Subbaiah Palaniappan Veerapandian (born 22 April 1952), known popularly as Suba Veerapandian or Subavee, is an Indian political activist, author, orator, former Tamil-language professor and former film artist. Since 2007, he has been serving as the general secretary of the Dravida Iyyakka Tamilar Peravai, a Tamil Nadu-based political organisation that aims to promote Ambedkarite, Dravidian and Marxist ideals in the State and elsewhere.
In 2021, Subavee was appointed to two posts – Member of the Advisory Committee for Tamil Nadu Text Book and Educational Services Corporation, and as chairperson of the newly constituted Social Justice Monitoring Committee of Tamil Nadu.
Early life and career
Subavee was born in Karaikudi on the early morning of 22 April 1952 as the youngest of seven children to Rama.Subbaiah (1908–1997) and Visalatchi (d.19 September 1987). His eldest living brother is Tamil film director S. P. Muthuraman. As per the norms in their region, Subavee's parents gave him another name – Pazhaniyappan (name of his paternal grandfather) – which became obsolete over time.
After his Pre-university course. Subavee pursued a B.Sc. degree in physics at Alagappa Government Arts College (1967–71). During this period, his classmate in language classes was V. V. Rajan Chellappa, who was then studying for a bachelor's degree in Political Science.
Subavee joined Pachaiyappa's College, Chennai to do a master's degree in Tamil literature. In 1973, he graduated from Madras University with a gold medal in Tamil Literature. His classmates included Tamil poet Vairamuthu. From 1982 to 1986, Subavee was also a part-time PhD scholar at the Department of Tamil, Presidency College, Chennai.
After completing his education, he joined as a typist-cum-clerk in Madras University on 16 August 1971. In 1976, he joined as a tutor of Tamil at S.I.V.E.T College in Chennai, as a lecturer of Tamil at Sentamil College, Thiruppanandal (14 September 1982 – February 1984) and then in P. M.T. College in Tirunelveli district (Feb- Dec 1984). On 5 December 1984, he rejoined S.I.V.E.T College.
Following the Madras High Court's dismissal of an order (which caused a break in his career), Subavee resumed teaching at S.I.V.E.T College from February 1997. On 15 September, he submitted his letter for voluntary retirement and was relieved on the evening of 15 December.
Political activism Subavee has been an atheist right from his early years. He developed an early interest in politics, owing to his father Rama.Subbaiah's status as an ardent supporter of the Dravidian movement, a member of the DMK's general council, and as a Member of Tamil Nadu Legislative Council from the party. Rama.Subbaiah was also housed in Tiruchirappalli Central Prison in 1953 for participating with DMK leader M. Karunanidhi in the Kallakudi demonstration, a part of the Anti-Hindi agitations.
Subavee was greatly influenced and motivated by the speeches of "Periyar" EV Ramasamy, C.N. Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi, "Navalar" V. R. Nedunchezhiyan, E. V. K. Sampath, K. Kalimuthu and P. Seenivasan. Apart from campaigning for his father in the Karaikudi seat during the 1957 Madras Legislative Assembly election, Subavee also participated in the 1965 phase of the Anti-Hindi agitations as a Class IX student.
While working in college, he formed an organisation named Tamilar Iyakkam (Tamils Movement).
In 1979, Subavee was imprisoned along with others including professor-poet Kuruvikkarambai Shanmugam for a week in connection with a protest organised by the Association of University Teachers (AUT), in which he was serving as Secretary for Zone II. The protest was against the first MGR ministry's decision to shift the Pre-university course (PUC) in Tamil Nadu's higher education institutions to schools (as classes XI and XII). The protesters feared that the government's decision will affect existing staff in PUCs. Eventually, the government announced that PUC teachers will be transferred to colleges with vacant posts.
In 1980, he befriended poet Inkulab and gained an interest in Communism. During the years of work in Thiruppanandal, Subavee began to participate in public events. This enabled him to gain friendship with writers Pothiya Verpan and Kudanthai Geethalayan, who enhanced his inclination towards Marxism.
From 1983, Subavee began to support the Tamil Eelam struggle. Though he initially supported all Tamil militant groups, he exclusively became an LTTE supporter in 1987 when Thileepan, a prominent LTTE militant, died after a 12-day-long hunger strike. At this point, Subavee also became familiar with Tamil nationalism as a political rhetoric. In the same year, he was elected as the organiser of the Federation for the Protection of Rights of Eelam Tamils, in which personalities such as Perunchitiranar, Salai Elanthiraiyan, Mu. Metha, Gnani Sankaran, Inkulab and Arulmozhi Kuganathan were members. Subavee recollected his appointment as an "accident" and his "first entry into politics".
On 12 May 1990, Subavee became the founder-secretary of a newly found organisation named Viduthalaikuyilkal (Liberation Cuckoos). In June, he was imprisoned for 20 days along with about 100 others in Tiruchirappalli Central Prison for participating in a rally against a ban on "Tamil Nation's Self Determination Conference" held in Thanjavur by Pazha Nedumaran (president of Tamilar Desiya Iyakkam). His prison-mates included Perunchithiranar, Pozhilan (Perunchithiranar's son), Ki. Venkatraman, Salai Elanthiraiyan, and Salini Elanthiraiyan. During the imprisonment, Venkatraman repeatedly said to Subavee: "At a point, quit the teaching job and become a full-time cadre for serving people through politics". Subavee later recollected "The seed that he [Venkatraman] sowed that day could be said of as the chief reason for my transformation as a full-time [political] worker seven years later... As far as I am concerned, that imprisonment was one which moved me towards full-time politics".
