Jayalalitha or Tamil Nadu have no right to dictate to Modi having not voted for BJP
Posted on May 25th, 2014
Shenali D Waduge
The Indian newspapers, the very same that went overboard in partnership with its Western parties, to portray that the devil-incarnate was likely to lead India is using a lot of print space to vocalize the pressures being exerted by Tamil Nadu upon BJP not to include Sri Lanka’s President as State invitee for the inauguration. Tamil Nadu has every right to make demands upon Modi and the BJP had the 76million in Tamil Nadu voted for BJP – but they didn’t. 38 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats went to the AIADMK, translated Tamil Nadu chose Jayalalitha over Modi. Having gone against the voting trend visible in all other states of India, Tamil Nadu has the audacity to give orders to the BJP and Modi who he should and should not invite is going a bit too far!. The unanimous rejection of BJP and Modi by the state of Tamil Nadu should provide the best opportunity for Sri Lanka and India to start fresh discussions on a common agenda. Neither does India wish to break away from Tamil Nadu nor does Sri Lanka wish to tie Sri Lanka’s North to Tamil Nadu and create the pan-Christian state that is being earmarked. Laying out what Sri Lanka is comfortable with and what India is concerned about with a new team from both sides is what both countries should next prepare for. Tamil Nadu’s insular thinking and subsequent repercussions likely to detrimentally affect both nations must at all times be central to any bilateral discussion.
Tamil Nadu’s tryst with separatism promoted through fluctuating demands dates back to early 1920s necessitating action that eventually led to the strategic option of passing the headache to Sri Lanka but not before making constitutional amendments to ensure secessionist initiatives were taken care of. The Jain Commission report following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi sufficiently proves India’s guilt while at the same time showcases the possibility of contract involvement in the assassination and with it the rumors of a Maino involvement as well which BJP stalwart Dr. Swamy has been raising over the years inclusive of Maino-LTTE links to smuggling Indian artifacts out of India to be sold in Italy. The nefarious link conjectured does explain the numerous efforts to set the imprisoned criminals free and visits to the Vellore prison.
How trustworthy is Indian intelligence
Be that as it may the West will use every trick in their book to keep Modi in check and Modi must realize that while his new inner team may be loyal the outer team of Indians may not. At this juncture we need to raise concerns about the possibilities of even Indian intelligence not working to the interests of India and its nationalist agenda, for we believe that Modi was voted to ensure the balkanization of India is stopped and the Hindu heritage of India is protected and preserved. The concerns on the loyalty of Indian intelligence is raise in view of the hiccups that India’s own military suffered at the hands of its intelligence leading to false tips on LTTE who the Indian intelligence claimed were their ‘boys’. Therefore, it is important for the Modi team to ensure that India’s new policies are kept in the hands of those they can trust and not those working for the other party – in particular agents of the West. In Sri Lanka, we have compiled our own list of foreign agents yet having the luxury of state privileges. These are like a time-bomb kept waiting to explode and leaders will find out too late as did President Premadasa who smiled at his assassin not knowing he was the suicide bomber who had been living inside the Presidential compound!
The invitation extended to President Rajapakse by the Modi camp as well as to the other SAARC member heads of State is noteworthy and reciprocated. Going an extra mile, President Rajapakse extended a hand to the Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council to join. As to expectation prompt came the decline on the premise that the invitation was extended only to the head of state. Just to get the records straight Wigneswaran is just one of 9 other chief ministers and there is no superiority status of the chief ministers as all are equal though the Northern Provincial Council and the TNA MPs seem to think that just because Jayalalitha won 38 seats and all Tamils endorsed her, Modi and BJP should come behind them. The logic behind this only they can decipher. What Modi cannot forget is that the BJP was clearly rejected in Tamil Nadu, and if the Modi wave did not work in Tamil Nadu it shows how insular Tamil Nadu is and that insular thinking is not good at all for India that is keen to ensure the West does not do a Yugoslavia or a Soviet Union to India and break it into regional councils as is the overall plan being carved within the halls of the UN.
Modi taking the Buddhist mantle
India and Modi need to be far more pragmatic than be kept pinned down to thinking it has to treat neighboring nations as India’s servant. India must realize the threats at hand. In deciding to hand over a nation to a foreigner to rule, India has opened its doors to a plethora of catastrophe’s waiting to erupt no sooner the green light is given from overseas. In such a scenario India must not attempt to destabilize its neighboring nations and lose their friendship as well. In a recent speech in Gujarat, Narendra Modi spoke about harnessing simple human to human relationships, he spoke about leading according to the noble teachings of Buddha and reminded all that no university could teach anything near the 4 noble truths taught by Buddha. It would be a great pity when the power of Buddhism is being brought to bear by countries like India and China when rightfully Sri Lanka should hold that mantle but takes a ceremonial view of it only instead of speaking on behalf of all Buddhist nations and linking up the Buddhist world as a bloc with strategic peripheral influence. When calls are made to Modi to rule India like a Cakkavatti Dharmashoka, the same calls should not fall on deaf ears back home.
