The leaders of Tamilnadu always had a soft corner for their cousins across the Palk Strait. M.G.Ramachandran, who was the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu during the initial stages of the Eelam Rebellion in Sri Lanka had extended moral and material support to their struggle. Indian People had sympathy at the plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. They wanted the Tamils to get justice from the Sri Lankan Government. But Indians other than Tamilians never favored an independent Tamil Eelam.
The Government of India also held similar views.They prodded the Sri Lankan Government to treat the Tamils on a par with the Sinhalese and provide autonomy to the Tamil areas. Even when India expressed sympathy towards the Tamils,she upheld the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. India too had faced the threat of Tamil separatism in the early years of independence. The demand for an independent Dravidanadu lost its appeal when D.M.K. which raised the slogan came to power in Tamilnadu. Today the D.M.K. which share power with the Congress at the Center very well know that being a part of India is many times more profitable than getting an independent country.
But if some four million Tamils in Sri Lanka succeeds in getting a free Tamil Eelam, it could give similar ideas to the more than sixty million Tamils in India. For this reason India is dead against an independent Eelam. Further India considers Sri Lanka as a friendly neighbor.
When Sri Lanka crushed the LTTE and killed Prabhakaran, the Government of India heaved a sigh of relief. If Prabhakaran was captured alive, Indian Government would have been forced to demand his transfer to India as he was wanted in connection with the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. If he was put to trial in India,his sympathisers in Tamilnadu would have raised a hue and cry. The killing of Prabhakaran by the Lankan Army saved the Indian Government from a great embarrassment.