MDMK chief Vaiko
In picture: MDMK chief Vaiko. [File photo]RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief Vaiko was on Friday detained at the Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia and was interrogated for several hours over his links to the now-defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). There are clues that point to this escalating into a diplomatic incident. 

The LTTE was a Tamil terrorist organisation that claimed to be fighting for the rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. It was brought to an end by the SL armed forces with an operation in May 2009 that killed its chief Prabhakaran and rendered the group inactive. Vaiko had made a speech in support of the LTTE back then.

The MDMK leader, it may be noted, had been invited to Malaysia by the Ramasamy Palanisamy — the deputy chief minister of the state of Penang — to attend his daughter's wedding that is to take place on June 10. Given that the invitation to Vaiko was from a state-level elected representative of the Malaysian people, it remains to be seen whether this turns into a diplomatic incident. 

Vaiko, in a video that has emerged following denial of entry to Malaysia, is heard saying that he was detained at the Kuala Lumpur airport following allegations from Sri Lanka over a certain beook. He is also heard saying that he has not written the book over which SL has purportedly filed the complaint. 

Malaysia has a healthy Tamil population due to their migration from India over the years in search of better opportunities. This diaspora was highlighted in the Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali, which was so successful that it has already spurred talks of a sequel. Several aspects of Malaysian Tamil life were depicted in the film. Rajinikanth even spoke a dialect of Tamil that is more popular there. 

Watch Vaiko speak of his detention here: 

Meanwhile, Vaiko's supporters took to the roads in Chennai and protested against his arrest. They then took their agitation to the Malaysian embassy in the city. 

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