The overtures from Modi and his non-traditional political legacy must be taken positively which is why it is important for both India and Sri Lanka to field new teams of strategic thinkers to carve out a non-Western pro-regional security oriented economic generating package that would not compromise the sovereignty or territorial integrity of either nation. Of course India has every right to take care of its interests while Sri Lanka elects leaders to take care of ours. We cannot expect India to look after our interest nor should our leaders forsake Sri Lanka’s interest to look after India. It is in this context Dr. Subramaniam Swamy’s clarity on the Central Government and Sri Lanka’s role in discussion devoid of noisy parker interferences by state governments was put into proper order and Jayalalitha, Tamil Nadu, Wigneswaran and the TNA should digest this speech clearly.
When TNA says that Modi should extend a personal invitation to Wignesaran and if so he would attend shows exactly how Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council and TNA thinks of Modi. Perhaps it is time to tell them who the leader is and it is Narendra Modi. Tamil Nadu or TNA cannot dictate who he should and should not invite.
May 25th, 2014 at 1:20 pm
Unlike Manmohan Singh and the Congress party that bowed to the Indian Tamil Politicians to such an extent that Dr. Singh refused to attend the CHOGM meeting, Narendra Modi rebuffed the protests of Jayalalithaa and invited President Rajapakse, effectively ending the strangle hold Chennai had on New Delhi and also effectively nullifying the Tamil Diaspora’s influence on New Delhi via Chennai. This is significant.
The model that seems to be appearing is that the BJP and Narendra Modi wants to lead India from the shackles of provincial politics and unleash her cultural and economic potency to create a regional strength that finally does away with the narrow political reasons that have kept India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka acting against each other and instead capitalize on the many common aspects that would bring a unity in the region similar to that of Europe that would push away foreign interference who have been cashing in on the subcontinents own cold war based on superficial political reasons and even have encouraged the schism for their own gains. A united SAARC which puts emphasis on regional economic development, military cooperation than military rivalry, and an emphasis of social to cultural issues shared by all the major to minor nations of the sub continent would open up a market larger than Europe which stands to gain as much as post war Europe did including the strategic clout to push aside those of distant lands who to for 66 years have worked for their own selfish gains to keep the superficial divisions in the Sub continent alive.
May 25th, 2014 at 2:18 pm
Ultimately Modi will take the side of Modi (FAT Jaya).
Just look at his mentality towards SL. A “SMALL” country, “PROVOKING” Endia, FULL devolution to Tamils, protect TN fishermen from “SL NAVY”, “protect the rights of Tamils worldwide”.
What rubbish is this? Made by Modi and BJP president. FAR WORSE threats than what FAT Jaya ever made!!
“The Press Trust of India quoted Modi as saying at an election rally in Chennai that a strong and determined government was the needed as small countries like Sri Lanka were provoking India and have to be met head on and dealt with strongly in order to protect the rights of Tamils worldwide. Modi’s party, the BJP, say they will push for full devolution of powers in Sri Lanka and a political solution to the Tamil issue.
BJP president Rajnath Singh accused the Congress-led UPA government of failing to help the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils, and said there had been no progress in the devolution of powers as per the 13th Amendment. “The UPA lacked the diplomatic skills to handle such sensitive issues,” he said, before promising that the BJP would set this right if they came to power.
Meanwhile, at a separate rally last week, Modi said that he would do everything for the welfare of Tamil Nadu fishermen and will protect them from attacks by the Sri Lankan navy. He said that Indian fishermen were being “harassed” by Sri Lanka, and that the current Indian government had been too weak to take action.”
– PTI
THIS is Modi and BJP. OWN words and OWN threats made JUST 1 month ago.
May 25th, 2014 at 3:25 pm
“he spoke about leading according to the noble teachings of Buddha and reminded all that no university could teach anything near the 4 noble truths taught by Buddha. ” – This is very significant.
“Meanwhile, at a separate rally last week, Modi said that he would do everything for the welfare of Tamil Nadu fishermen and will protect them from attacks by the Sri Lankan navy. He said that Indian fishermen were being “harassed” by Sri Lanka, and that the current Indian government had been too weak to take action.” _ this is not. Give the fishing to Modi’s Tamils, let Prabha’s Tamils to eat Karawala imported from Nadu.
May 25th, 2014 at 11:16 pm
Lorenzo,
Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders may have said those things against Sri Lanka in the heat of the Lok Sabha election campaign to attract Tamil Nadu votes.
What they do AFTER the election, and AFTER the people of Tamil Nadu have largely REJECTED the BJP and voted for the opposing AIADMK led by Jayalolitha, will have no relationship to what he said BEFORE to gain votes and support, ESPECIALLY now that he has won an overwhelming mandate from the people of India without assistance from Tamil Nadu.
The former UPA Govt led by the Congress Party never had an overwhelming majority since Rajiv Gandhi’s first term as Premier, and ALWAYS compromised India’s National Interest on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue by acting against Sri Lanka to curry favor with the Racist demagogues of Tamil Nadu in their quest to incorporate a part of Sri Lanka into a Greater Tamil Nadu.
The BJP under Narendra Modi’s leadership, given its overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha, may not continue those past policies of the Indian Govt, and there are solid reasons and indications that he may not do so …. in India’s National Interest.
Sri Lanka has to HOPE for the BEST and reach out to Narendra Modi as President Mahinda Rajapaksa is now doing.
