Sri Lanka too needs a Dr. Subramaniam Swamy!
Posted on October 3rd, 2014
Shenali D Waduge
Do we have a politician as clean as Dr. Swamy? Sadly, we do not. Have we a politician that has challenged Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and other high ranking officials? Sadly, we do not. Do we have politicians of the calibre of Dr. Swamy who have got elected to office without coming through the backdoor as the one’s we have carrying policies detrimental to Sri Lanka’s identity? We do not. What is wonderful about Dr. Swamy and a thing that Sri Lanka’s politicians should envy is that Dr. Swamy is undoubtedly a Mr. Clean – no one in government or outside has yet found anything to charge him with any offence, let alone file a case against him in a court. We wish we had one like him in Sri Lanka.
Indian academician, politician, economist and legal activist while not been a lawyer is just a handful of names associated with Dr. Swamy. He certainly adds color to any debate and enthrals any listener. The people in Sri Lanka perhaps know him and admire him more than those in India. Our admiration for Dr. Swamy is strengthened by the fact that we see in him a person we hope we can aspire to have in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, the question remains do we have a Dr. Subramaniam Swamy like politician-cum public interest advocate amongst us who does not slander opposition with accusations of corruption but actually takes legal action against them.
Entering politics in 1970, Dr. Swamy created a national stir by challenging Indira Gandhi’s Soviet influenced socialist planning. Dr. Swamy first argued in a court of law in 1982 when Ram Jethmalani filed a criminal defamation against Dr. Swamy. Though not a lawyer, but married to a lawyer, Dr. Swamy went to argue his own case and won too. Jethmalani lost the 3 other defamation cases filed against Dr. Swamy
Dr. Swamy has faced several defamations over the years – one being a case filed by Ramkrishna Hegde, then Chief Minister of Karnataka who Dr. Swamy accused of appropriating land in Bangalore for the benefit of his son-in-law. Dr. Swamy has made the same allegation against Kejriwal who too filed a defamation against Dr. Swamy.
There are close to 100 defamation cases filed against Dr. Swamy by jailed Chief Minister Jayalalitha alone from 1992 to 1996. All the 100 cases were eventually withdrawn by Jayalalitha.
Dr. Swamy has also been involved several public interest litigation cases all of which he has won.
For a politician like Dr. Swamy to say that he got involved in public litigation being a politician because the people were losing faith in politicians and with politicians accusing the other of being corrupt and nothing was being done about it, is commendable. We have enough of spouses taking salaries as Secretaries but what is their productivity to the country, Dr. Swamy even has appeared as clerk of his lawyer wife and showed his passion for public litigation in the interest of the country.
Dr. Swamy functioned as a Law Minister and became one of the few distinguished perhaps only Law Minister without being a lawyer to be given a farewell by the Supreme Court of India! We blink to even think that our Ministers can make notes good enough for another to borrow them but the judges of the Indian Courts have even borrowed notes of Dr. Swamy! We have a handful of lawyers who take cases free of charge but most of them we know lack even the basic levels of integrity.
His straightforward talk is the envy of most politicians. Ask a question like ‘are you for uniform civil code’ his answer will be surely Yes with a clear explanation why. He would ask why a country should have 2 different laws when before the law all citizens should be treated equally.
Dr Subramanian Swamy exposed the Himalayan corruption of DMK Party nominated Union Telecom Minister A. Raja in the 2g spectrum allocation scam by furnishing irrefutable documentary evidence to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and sought the latter’s permission as prescribed under the rules to prosecute Minister A. Raja. – The Indian Prime Minister took no action.
Dr Subramanian Swamy has also taken on the self-appointed undisputed dictator of the Congress with the media blacking out the legal and legitimate political battles he has launched in several courts of law and allegations that she and her family used LTTE to smuggle Indian artefacts out of India and are being sold in Italy. These allegations highlighted for the national good of the country has been purposely drowned by the media of India and shows affinity with Sri Lanka’s own media that picks and chooses who they go after.
