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TheEelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), also known as theEelam Revolutionary Organisers, was a formerTamil militant group inSri Lanka. Most of the EROS membership was absorbed into theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1990. The other half of EROS that did not join forces with the LTTE due was led by PLO trained Shankar Rajee, Senior politburo member and military commander of EROS from 1990 until his demise in 2005. The political wing of 'EROS' is known as theEelavar Democratic Front.

The EROS was formed inLondon in 1975 byArul Pragasam,Eliyathamby Ratnasabapathy,V. Balakumaran,Nesadurai Thirunesan (akaShankar Rajee) andBalanadarajah Iyer (aka Sinna Bala). It started as a think-tank, strongly influenced byMarxism, to analyse Tamil issues. Much of its early membership was drawn from the eastern districts ofBatticaloa andAmparai, and also theJaffna peninsula. EROS was the first political group which recruitedSri Lankan Muslims as well and was more concerned with the question of the Sri Lankan Muslims than any other group had been. They drew up a four phase programme to co-opt the Tamil-speaking Muslims of the eastern province into theEelam struggle, by working closely with them, and understanding and espousing their grievances.

In 1976, the EROS established links with theAbu Jihad of thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and began planning the setting up of camps to train Sri Lankan Tamils in military and guerrilla warfare. EROS even opened up their training camp for the LTTE whereVelupillai Prabhakaran had his initial training. TheTamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO),Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) andPeople's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) sent their own men to the PLO's camps for training under the request of EROS, and EROS also organised for men of other groups to be sent. A number of Tamils, including many who would later form the core of the other Tamil militant groups, started their militant careers in these camps.

Despite being the most ideological of all the Tamil groups, and its strong revolutionary nationalism, the EROS never became as militarily active as later groups such as the LTTE or TELO, largely because its leadership continued to be based inLondon. Their most notable military actions was the bombings in Sri Lanka in 1984 and 1985, and the kidnapping of British journalist Penelope Willis.

Partly as a result of this, differences arose in 1979 among the cadre in Sri Lanka. The result was that the student wing of the EROS, the General Union of Eelam Students, split away from the EROS in 1980 to form a new organisation, the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front. EROS was also one of the main forces behind the attempt to form a united front, theEelam National Liberation Front, in 1984, and remained the major driving force behind the front until it fell apart in 1986.

EROS contested the1989 parliamentary election as anindependent group in fourelectoral districts in the north-east of Sri Lanka. EROS won 229,877 votes (4.11%), securing 13 of the 225 seats in Parliament. Amongst the elected EROS MPs were Eliyathamby Ratnasabapathy and Eliyathamby Pararasasingam.

During theIPKF period, EROS was one of the few groups to support the LTTE and was in fact their main political advisory body as the EROS and LTTE worked in alliance with one another. In the late 1980s, differences arose amongst the EROS leadership over the question of whether or not they should militarily support the LTTE. In 1990, the group was effectively disbanded. One of its two top leaders, V. Balakumaran, together with a large portion of its members, left EROS to join the LTTE, saying it was a betrayal of the Tamil cause not to take up arms.^[3]

The remnants of the group, led by Shankar Rajee, remained inColombo and continued to call themselves EROS.^[4] They have transformed themselves into pro-government, anti-LTTE paramilitary group and a political party.^[5] Following the death of Shankar Rajee in 2005, his son Nesan Thirunesan took over as its new youth leader.

Artist Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, better known asM.I.A., is the daughter ofArul Pragasam, a founding member of EROS. In her music, M.I.A. makes frequent references to theSri Lankan Civil War and her father's participation in EROS.

• List of Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups#Student organizations

• Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students
• Nationalist parties in Sri Lanka
• Sri Lankan Tamil nationalist parties
• Political parties in Sri Lanka
• United People's Freedom Alliance
• 1975 establishments in Sri Lanka
• Political parties established in 1975

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