But, as I have ALWAYS MAINTAINED, Sri Lanka has to PREPARE for the WORST even if Modi adopts a positive attitude towards Sri Lanka during his tenure, because there is NO GUARANTEE that future Indian Govts will not reverse course. Tamil Nadu has always been, and will always be, a higher priority for India than Sri Lanka.
Therefore, Sri Lanka should take every possible action to PREVENT India from acquiring a DOMINANT POSITION in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs by reducing India’s involvement in Sri Lanka’s ECONOMY, POLITICS, LABOR FORCE, RECONSTRUCTION, and NATIONAL SECURITY, and REPEALING the 13th Amendment at the earliest possible opportunity.
May 25th, 2014 at 11:16 pm
” Ultimately Modi will take the side of Modi (FAT Jaya). Lorenzo.
Ultimately what had changed in India is the PILLOW and not the HEAD.
Tamil Nadu is far more important for India than minuscule Sri Lanka.
Tamil Nadu is already up in arms against Modi. What is taking place is an unexpressed demonstration of SECESSION of Tamil Nadu from ‘body India’. Modi will do all he can to prevent it, and that will be at the expense of Sri Lanka. The so called extended hand of friendship of Modi to MR is the Trojan Horse placed at Sri Lanka’s gate.
Let it remain there…do not take it in.
Several are even gloating over Modi’s so called benevolence towards Buddhism ! WHAT A LAUGH ! How can a beacon of Hindutva be a beneficiary of Buddhism.
He is playing once again as so many of his ilk did in the past, on the time proven adage: Sinhalese modaya kevum kanda yodaya.
What Modi is offering to the modayas is drugged kevum inducing them into a dogmatic slumber. Should that happen Modi would have taken away even the ambudeys of the Modayas.
The best we should do is wait and watch while Modi struts on his scene which will be finally engulfed in the flames of ethnic and religious violence, exactly like it once happened in Gujarat.
Our diplomatic language when confronted with Modi should be: Yes Sir, NO Sir…but NEVER YOUR THREE BAGS FULL, SIR.
Mario Perera
Kadawata
May 26th, 2014 at 12:11 am
Cardiographer has made clean breast of Tiger links, police claim
By Norman Palihawadana
Island.lk
May 25, 2014
The Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) yesterday said that a cardiographer attached to the Kilinochchi hospital arrested a few days back for LTTE links, had under interrogation admitted that he had planned to befriend the armed forces personnel and infiltrate the security establishment and provide information to the LTTE cells to be established.
He had been arrested following the detection by the army of a file belonging to the LTTE, in which his name was found, the TID officers said.
The suspect has said that he was tasked to provide information about certain Tamil politicians in the North as well.
May 26th, 2014 at 5:30 am
“What Modi is offering to the modayas is drugged kevum inducing them into a dogmatic slumber. ” – Mario
No one offered kevum to us modayas for a very long time, might as well try it. kevum is delicious, specially when drugged.
May 26th, 2014 at 6:29 am
No one offered kevum to us modayas for a very long time, might as well try it. kevum is delicious, specially when drugged.- Nanda
Yes Nanda, India has not only offered us drugged Kevum before but even poked it down our throats. Delicious or not is another issue.
Have you heard of a constitutional provision called the 13A? That was a drugged kevum rammed into us. And how long is it in our system?. Now we can neither pull it out nor vomit it.
Mario Perera
Kadawata
May 26th, 2014 at 6:35 am
And Modi and his crowd have VOWED to force full implementation of 13 amendment.
Even Ghandhi’s wife was not so keen on his brainchild 13 amendment.
May 26th, 2014 at 9:50 am
Lorenzo:
If that was one of Modi’s campaign speeches to put full force in the implementation of amendment 13 on Sri Lanka, his recent actions AFTER he was elected point to a completely different picture and one that is drastically different from the former Congress party.
He invited President Rajapakse IN SPITE of the massive protests from the politicians of Tamil Nadu to the Tamil Diaspora. He put business interests first and normalization of tensions than provincials issues. Same goes for his invitation of Shariff, again this is almost unheard. Unlike Jayalalithaa the radical Hindu wing of the Shiv Sena wisely stayed silent on this issue.
For the first time in modern Indian politics has a party won such a landslide victory, (short of the election of Nehru). Every other government New Delhi had was a coalition government. The BJP is not a coalition government and is free from those shackles. Colombo has greater leverage with this government about the fate of that amendment.
the rise of the BJP has also wakened Beijing and her rather casual treatment of Sri Lanka as a vital strategic nation. China made a hasty visit to Colombo to shore up her ties with Sri Lanka. Too much pressure from the BJP in this amendment over the greater goals of economics and regional security would (again) work to China’s favor.
May 26th, 2014 at 2:23 pm
BW,
Agree with the 2 facts you brought up.
1. “Every other government New Delhi had was a coalition WITH TAMILS.”
2. “China made a hasty visit to Colombo to shore up her ties with Sri Lanka.”
I’m doing some scenario analysis here.
In the light of #2, where will Endia ultimately end up? ANTI-SL.
What will Endia force SL to do? Shed China.
IF SL does it, that is a very bad move with DISASTROUS economic and military implications.