No sooner Jayalalitha’s sentence was given, Dr. Subramanian Swamy was to say that before Christmas Sonia and Rahul Gandhi should prepare to go to prison in connection with a case over the acquisition of the National Herald newspaper. A day in the court with Dr. Swamy behind one’s back would be anyone’s nightmare! Dr. Swamy is accusing Sonia, Rahul and other Congress leaders of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by paying Rs.50lakhs allowing Young Indian Ltd company to acquire the Associated Journals Ltd, publisher of the defunct National Herald newspaper. It emerges that the Young Indian was a sham to convert public money for personal use to acquire control of over Rs.2000 crore worth of assets. He has even accused her of contracting the LTTE to kill Rajiv Gnadhi and spoke of Bofors kickbacks going to Sonia’s family and not to Rajiv. Swamy had even provided Indira Gandhi documentary evidence of Sonia functioning as an insurance agent for Oriental Fire and General Insurance Company using the Prime Minister’s official residence forcing Indira to ask Sonia to give up ‘employment’. His diplomacy is such he became the first ruling party politician to travel to China and Israel and became the 1st Indian after 25years to go to Mount Kailash in Tibet in 1981.
There is not enough to write about Dr. Swamy. He is an enigma to even India. What is good for Sri Lanka’s own politicians to realize is that Dr. Swamy functions in the true interest of the people in a single handed effort to uncover the truth in an unaggressive manner a trait that our politicians lack. Such scholars we lack and the likelihood of them ever emerging in the present climate with which young leaders are groomed as politicians gives little hope either. Even among the one’s we have clinging to power and unwilling to relinquish power unless members of their families are given leadership roles, shows that Sri Lanka lacks leaders with national interest coming first. We have had the luck to have a handful of officials who have steered the war effort and with whom our trust is placed in, evidence of which is visibly available in the magnitude of changes that have taken place where post-war development is concerned. There is little need to name them for we all know who they are.
The corruption prevails as a result of coalition partners and the silence that is required to keep them part of the government. It is like a ransom held across the country and politicians need to seriously sit down and decide is this the way we are to progress into the future.
No Government which has to hopelessly depend upon its coalition partners, can carry out the desired reforms. To expose the corrupt only the uncorrupt can point fingers. Corruption at different levels does not help the country reach any milestones. Those that watch and allow corruption do so only to use that for their advantage at a later date.
One Subramanian Swamy is not enough for a country like India, but he has stood out and has become a beacon for all to follow. One Subramanian Swamy is ample for Sri Lanka and with such a large set of politicians in both government and opposition how many can measure up to the standard of Dr. Swamy. In Sri Lanka we may say not to trust an Indian, but Dr. Swamy has shown in no small way that he stands up for truth and in a world of lies and distortions truth must win the day.
The calibre of the personality of Dr. Subramanian Swamy should provide food for thought for all politicians in Sri Lanka – both Government and Opposition. None can boast of coming anywhere near his level of integrity.
Nation must come first. People’s interests must come next. Politicians are servants of the People and not the other way round. It is with the money of the taxpayer that all politicians enjoy their perks and they should know to return what they take by not ruining the nation.
October 2nd, 2014 at 4:53 pm
We should not forget the contribution of GR towards this successful outcome AGAINST FAT JAYA.
Without SL’s UP THE ANTE on the fishing dispute, nothing could have been achieved. We escalated the dispute to such an extent that Endia found it a pain in the backside and had to get the dirt behind bars.
Tamils are still in denial mode. Just like the first few months of Thalaivar’s death.
October 2nd, 2014 at 5:06 pm
OFF TOPIC, but this is in reply to Marco on my observations in the Northern Province on a recent trip.
I was struck by the by the extent of the big infrastructure projects completed by the GOSL. The GOSL has not only built the big ticket items like roads, bridges, railways, administration and hospital buildings, restored irrigation systems etc, but also has done the less noticeable things like reviving the post offices, bus stands and markets essential to the lives of ordinary people.
Strangely, I saw little evidence of Tamil Diaspora money at work, that is so much in evidence in Colombo and its suburbs. The big business buildings and big commercial activity is almost exclusively of NATIONAL ORIGIN: Cargills Food City, John Keels, Laughs gasoline, Arpico, Dialog, and national banks … BOC, Seylan, HNB, Sampath, Peoples, LB Finance etc … all well established Southern businesses.
The next rung down in business activity were the vibrant small enterprises operated by local Tamil people. But where are the big enterprises that the much balleyhooed Tamil Diaspora money should have brought to the North, and to Jaffna in particular? I saw very few if any. This REBUTS your contention that the ECONOMIC ACTIVITY in Jaffna and the North is PRIMARILY DUE TO THE HARD WORK of the local Tamil people. The EDICENCE does not support that view … the GOSL and businesses from the South are leading the revival of the region.
Without a doubt, behind this business boom evident in the town and city is the growth in Jaffna peninsula’s rural agriculture fueled by the demand from the MARKETS in the South of the country, now FREELY ACCESSIBLE without the barriers erected by the now defunct LTTE, again debunking the view that separatism is good for the Tamil people.
