Shenali D Waduge

While foreign envoys and even clueless Sinhala politicians and Government officials are chirping reconciliation and drawing up reconciliation plans and proposals, the organizations that the GOSL recently de-proscribed have issued a joint statement commemorating the 40^th anniversary of the Vaddukoddai Resolution passed on 14^th May 1976 aiming to seek a separate homeland, nationhood and right to self-determination. The aim is obviously made crystal clear. We find ourselves in another soup. At one end we are being told to reconcile while the other party to the reconciliation is hell bent on realizing a goal that was locally set up in 1976 a carry forward from the original quest launched by Tamil Nadu in the early 1920s. There cannot be two homelands for the same ethnic group in two countries using the same arguments to seek self-determination. So with two fronts seeking separatism it raises eyebrows whether the greater Eelam is to be newly created drawing entire Tamil Nadu with Sri Lanka’s North and parts of East? If this is the plan what do our politicians, the general public and other stakeholders propose to do to counter or meet the challenges at hand?

Some facts

• In 1916, Dr M. Nair and P. Theagaraya Chetty launched the South Indian Liberal Federation, also known as the Justice Party. Communal division between Brahmins and non-Brahmins had taken root in the presidency during the late 19th and early 20th century, mainly due to caste prejudices and disproportional representation of Brahmins in newly available government jobs
• In 1918-19 Dr. T. M. Nair led a mission to England to speak in support of communal representations before a Joint Parliamentary Committee but was prohibited from speaking on the orders of Edwin Samuel Montagu, the Secretary of State for India
• In December 1938, the Justice Party Convention passed a resolution stressing Tamil people’s right to a separate sovereign state, under the direct control of the Secretary of State for India in London.
• In 1940, the South Indian Liberal Federation (Justice Party) passed a resolution demanding a sovereign state of Dravida Nadu. Justice Party, which came to power in the Madras Presidency in 1921.
• Dravida Nadu a movement started in the 1940s against Brahamanism proposed a separate state demanded by Justice Party led by E. V. Ramasamy (known as Periyar was an atheist who first launched the Self-Respect Movement in 1925) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by C. N. Annadurai for the speakers of the Dravidian languages in South Asia. (Initially it was meant for only Tamil speaking but later expanded to include majority Dravida speaking Indian states (Kerala, Andra Pradesh, Karnataka). However, only Tamil Nadu supported this quest.
• Dravida Nadu Conference organized in 1939 by E V Ramasamy for a separate, sovereign and federal republic of Dravida Nadu.
• E V Ranasamy’s argument for a Dravidstan was in keeping with Congress Party’s Provincial Committees formed on a linguistic basis in 1920
• “Dravida Nadu for Dravidians” slogan launched on 17 December 1939 replacing Tamil Nadu for Tamils” slogan launched in 1938 (launched to protest against Hindi being introduced to schools in Tamil Nadu).
• In March 1942 Cripps Mission arrived from UK. Justice Party members met Sir Stafford Cripps placing before them the demand for a separate Dravidian natio Cripps, refused declaring that such a demand would be possible only through a resolution in the Madras legislature or through a general referendum
• Justice Party renamed   Dravidar Kazhagam in September 1944
• On 1 July 1947, the separatist Tamil leaders celebrated the “Dravida Nadu Secession Day”
• On 13 July 1947, they passed a resolution in Tiruchirapallidemanding an independent Dravida Nadu. Three days later Mahatma Gandhi opposed the demand while Jinnah refused to be party to a separate Dravidastan.
• “Dravida Nadu Separation State-Conference” held on October 14, 1947 in Cuddalore
• By 1957 DMK, argued that Dravida Nadu was “not feasible” but used it as a political demand and arouse the emotions of the Tamil people.
• In 1958 P. Raman, a Brahmin leader, who joined DMK was against Dravida Nadu and in 1960 decided to delete the demand of Dravida Nadu from the party programme after “Dravida Nadu Separation Day” led to arrests as the Indian Government felt the demand for a sovereign Tamil state would pose a threat of Balkanization to India,
• However, Annadurai reiterated DMK’s demand for independence for Dravida Nadu in his maiden speech at the upper house of Indian parliament (Rajya Sabha) on 1 May 1962
• In 1963 the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed to “prevent the fissiparous, secessionist tendency in the country engendered by regional and linguistic loyalties and to preserve the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity” of India. DMK formally dropped the secessionist demand in 1963 but reasserted it would continue to address the issues. DMK leader Murasoli Maran declared “I am Tamil first but I am also an Indian. Both can exist together provided there is space for cultural nationalism.” While DMK’s Era Sezhiyan declared  it was impossible to continue to demand Dravida Nadu when the policy lacked support even in the Tamil-speaking areas, let alone Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam-speaking areas and Sezhiyan proposed greater autonomy for Tamil Nadu instead.
• India’s 16^th amendment is no different to the 6^th amendment Sri Lanka passed for the very same reasons.
• In the 1980s, a minor militant organisation called Tamil Nadu Liberation Armyrevived the demand for Dravida Nadu, when the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) was sent to Sri Lanka. When Indian Government banned the TNLA under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) on July 2, 2002, TNLA cadres renamed themselves as “Tamizhar Vidhuthalai Iyakkam”. The TNLA has close ties with the LTTE and if LTTE was a creation of India it raises eyebrows on the role India’s intelligence played in creating militant groups in the South of India extending to Sri Lanka. In 2014, 6 members of the TNLA were arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for their attempt to assassinate Union Minister Chidamabaram and Narayanswamy.
• Since the late 19th century, the anti-Brahmin Tamil leaders had stated that the non-Brahmin Tamils were the original inhabitants of the Tamil-speaking region.
• Tamil Nadu Tamils declare Hindi India as their oppressors while Tamil politicians in Sri Lanka declare Sinhalese as their oppressors. The Dravidian movement started with hatred for the Brahmins, similarly the ITAK/TNA & LTTE nursed the same against the Sinhalese. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-gGb_u99o
• Just as the proponents of Dravida Nadu are promoting a theory of Dravidian-speaking areas having a non-Brahmin polity and civilization which the Aryan conquest and Brahmin hegemony destroyed, the Tamil politicians and the LTTE were and are recreating history to support their quest.
• The proponents of Dravida Nadu also sought to associate and amalgamate Tamil Islam within a supposedly more ancient Dravidian religion, which threatened the Islamic identity of Tamil Muslims, some of whom had earlier supported the demand for a sovereign Dravida Nadu movement. A fate Sri Lanka Muslims also find themselves.
• If Britain played a role in helping form the Justice Party (South Indian Liberal Federation) wouldn’t the British have done the same to help Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (Federal Party) from being formed in 1949 using imported Chelvanayagam?

