Why do Tamilians commit self-immolation?

I read that a youngster  committed the act in a fit of emotion over the developments in Sri Lanka.

I believe the matter is no longer to be brushed aside with derision. It   needs to be viewed as a serious sociological issue.

I don't have statistics but I suspect that this is something that is peculiar to that state. All states in India have a plethora of problems but self immolation that borders on insanity is unique to T.N.

At a discussion with friends someone asked if what the youngster did —killing himself—was religiously motivated. The suggestion was that the LTTE had specialized in suicide bombers. I believe Hinduism or Buddhism  or Islam had nothing to do with it. Whatever their faults the LTTE had never based its war on religion. Theirs was purely a political issue based on ethnic Tamil rights - Tamils of any religion.

I shocked the audience by telling them that the LTTE chief Prabhakaran is a Christian!

Thus the Tamilnadu man who committed self immolation in all probability had no religious motivation. When it comes to religion a substantial proportion of people in Tamilnadu are in a state of confusion. On one hand people are deeply religious but the Dravidian movement has made atheism a cornerstone of its ideology. This to my mind has driven their followers to a schizophrenic state. It is possible that this dichotomy may well motivate the bizarre phenomenon of people taking their lives.

Someone suggested that there was a tendency in Tamilnadu to hero worship their heroes/heroines beyond any reason. This has some basis as evidenced by the mass frenzy that Rajnikant and some others command. It's over the top and bizarre. Maybe the comfort that worship of God provides has been diluted or eliminated and is now sought in the worship of Tamil politicians, Tamil film stars and Tamil language and Tamil 'causes'. Remember the temple to actress Khushboo who incidentally is a Muslim?

The state's politicians have created a frenzy about love for Tamil language - again bordering on madness. One sees a tendency to overdo things - whether it is politics, language, films or anything else.  It is not unusual to hear die-hard  or die-easy  Tamil chauvinists to  talk in extremely emotional tones of Tamilthai (mother Tamil), of Goddess Tamil and for kids being named Tamilarasan or Tamilselvi. This excessive emotion too may account for the bizarre behaviour.

Poverty may be another reason. After all  the people who have committed such acts in the past have been poor people who in any  case have little to live for and  their  families  may receive some money from the CM's relief fund. But the question arises—poverty is seen all over India. How is it that nobody in say Bihar sacrifice his life for Laloo Prasad Yadav?

Just for some friends who pride themselves on pushing my belonging to Tamilnadu - I don't care.............