Chappals hurled at former NSA MK Narayanan at The Hindu Centre's event in Chennai

May 17 Movement had openly declared that it would oppose MK Narayanan at the event.
Chappals hurled at former NSA MK Narayanan at The Hindu Centre's event in Chennai
Chappals hurled at former NSA MK Narayanan at The Hindu Centre's event in Chennai
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Former National Security Advisor MK Narayanan was attacked with chappals at The Hindu Centre's colloquium on "The Future of Sri Lankan Refugees in India” at Music Academy in Chennai on November 4, 2015.

Chappals were hurled at Narayanan by a protestor named Prabhaharan, who was taken into custody by the Chennai police. Prabhaharan attacked Narayanan as the latter was leaving the dais after the event. The Hindu's former Editor-in-Chief N Ram prevented the man from hitting Narayanan. Former Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu, A X Alexander, who was also present at the event, escorted Narayanan out.

After he was brought out of the auditorium by the police, Prabhaharan told the media that he believed MK Narayanan was responsible for the death of thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils and also for misleading Rajiv Gandhi leading to the IPKF move by India.

He claimed that he was not part of any group and had acted on his own behalf. 

Incidentally, a group called May 17 movement had protested outside The Hindu office on Tuesday (for newspaper not allowing non-vegetarian food inside the premises) and had openly declared that they would oppose MK Narayanan's presence as he was NSA when the war had progressed in Sri Lanka.

This group had said that it would oppose MK Narayanan at the 2-hour long event held at Chennai’s music academy in which S.C.Chandrahasan, treasurer, OfERR, Radhakrishnan from Frontline magazine and MK Narayanan spoke about the future of Sri Lankan refugees in India from different perspectives.

However, it is unclear if the group was behind the attack. Following the threat, a large number of police personnel had been present at the event. But Prabhaharan had registered himself as a participant and so was allowed inside the auditorium.

During the event, Chandrahasan spoke about the Sri Lankan refugee issue from an NGO's perspective and said, “India has not accommodated Tamil refugees, but has treated them as honoured guests.”

He added, “Now that our lives are not at risk, we must go back. We owe this to India.”

With a perspective on what the Government of India can do for the future of Sri-Lankan Tamils in India, MK Narayanan had said, “All migrations are a great human tragedy, by and large Tamil refugees can be returned with some support from India.”

RK Radhakrishnan, with the Frontline said that most of the camps for refugees were inaccessible. "If the Sri-Lankan Tamils want to return the major issues is their security. But there is still hope in the future of Sri Lankan Tamils," he said.

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