IF SL does not do it, Endia will continue to remain ANTI-SL.
Same goes for Pakistan.
In the light of #1, eventually where will Endia favor? TN or SL? TN.
Modi’s start as PM is very good but it only scratches the surface. Similar hope was there when OBAMA became president. Or even more. But he too fell to the same rut or worse. Lets wait and see.
May 27th, 2014 at 5:10 pm
As a Sri Lankan patriot who supports Modi’s ascent to power in India, and wanted Sri Lanka to reach out to him, I still think it is too early for us to decide that Modi is bad for Sri Lanka.
EVERY Indian leader will want Sri Lanka to implement the 13th Amendment in full, as it is India’s baby shoved down unwilling Sri Lanka’s gagging throat, and it costs them NOTHING, if we SWALLOW it … without VOMITING it OUT.
As long as Sri Lanka DOES NOT OPPOSE IT, and DOES NOT CLEARLY CONVEY our REASONS for not wanting to Empower SEPARATISTS COMMITTED then and now to the utter destruction of Sri Lanka, India, Modi/BJP will CONTINUE to push the 13th Amendment just as the UPA/Congress Party did. They are doing favors for their Tamil citizens at Sri Lanka’s expense!
The Sri Lanka Government has to STOP SAYING that we will implement the 13th Amendment.
Instead, The GOSL must say that we don’t want a Federal Govt in Sri Lanka, even if India feels comfortable with that type of Govt and is prepared to cope with secessionist movements in India (Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and elsewhere) FOREVER! We have BEEN THERE and DONE THAT …. and WE DON’T WANT TO DO IT!
The 13th Amendment was PUSHED DOWN Sri Lanka’s throat BY FORCE while India was OCCUPYING a large part of Sri Lanka. Such a Law is ILLEGAL under International Law, and Sovereign Sri Lanka is entitled to ABROGATE and REPEAL such a Law. Every sovereign nation is DUTY BOUND to its citizens to do so, as SOON as it can, just as Czechkoslovakia abrogated The Munich Agreement that partitioned it on the eve of World War II, under threat from Nazi Germany. The VICTIM is NEVER DUTY BOUND to honor an agreement it is forced into by an AGGRESSOR, UNDER DURESS! NEVER!
Until we POSE our OPPOSITION in India’s own CONTEXT, and get them to wear our shoes, for example by devolving autonomy to Kashmir Muslims and face the prospect of disintegration of their own country, they will CONTINUE to PUSH Sri Lanka to devolve power to Separatists. It removes no skin off their noses! As both Sri Lanka and India learned from the British Colonialist, what is mine is mine, what is yours is negotiable.
AFTER we do that, we have to evaluate what Modi/BJP will do, and take whatever steps are needed. But until then, as long as India believes it can FORCE Sri Lanka to commit harakiri, and we DO NOT CATEGORICALLY REFUSE, they will ask Sri Lanka to devolve power and implement the 13th Amendment.
As I said before, we have to HOPE for the BEST, and PREPARE for the WORST. By reaching out to Modi/BJP we have LOST NOTHING, but there is a opportunity for gain that MUST BE TESTED.
Also, as I had said, in the LONGER TERM, Sri Lanka should DISCOURAGE ALL Indian Involvement in Sri Lanka, to wit:
in the ECONOMY, in LABOR, in BANKING, in CONSTRUCTION, in ENERGY, in OIL & GAS, in HEALTHCARE, in POLITICS, in AUTOS, TRUCKS, BUSES, in VISAS on Arrival for Indians, in TOURISM, in DIPLOMATIC PRESENCE, …. EVERYTHING … because even if Modi/BJP favors Sri Lanka, there is NO GUARANTEE that future Indian Governments will not reverse that posture, given that Tamil Nadu will ALWAYS have HIGHER PRIORITY for India than Sri Lanka. ALWAYS! We have to ESCAPE this DEADLY Indian Embrace, because it will INEVITABLY bite Sri Lanka SOMETIME in the future. That is an ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY!
May 27th, 2014 at 5:57 pm
Ananda,
“Until we POSE our OPPOSITION in India’s own CONTEXT, and get them to wear our shoes, for example by devolving autonomy to Kashmir Muslims and face the prospect of disintegration of their own country, they will CONTINUE to PUSH Sri Lanka to devolve power to Separatists.”
Even after we OPPOSE it they will CONTINUE to do it. It is a PROMISE of BOTH congress and BJP to Endians (Tamils).
As you say it was forced upon JR. He NEVER liked it. The coutnry OPPOSED it. But still it was pushed down JR’s throat by Endia. So there are TWO culprits here not one. MR opening his legs and Modi thrusting his Tamil sivalingam through them. BOTH at fault. You can’t praise Modi and blame MR on 13 amendment.
We MUST expect Endia (SL’s PERENNIAL ENEMY #1) to disrupt SL, support Tamil racist demands and ROB whatever SL has. We must not in anyway praise or support ANY Endian PM or govt. UNTIL they prove they support UNITARY SINHELA BUDDHIST SL.
Modi has not done it (to say the least). That seals who Modi is.
The Endia ruled by Asoka is LONG DEAD. It will NEVER EVER come to life again. The sooner we accept this NOBLE UNIVERSAL TRUTH the better.