The separatist quest in Sri Lanka

• It was in 1949 that the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi or Federal Party was created by S J V Chelvanayagam. http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/01095/ITAK_constitution_1095830a.pdf
• 1972 Prabakaran creates Tamil New Tigers. In 1975 he rechristens it as LTTE. His first killing was a Tamil Mayor – Alfred Duraiappah in 1975.
• India’s training of Sri Lankan Militant groups is confirmed by American think tank Council for Foreign Relations. http://www.cfr.org/india/raw-indias-external-intelligence-agency/p17707
• Chelvanayagam’s statement of 1975 ‘I wish to announce to my people and to the country that I consider the verdict at this election as a mandate that the Tamil Eelam Nation should exercise the sovereignty already vested in the Tamil people and become free’.
• On 14 May 1976 the Vaddukoddai Resolution was signed unanimously by the TULF demanding a free, sovereign, secular, socialist state of Tamil Eelam combining North and East and referring in ‘Tamil speaking people’ (including Muslims). The convention called upon Tamil youth to come forward to throw themselves to fight for freedom and not flinch until Eelam was achieved. http://www.sangam.org/FB_HIST_DOCS/vaddukod.htm
• The 1977 TULF election manifesto call was ‘Vote for the Tamil United Liberation Front; for the emancipation of the Tamil Nation; for the freedom of Tamil Eelam’
• The demands during the Thimpu Talks in 1985 were lity

1. To recognize Tamils of Sri Lanka as a distinct nationality
2. To recognize the identified Tamil Homeland and guarantee its territorial integrity
3. To recognize the inalienable right of self-determination of the Tamil nation.
4. To recognize the right to full citizenship and other fundamental democratic rights of all Tamils who look upon the island as their country.

• ITAK amended its constitution in 2008 replacing replacing ‘Shamasthi’ with ‘Innaipatchchi’. If ‘shamasthi’ meant federalism what does Innaipatchchi mean? In essence the aims and objectives of ITAK are now confederal clearly established by the manner the TNA leaders are demanding direct foreign aid, right to own police and land powers, right to directly hold diplomatic relations etc. http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/09/23/itak-stop-fooling-sri-lanka-is-your-constitution-federal-or-confederal/
• The TNA manifestos of 2001, 2004, 2010 and 2013 very clearly  http://www.onlanka.com/news/tamil-national-alliance-ltte-separatist-manifestos-2001-2004-2010-and-now-2013.html
• The undeniable TNA-LTTE links. TNA openly claims LTTE as ‘sole representative of the Tamil people” – http://www.mea.gov.lk/index.php/en/news-from-other-media/5547-the-un-investigative-panel-must-probe-tna-ltte-links-
• In 2013 the Northern Province Chief Minister Wigneswaran called for the re-merger of the North & East.
• In 2013 the Northern Provincial Chief demanded the State military evict the North http://www.onlanka.com/news/chief-minister-wigneswaran-so-you-want-the-sri-lankan-army-in-barracks-but-you-have-no-issues-with-the-army-building-houses-for-tamils.html
• In 2014 the TNA filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court seeking the re-merger of the North & East claiming it to be a promise in their election manifesto. ITAK claims its demand is for a basis of a federal state within a united Sri Lanka (there is nothing called a ‘united’ country and united is only referred in confederal-confederacy-federacy setups)
• In 2015 the Northern Provincial Council passed a resolution claiming genocide by the Sri Lankan Government http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/NPC_Resolution_on_Tamil_Genocide_v2.pdf
• LTTE military wing is no more but the LTTE promoters and the separatist ideology remains very much alive and kicking http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2015/01/04/fea05.asp

http://www.tamilguardian.com/files/File/ICET/15_01_2016_ICET_TGTE_TYO_joint_statement_english.pdf

We extend out heartiest thai thirunaal greetings to all!

