My Grandson wore a Black Flag!
TAMIL TRIBUNE, January 1999 (ID. 1999-01-02)
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I was a student during the 1965 anti-Hindi imposition agitation in Tamil Nadu that started on January 25-26 of that year. The mass upheaval of the Tamil people against Hindi imposition and the Indian government crushing it with brute force (shooting and killing unarmed Tamil youths in large numbers) made a great impression on my psyche.
Ever since 1965, I wear a small black flag or black ribbon on my shirt pocket on January 26. I am doing this for the past 32 years (1966 - 1997), and I will do so this year and years to come.
Last January I was visiting my daughter in the United States of America. Seeing me wear a black flag on January 26, my grandson wanted to wear one too. I gave my flag to him and explained to him what it signified. When his little friends asked him what it was all about, he told them "I am a Tamilan. I am honoring all those Tamils shot and killed by the Indian government when my granddad was young. Indians still rule the Tamil country. One day it will be free!"
(EDITORIAL NOTE 1: Precise number of protesters killed or injured is not available because Tamil Nadu State Government is said to have destroyed all files relating to the shootings when the ruling party in the state lost the election in 1967. Estimates of the killed range from a low of about 60 to a high of 500. There is no estimate of the number of protesters injured.)
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