1. anicca
2. anaatma
3. dukkha
4. paticca samuppada
5. Endia and Tamils are the enemies of SL (extremely FEW exceptions).
May 27th, 2014 at 9:15 pm
” Indian elections only changed the pillow, NOT THE HEAD. ”
Adaderana reports:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has requested Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to deliver on his promises to devolve wide powers to the country’s Tamil-majority regions
“Early and full implementation of the 13th Amendment and going beyond would contribute to this process,” Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh quoted Mr. Modi as telling the Sri Lankan President.
Inviting Mahinda to his inauguration was nothing more than a:
“cme into my parlour said the spider to the fly”
It was a pretentious Emperor summoning a vassal chief and telling him what to do.
as the song says:
“When will we ever learn…when will we E……VER learn”
The higher one jumps with false expectations, the greater the bone cracking THUD when landing on their bottoms.
The drugged kevum of 13A that was poked down the throats of the Sinhala modayas has turned into poison inside the system with no possibility of extracting it, vomiting it or purging it, India has stuffed both end. Now we cannot blow it out or fart it out. We can now only cope with the REEKING STENCH of our ‘body constitution’.
Mario Perera
Kadawata
May 27th, 2014 at 11:37 pm
It gets even better. Or worse.
“The key issues of rehabilitation and reconstruction and the 13th amendment was the subject of conversation between the two leaders. “He (Modi) requested the government of Sri Lanka to expedite the process of national reconciliation in a manner that meets the aspirations of the Tamil community for a life of equality, justice, peace and dignity in a united Sri Lanka,” Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh recounted later.
The conversation covered areas of crucial security cooperation between Sri Lanka and India. The two countries, along with Maldives form a trilateral grouping on security and intelligence in the Indian Ocean, a move that sources say, has been very successful. The trio recently invited Mauritius to join the grouping.
While Rajapaksa could not bring the chief minister of Northern Provinces, Vigneswaran with him. He did bring along Jaffna’s Tamil Mayor Yogeshwari Pathkunarajah to Monday’s ceremony at the oath taking ceremony of Narendra Modi as India’s prime minister Monday. (Times of India)”.
Looks like SUJATHA SINGH remembers new things every hour that passes!
UNITED SL = FEDERAL SL.
And MR took the EPDP mayor of Jaffna. Not a bad CHOICE but taking a Tamil along with him shows to the world that there is a DIVISION.
As Mario has pointed out Indian elections only changed the pillow, NOT THE HEAD.
The SOONER the MR govt. LOSES its 2/3 the BETTER. Dreadful to think what he might do with it now.
May 27th, 2014 at 11:42 pm
Lorenzo,
Come off it .. Modi has barely sat in the saddle to ride the Bharat horse. Give him some time before you crucify him!
May 28th, 2014 at 8:56 pm
Aiyoo … Pau Aney! Jayalolita “Amma”, used to being the Star of the Drama and having even her Ministers worship her prostrating themselves in front of her to keep their jobs in Tamil Nadu, is UPSET and FRUSTRATED at not being the KINGMAKER in a BJP coaltion. With her knickers twisted in knots, she SKIPPED Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony!
I think many such moments are in store for her in the next 5 years of roaming the wilderness as the Queen of Tamil Nadu, but an ABSOLUTE NOBODY in the Federal Govt. Narendra Modi’s LANDSLIDE victory is giving her the FITS!
………………..
Why Jayalalithaa gave Modi’s swearing-in a miss
By N. Sathya Moorthy
Rediff.com
May 28, 2014
The presence of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was not the only reason why Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa stayed away from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa kept the nation waiting for a while before deciding to skip the historic swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jaya, like most other Tamil Nadu politicians, cited the invitation of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt ceremony, but the reasons in the case of each one of them could be many.
Having become used to seeing their leader draw the centre-stage in Delhi whenever she visited the national capital, party cadres would have been upset and demoralised to see ‘Amma’ as a one-in-five thousand crowd. After all, they too had worked alongside to hand over 37 Lok Sabha seats to her out of a total of 39 from the state.
As can be understood and appreciated, ‘Amma’ could not have afforded the cadres to feel that all their sweat and blood had gone waste. Their dreams of seeing her in the prime ministerial gaddi have ended up with not even in an alliance-taker of the P V Narasimha Rao (1991) and the A B Vajpayee (1998) coalition kind from the past.
Worse still for the party, the ministerial drought at the Centre for the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam would continue possibly for five years more. It started after Jayalalithaa abruptly withdrew support to the Vajpayee Government in 1999, leading to its collapse and fresh elections to the Lok Sabha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the cynosure of every news camera on Monday evening, and possibly from the world over. It could have been Jaya’s day too if there was a coalition government — and possibly her own, instead, if cadre hopes and pollster-predictions of a possible third front government had materialised.
In the event, Jaya, even if offered a front row seat, would have still come second, third or further down in the pecking order, as the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s warrant of precedence would have commanded. In this case, state chief ministers, including those from the Bharatiya Janata Party and National Democratic Alliance partners like Telugu Desam Party’s N Chandrababu Naidu, found themselves seated in the third or the fourth row, behind sadhus and sanyasis.