On 5 March 1992, Subavee (then general secretary of Viduthalaikuyilkal) was arrested and later imprisoned in Madras Central Prison. The charge against him was that of forcing shops in Thana Street (in Purasawalkam, Chennai) to shut in order to show solidarity with the Eelam Tamils. The arrest came just before the planned "Tamils Unity Conference" that was to be held on 8 March by Viduthalaikuyilkal. On the scheduled day, Nedumaran and 96 others were arrested (for trying to rally towards the conference pandal) and brought to the same prison. Subavee came out on bail five days later and so did the others, gradually.
In September 1992, Subavee spent 15 days in prison for his pro-LTTE speech at "Tamilar Vaazhvurimai Maanaadu" organised by PMK. His prison-mates included S. Ramadoss (PMK founder), Nedumaran, Panruti S. Ramachandran, Nellikkuppam V. Krishnamurthy, Professor Dheeran, P. Maniyarasan and Thozhar Thiyagu.
In January 1993, Subavee, Nedumaran and functionaries from the PMK and Dravidar Kazhagam planned for a mass rally in Madras condemning the "assassination" of Kittu, an LTTE commander, on the 16th. On the same day of their discussion, Subavee was arrested along with Nedumaran and Pulamaipithan. It was alleged in court that these three, along with Professor Saraswathi, conspired to blow up the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Madras that was to be inaugurated by the then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao on 19 January. Saraswathi was released on bail, while the three men were sentenced to 15 days of judicial custody.
On 1 January 1994, he merged his Tamilar Iyakkam with Thozhar Thiyagu's Thileepan Mandram (Thileepan Forum) to form the "Tamil-Tamilar Iyakkam" (Tamil-Tamils Movement). In November, he was imprisoned for a week, in connection with his pro-LTTE speech in a meeting.
In 1995, Subavee also became a member of Tamilchandror Peravai (Assembly of Tamil Scholars) in which he showed additional involvement.
In December 1996, Subavee was briefly jailed along with Maniyarasan in Vellore Central Prison for another speech in support of LTTE, which by then had become an officially proscribed organisation. During this imprisonment, he was suspended from his job as professor. He got bail in late December, a year before his voluntary retirement as a professor in late 1997.
From 1998, he began to accept the Eelam Tamil diaspora's calls to travel abroad and to gather international support for the "rationales behind the struggle of the LTTE". The National Television of Tamileelam (NTT), the Tigers' official television channel, reported Prabhakaran's statement: "Father Gaspar and Subavee are campaigning for us all over Europe. [The Tamil diaspora] should receive them and utilize them for meetings".
In 2001, Subavee quit the Tamil-Tamilar Iyakkam due to differences with Thiyagu, and worked solely with Tamilchandror Peravai.
In 2002, he joined Pazha Nedumaran's Tamilar Desiya Iyakkam (Tamils National Movement) and became its general secretary.
In August 2002, Tamil Nadu Police booked Subavee along with Nedumaran, Pudukottai Paavanan and Dr. Thayappan Azhagirisamy under Section 21 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) for making speeches in support of LTTE. Earlier, on 11 July 2002, the same section was used to book MDMK general secretary Vaiko under similar charges. On 29 March 2003, the Government of India submitted in the Supreme Court that Vaiko's speech constituted an act of terrorism under the POTA. This meant that Vaiko, Subavee and others were likely to get up to 10 years of imprisonment. On the early morning of 30 March 2003, DMK president M. Karunanidhi asked his party MP and the then Union minister T. R. Baalu to pressurise the Union government into changing their statement. On the same day, the ruling National Democratic Alliance held a discussion meet in New Delhi, during which Baalu criticised the government's statement. He also conveyed Karunanidhi's stand to Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani and Minister of Law & Justice Arun Jaitley. The next day, Jaitley announced that there were some errors in the government's statement that were corrected by redacting paragraphs 12 and 13. He added that some junior lawyers had erroneously written in the statement that even verbal support to a proscribed organisation amounts to terrorism. Jaitley clarified that the Union government did not endorse the said statement. As a result, Subavee, Paavanan and Thayappan were released under bail on 22 December 2003 (Vaiko received bail on 7 February 2004). This was the point from which Subavee started to consistently wear a black shirt.
On the same day of their release, Subavee and Thayappan went to Anna Arivalayam (the DMK's headquarters) and met Karunanidhi to thank him for his involvement in their release. This was not received well by some members of the Tamilar Desiya Iyakkam. However, Nedumaran himself met Karunanidhi with Subavee on 9 January 2004, a day after being released. Both Subavee and Nedumaran campaigned all over Tamil Nadu for the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance during the 2004 Indian general election. However, during the 2006 Tamil Nadu assembly election, Tamilar Desiya Iyakkam refused to campaign for the alliance. Protesting this decision, Subavee quit as the organisation's general secretary and primary member on 15 April. On Nakkeeran Gopal's arrangement, he met Karunanidhi on 17 April. From 19 April onwards, he began to speak in pro-DMK meetings. After Karunanidhi returned as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 2006, he withdrew the POTA cases that his predecessor J. Jayalalithaa filed against Subavee, Nedumaran, Paavanan and Thayappan.