One more thing: I saw many houses boarded up and unoccupied, but yet no “For Sale” signs erected on the properties themselves, or evident in the newspapers and the web, unlike for properties elsewhere in the South of the country. Clearly, the properties must belong to absentee owners now residing abroad, but why are they not being advertised for sale in the mass media? Is this the DISCRIMINATORY Thesavalamai Law restricting sale to Tamils-only at work? I wonder!
October 2nd, 2014 at 6:23 pm
MR. Nicholas !!
My Skype address is:-susantha.wijesinghe.55
October 2nd, 2014 at 6:34 pm
“Nation must come first. People’s interests must come next. Politicians are servants of the People and not the other way round. ”
Statement of the year !
Every reader must recite this mantra before reading any article. It is an olden Chinese principle every Chinese agree.
There is no such thing as “GRATITUDE” when it comes to the COUNTRY.
October 2nd, 2014 at 7:16 pm
Well written article. The theme: Find a Dr. Swamy for us in Sri Lanka.
October 3rd, 2014 at 4:06 am
We are unlikely to find a Mr Clean in the Sri Lankan political scene.
For that matter is there a Mr Clean Politician in any part of the world?
Jailing of Chief Minister Jayalalitha sends a strong message/signal to our own politicians.
I would not, however place Subramaniam Swamy in a pedestal as the author has done.
Have we forgotten how Swamy once tried/threatened to cross the Palk Strait with a flotilla of boats, to avoid Tamils being “massacred” in Sri Lanka or his pronouncement in April 2000 that Sri Lanka should be a Federated State of India.
October 3rd, 2014 at 6:45 am
Thank you Marco. This guy may be another Gangdhi for Indian worshippers among us. He has been barred from writing anti Muslim articles by the Supreme Court of India. He is a Harvard Indian product. Trust an Indian, you will be sorry.
October 3rd, 2014 at 9:55 am
We need someone more straightforward than Dr Swamy because his silly attire tells me that he not up to taking the challenges of the modern world,just another joker like our politicians who fool the people with the silly attire.They live a hypocritical double life too,the drunken debacle in NY is a good reminder of the type of leaders we have that represent equally hopelessly backward and stupid people of the country.You writers to this web may find their behavior offensive,thanks to you may be living in a white man’s country and enjoying the privileges of an erect and orderly society.
Just now the former PM,Wickramanayake was berating the lawless society we live,where the politicians in power tie up people to a tree and where a cop beat up a woman severely,in public.
I live in the centre of London when a million of outsiders move in for an event,we hardly notice it,amazingly controlled by the authorities and equally by the participants as well as by the local residents.London and it’s people,the authorities are an good example of a very civilized country,where the politicians,judiciary,the police and other authorities act with courtesy,respect and justly towards their people,where no one is above the law and people are equally supportive.Most of the wealthy in the world wants to move in to London to enjoy it’s benefits,which is a concern to it’s residents.
We need those people who run or similar to run this country too,where they will have a long time taking a plan to brain wash the people from the street level to be righteous,honest,tolerant and caring,the way lord Buddha wanted,which is very much lacking in the people in the island. Politic ans are their just product and likes of you find the situation in SL critical,because you are dwelling in countries that are far more advanced.Our people here have a frog in the well mentality,little critical of the indulgences and corruption of our leaders as they too are immersed in it.
We need another 1815 convention to put things right,because those people who agreed to that convention saw how the colonials lived areas like Batavia,East India company,where they had glimpse of.Ehalapole’s house is a replica of a house of a dutch colonial in Batavia where he may have traveled to,from a place like Hambantota. We can hallucinate about our culture and our glorious history which is a lot of cobblers as no county had a glorious history it was always stained with blood and misery for the people,just as now and the people must take some blame too for being stupid and ignorant.
October 3rd, 2014 at 12:56 pm
What I heard, It is Swamy who filed the cases. but, it was dragging because there was no evidence. It was Karunandhi who dug out every thing which needed.
So, it won’t be that easy to prove those cases. Trails are not easy to follow.
October 3rd, 2014 at 12:58 pm
Karuna nidhi used his powers as the chief minister to follow the trails. That is why the case saw an happy ending, I heard.
October 3rd, 2014 at 2:33 pm
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/so-who-is-sajin-vass
Why Mahinda Rjapakse always select criminals for his company ?
October 4th, 2014 at 6:49 am
We have got a golden Statue of the most celebrated Indian colonial parasite Mahatma Gandhi in Point Pedro ceremonially opened by the Indian authorities.