With Tamil Nadu down the line at 24 in the alphabetical order of state names, Jayalalithaa might have been placed a couple of more rows behind — unless someone in the PMO or the BJP had taken care not to upset a non-existing apple-cart.
In this case, the Tamil Nadu CM would have been seated not only inconspicuously, she would have also been placed way behind President Rajapaksa. Protocol required that the visitor had a front-row seat. Even if deliberate, TV cameras thus could not have avoided Mahinda with his physique and in his eye-blinding white with trade-mark maroon satta/shawl falling from his shoulders. Not only the AIADMK cadres but even other pan-Tamil groups and sympathisers back in Tamil Nadu, however supportive of Jayalalithaa’s leadership of their larger ‘Tamil causes’, would have felt uneasy at such a sight.
Such a sight could have only given the first post-poll handle for the rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to target her, after the party had suffered a severe and wholly unexpected drubbing in the LS elections. Other rivals might demur, not knowing, how things would — and would have to work — for them in the state assembly polls two years hence. But the DMK’s ageing and exhausted patriarch, M Karunanidhi, would have gone all out — particularly after some Sri Lankan Tamil parties and groups are now ready to crown Jayalalithaa as the ‘uncrowned empress’ of the global Tamil clan.
Karunanidhi could not stomach it when the imaginary crown passed on purportedly from him to the LTTE’s Prabhakaran without anyone noticing, a decade or two back. Now, he could not stomach/afford it coming back to Tamil Nadu, but to adorn some head other than his, that too almost for good, given his advancing age and declining political fortunes.
Unlike Jayalalithaa, who is also often referred to in the local and national media as a personal friend of the new prime minister, Karunanidhi and his DMK have nothing to lose by giving the Delhi ceremony a miss. Though at one stage, in the early days of alliance-making for the polls, Karunanidhi had described Modi as his ‘good friend’. They had hardly met but once at a Delhi conference of CMs — no one missed either him or his party at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, it would seem.
The DMK has drawn a huge blank in the LS polls. After the Supreme Court verdict that judicially-convicted persons could not hold elected office, thus disqualifying T M Selvaganapathy, like Bihar’s Lalu Prasad Yadav before him, the DMK is left with three members in the Rajya Sabha. Among them is Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, re-elected last year for a second term, in a total of 17 from the state. In the normal course, the three alone would have received the routine invitation for the swearing-in.
The Mahinda episode having provided the reason, justification and/or excuse for all TN parties, including former Union minister G K Vasan of the Congress, to take potshots at the new government at the Centre, the most regional parties starting with the high-profile AIADMK could choose not to send their MPs for the swearing-in sans their respective leaders. The DMK too could not have done anything else, given Karunanidhi’s longer and more strident pan-Tamil politics running to seven long decades and more.
In this case, both Jayalalithaa and Kanimozhi had corruption cases against them coming up in Delhi courts only hours earlier on the day of Modi’s swearing-in. Appearing in the Enforcement Directorate case in the larger 2G scam before the trial court, Kanimozhi sought bail along with then DMK telecom minister A Raja, now trounced in the Lok Sabha polls by his AIADMK rival. Karunanidhi’s ageing and ailing wife Dayalu, sought and obtained exemption from personal appearance from the Delhi court.
On Jaya’s interlocutory petition in the ‘disproportionate assets case’ pending before a Bangalore trial court from her first term (1991-96), the vacation bench of the Supreme Court, which also was headed by the same judge otherwise hearing her case, granted a stay of the relevant proceedings till June 6, entailing a further delay. The court had frowned on the ‘delaying tactics’ of the defence, on another procedural issue relating to the Bangalore court and case, brought before it by the defence.
Under the circumstances, it would have been embarrassing for all concerned, if in either of the cases, or both, the respective courts had passed adverse orders — or, even oral observations — against the petitioner-leaders concerned. If they were then to appear in Modi’s swearing-in, there would have been palpable and even more avoidable embarrassment all around. It would have become worse if some nosy TV news crew were to put up the mike and camera before them for comments on the court proceedings of the day.
If in Jaya’s case, her second-line leaders would have also missed the usual retinue of CPM and CPI leaders calling on her at Delhi. Their consolation — and the ‘miss’ hence — could be that the other two present-day ‘giant killers’ in national politics, West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee and Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik, too chose to ignore the ‘Modi darbar’. But that was only a small consolation, considering that Jaya had missed out possibly greeting and meeting her friend of a prime minister even minutes, or hours, before the ‘adversary’ from across the Palk Strait, whom she has anyway not seen face-to-face even once.
If so much for indomitable Jayalalithaa giving the Modi swearing-in the miss, less said about lesser political mortals in the state, the better. For Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Vaiko, too, Mahinda provided the handle, not only to stay away from the Modi show, he having lost in his native Sivakasi constituency of his own choosing – for the second time in a row, and in the BJP’s NDA company this time. There was no chance that the BJP could have played along with motivated Tamil media plants to make a non-party NDA ally from the electoral past a Rajya Sabha MP from one of the party-ruled states, and reward him with a ministerial berth in advance.
