who is credited with getting the first interview of Prabakaran when he was living in Chennai, way back in 1984.

In the video, Pratap says that she interviewed many big leaders subsequently in her career but did not remember anything they said. Only one statement of the Tamil leader, who was barely 29 in 1984, was still fresh in her mind.

"Nature is my friend, life is my philosopher and history is my guide," he told her, she says, adding that he had the greatest sense of foresight and deep understanding of history. That quote has been repeated in many of the tweets. Incidentally, according to a few tweets, a British court recently removed the ban on LTTE after a case was filed by overseas Tamils.

Some of the other famous quotes of Prabakaran that have been mentioned in the tweets are: ‘traitors are more dangerous than enemies,’ ‘people cannot give up their cause, their rights for fear of defeat’ and ‘if one is determined to die for the truth even the common man can create history.’

Some of the photographs on Twitter show him in military fatigues. There is one in which he arm wrestles with a small girl, with the caption ‘man of humanity.’

Another photograph depicts an Indian Army officer saluting Prabakaran, who is in civil attire, with a caption that says that he commanded such respect because of ‘his valour, ethical war skill and uncompromised stand on the Eelam liberation movement.’