Not that the Modi leadership, keen to improve ties with the neighbours for starters, would have been able to countenance Vaiko’s pan-Tamil, anti-Sri Lanka stance, propelled and propagated as it has been by the separatism-centric Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora, beyond a point. By courting arrest against Mahinda’s invitation and visit in Delhi, Vaiko can now hope to revive the sagging morale of his residual party cadres. It is highly doubtful if that would also help revive his sagged-out political career, ministerial hopes at the Centre and one-time chief ministerial ambitions, too.
Less said about the BJP’s PMK ally, founded by Dr S Ramadoss, whose son Dr Anbumoni was the only NDA candidate to win an LS seat (from Dharmapuri), apart from BJP’s Pon Radhakrishnan (Kanyakumari). On Monday in Delhi, Radhakrishnan alone was sworn-in as a minister of state by President Pranab Mukherjee. Anbumani’s non-inclusion in the ministry reportedly owes to the pending criminal case against him in the ‘medical college recognition case’ during his UPA-1 innings as health minister with a Cabinet rank, when corruption charges against Dr Ketan Desai, then president of the Medical Council of India, hit the nation on its face.
The BJP is also unhappy that Ramadoss Sr and the latter’s close aides had almost not campaigned at all for alliance-partners, miffed as the senior was about more seats being given to the new-found DMDK ally of the BJP under actor-politician Vijakant than his PMK. In the process, the DMDK drew a huge blank in all 14 seats it had squeezed out of the BJP-NDA, like the MDMK, which happily settled for half that number but without quibbling or quarrelling.
Yet, Modi seemed to have had a word of praise for Vijaykant and his wife Premalatha, for their effective campaigning for all NDA partners at the parliamentary group meeting where he was formally named the prime minister nominee. The local media has reported that the BJP would have the likes of DMDK to merge with the party, for Vijaykant possibly to lead the NDA in the state assembly polls of 2016. Newly-inducted minister Radhakrishnan as the BJP state president has since sent out an open invitation for all small parties (no names mentioned) to consider merging with the larger, national ally.
However, Radhakrishnan being given only an MoS post when the state has given a total 18.5 per cent vote-share to the BJP-NDA (though only two MPs), more than four times the national-level Congress rival’s vote-share and only a fourth less than the mainline DMK rival of the ruling AIADMK has not gone unnoticed. That Radhakrishnan was MoS even under Vajpayee and has not even been given ‘Independent’ charge this time, when first-time MPs have been conferred the honour, too has been noticed. Though not in his circles and in the state BJP, in due course, they too will have questions to answer from political rivals, friends and the local media, alike on that score.
In the final analysis, the politicians’ boycott of the Mahinda-attended Modi swearing-in ceremony could not be criticised over much, considering that Indian cinema’s superstar Rajnikanth too stayed away, as did the other star, Vijay. Rajni’s family however honoured the invitation and attended the Delhi function, it is reported. It was the kind of decision/risk that the superstar cold not have missed, given past experience of actors like Vijay and Ajith, whose films came under release-pressure, both nearer home and more so overseas, where Tamil films have a rich and regular market in SL Tamil diaspora communities in particular.
Rajni just now has his multi-million Kochchadaiyan real-life animation film, on the screen for less than a week, and could not have afforded the risk. Vijay having burnt his fingers earlier and still having his films alternating between super-success and super-failure, too could not have afforded to risk a repeat, now or later. Yet, Rajnikanth fans at least could take heart in the post-result SMS that went viral, like all other ‘superstar’ quips, particularly from around the release of his block-buster Robot (Enthiran in Tamil) in 2010: ‘How did Modi win big? Because Rajni hugged him when the latter called on him, for blessings and support ahead of the polls…’
N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and political analyst, is director, Chennai chapter of the Observer Research Foundation.
May 28th, 2014 at 10:17 pm
Perfect punishment to bloody RACISTS!
“In this case, the Tamil Nadu CM would have been seated not only inconspicuously, she would have also been placed way behind President Rajapaksa. Protocol required that the visitor had a front-row seat. Even if deliberate, TV cameras thus could not have avoided Mahinda with his physique and in his eye-blinding white with trade-mark maroon satta/shawl falling from his shoulders. Not only the AIADMK cadres but even other pan-Tamil groups and sympathisers back in Tamil Nadu, however supportive of Jayalalithaa’s leadership of their larger ‘Tamil causes’, would have felt uneasy at such a sight.”
If she had come MR could have asked her for a arse-shaing Tamil suck-kili dance.
On a serious note this is concerning.
“It was the kind of decision/risk that the superstar cold not have missed, given past experience of actors like Vijay and Ajith, whose films came under release-pressure, both nearer home and more so overseas, where Tamil films have a rich and regular market in SL Tamil diaspora communities in particular.”
Because Tamil diaspora is the RICHEST Tamils in the world they can INFLUENCE TN too!! This way racism breeds more racism not letting any one of the groups break away from the CHAIN REACTION of Tamilian racism. Like the electric bell. When the electro-magnet is activated, the arm is dragged towards it hitting the bell too. But that breaks the circuit and the arm springs back to original poistion which again connects the circuit. So the bell keeps on ringing.
This is why TAMIL LANGUAGE should be WIPED OUT from SL as much as possible. Then the BINDING FORCE of TN, SL and diaspora Tamils loses. Then SL Tamil diaspora will watch SINHALA films instead.
May 29th, 2014 at 3:25 pm
The TNA is proposing to engage in MORE TREASON by appealing to Jayalolita for help in FORCING a “political solution” on the “Tamil issue” in Sri Lanka.
The “Political Solution” they demand is a SEPARATE COUNTRY for Tamils-ONLY in Sri Lanka, where they can exclude Sinhalese from settling, while millions of Tamils have moved to, and live among Sinhala people, other Provinces of Sri Lanka.
Apparently, EQUAL citizenship in ALL OF Sri Lanka, and the RIGHT TO LIVE ANYWHERE in Sri Lanka, is NOT ENOUGH for these UNREPENTANT RACISTS. THey want to CUT OUT their own cake in Sri Lanka, and eat a part of the rest too.
Inviting Foreign Powers to intervene in Sovereign Sri Lanka’s Internal Matters is OUTRIGHT TREASON.
The GOSL must ACT to ARREST, PROSECUTE, CONVICT and SEVERELY PUNISH by death, imprisonment, and confiscation of property these SEPARATIST TRAITORS.
ACT FAST, ACT NOW …. there is ENOUGH EVIDENCE of their TREACHERY accumulated over the last 35 years!
…………………………
Sri Lanka Tamil party congratulates Tamil Nadu CM, seeks a meeting to resolve national issue
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s major Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance today congratulated the Chief Minister of India’s Tamil Nadu state Ms. J. Jayalalithaa for her “resounding victory” at the recently concluded elections to the Lok Sabha and sought a meeting with her to discuss the Tamil issue in Sri Lanka.
In a congratulatory message to the Chief Minister, TNA leader R. Sampanthan on behalf of Sri Lanka’s Tamil people said her victory is an “astounding achievement” and is “indicative of the influence which you have the capacity to wield.”
He appreciated the Chief Minister’s continuing concern towards the resolution of the Tamil question in Sri Lanka and said the party looks forward to working closely with the CM and her government to further strengthen the ties.
Recalling that following the anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983, Sri Lanka accepted the good offices of India to bring about a final and acceptable resolution of the national conflict, the TNA leader said India has and continues to play a role in the process.
“The Tamil People in Sri Lanka do not desire a recurrence of violence. Their desire is that they and all other Sri Lankans are able to carry on their lives in the territories they live in, based on equality and justice,” Sampanthan wrote in his letter to Ms. Jayalalithaa.
He said violence ended with the end of the armed conflict in May 2009 and opportunity presented for a permanent solution but Sri Lanka unfortunately has not honored the commitments it made to India and to the International Community to bring about an acceptable political solution.
Including a letter TNA wrote to the new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the TNA leader said the Sri Lankan government is aggressively pursuing an agenda to radically alter the demographic composition of the majority Tamil speaking territories, the Northern and Eastern Provinces and also change the ethnic, linguistic and cultural identities of those territories.
Sampanthan said the actions of the government are clearly indicative of the lack of genuine commitment on the part of the government to evolve an acceptable political solution.
“Such actions of the Sri Lankan government undermine all efforts towards reconciliation, permanent peace and harmony, create an environment that promotes hostility and further cause irreparable and irreversible damage to the Tamil speaking peoples in the territories historically inhabited by them,” the TNA leader said in his letter.
He said the party has appealed to the Prime Minister that India’s continued role should ensure that an honorable peace based on justice and equality should be brought about in Sri Lanka and asked the Chief Minister for her continued and fullest support to achieve the above.
The Sri Lankan government accuses the Tamil party of promoting separatism and not making an effort for genuine reconciliation as evident by their continued resistance to participate in the parliamentary select committee (PSC) to achieve a sustainable solution to the Tamil issue.
The PSC has several times appealed to the TNA to join the process and even foreign governments, including India, have also urged the TNA to join the PSC to discuss the political solution but despite those requests, TNA is adamant on its stance and continues to boycott the PSC.
May 29th, 2014 at 4:26 pm
“Sri Lanka Tamil party congratulates Tamil Nadu CM, seeks a meeting to resolve national issue”
As I said before this TNA CURSE has only ONE solution. LTTE.
GOSL will never ban TNA or punish it. IF it does so it will be BLASTED by Endia, USA and EU AND demand reinstatement of TNA with some compensation. For some reason we don’t understand GOSL is hell bent on APPEASING this TNA backers.
So there is only ONE solution to the TNA curse and the Jayalolita curse. LTTE.
Bring back the “LTTE”
Get them to send letters to TNA and Jayalolita to declare Tamil Elam.
IF they do, they are DOOMED by the law.
If they don’t “LTTE” will kill them.
This is the ONLY solution. It was LTTE, NOT the law that destroyed Tamil racists like Amirthalingam, Thiruchelvam, Ghandhi, Raviraj, Maheswaran, Uma Maheswaran, etc., etc.
NO war crimes BS allegations either!
NO human rights allegations either!
Mark my word. BJP will NOT have the same majority in 2019. Then it will have to join Tamilian parties. Then they will get Tamil demands. Karuna will be DEAD in 2019. ONLY Jayalolita will be a strong leader to do so. IF she lives, we will be in DEEP trouble. NEW COMERS will not be as experiences as these 2 so they are OK.