We have entered the 40th year since the people of Tamil Eelam proclaimed to the world their deeply held political aspirations through the Vaddukoddai Resolution in 1976, based on the principles of homeland, nationhood and the right to self-determination. The essence of the Resolution declared on 14 May 1976 under the leadership of the late S.J.V Chelvanayagam was the enunciation by Tamils that, in view of their long maligned experiences, they could no longer live under the hegemonic rule of a Sinhala Buddhist State. In the subsequent General Elections of 1977, the Tamil people gave a clear mandate for the Resolution by electing all candidates who stood behind it. That mandate by the people lives in their spirit forty years on.

The introduction of the draconian Sixth Amendment to the Constitution in 1983, which denied people their freedom of expression and criminalised the advocacy of a separate state of Tamil Eelam, has removed today the political space for Tamils to express their true political aspirations. However, through exercising the inherent right of all Nations to self-determination according to universal law, Eelam Tamils continue to claim their right to self-rule.

Despite the efforts of Sri Lanka and its apparatus of state terrorism through the genocidal war unleashed in Mullivaaikaal to suppress the Tamil people’s thirst for freedom, Tamils the world over continue to breathe the thoughts and dreams of a free Tamil Eelam. The events of Mullivaaikaal have only reaffirmed how unfeasible it is for the Tamil people to exist within a Sinhala Buddhist State structure. 

It is not an accident that there is convergence in the efforts of the Sinhala rulers to convert their military wins claimed through a war into political capital, and the attention paid by international State actors in consolidating the regime change in Sri Lanka built according to their own interests.   It is also remarkable that this year marks a confrontation between the 40th anniversary of the Vaddukoddai Resolution which is an expression of the political aspirations of the Eelam Tamil people, and the efforts of the Sinhala rulers to address the constitution itself in the name of solving the Tamil National question. Meanwhile, Tamils in the homeland have their everyday existence curtailed by the heavy military presence, and the space for expression of their political aspirations completely denied under the Sixth Amendment.

Under these circumstances, prudence dictates that we emphasise the significance of holding a UN supervised referendum for Eelam Tamils to express their political aspirations; and we, as Tamils in the homeland, the Diaspora, Tamil Nadu and indeed as World Tamils, come together to take on strategic action that is mutually reinforcing our political work.

It is with this in mind that the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, the International Council of Eelam Tamils and the International Tamil Youth Organisation have chosen to work together on projects which shall bolster the Vaddukoddai Resolution in this 40th anniversary year, and take it forward in all its dimensions with vigour towards our political goals. As a unified expression of the immense significance of this the 40th year of the Vaddukoddai Resolution, we have designed a special logo that shall be adopted by us all.

With solidarity and fellowship, we call upon all Tamil organisations and movements founded on the principles of the Vaddukoddai Resolution to come forward and work together on this momentous occasion.

Thirst of all Tamils is Tamil Eelam!

Signed by : Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam / International Tamil Youth Organization / International Council of Eelam Tamils

Where are we heading? 

From 1920s in Tamil Nadu to the 1940s in Sri Lanka and beyond to the present we see a political quest for a Dravidstan – a homeland for the Tamil people who account for 76million worldwide population. Fanning this aspiration is none other than the British who have through the Church, NGOs and even diplomatically enticed minority political groups to make demands under their very successful ‘divide and rule’ policy.

While one lot of people are demanding separatism, the solution has been to make only one side play ‘reconciliation’ turning the whole scenario to an ugly joke. While the Tamil political leadership and the Tamil militants have been steadfast in their quest and not budging the Sinhala political leaders have been playing ‘here we go round the mulberry bush’ all these years not putting their cards properly on the table on what is negotiable and what is non-negotiable.

How can there be any reconciliation when the quest for a separate nation is very clearly established as the aims and objectives for which even foreign support has been obtained? If the ideology has not changed except being passed on from one group to another where are we going with these compromises and reconciliation bogeys and to what extent will this damage be fortified by changing the constitution to give in to the demands of the separatist seekers who are playing the wolf putting the ‘we want only autonomy in a united Sri Lanka’ card when legally their constitutions seek something far more dangerous.

What role does the West play in all of this?

At the root of all problems is the British having invaded 90% of the world using the divide and rule policy to break communities apart, manufacture trouble, induce people to fight and advance military equipment to engage in never ending warfare enabling the West to use their NGOs, envoys, trade, missionaries to advance their agendas. The West having ruined South America, presently ruining Africa and Middle East, caused troubles in selected European states and now turning their evil eye on Asia, it is rather unfortunate that India and Japan having suffered under the West have chosen to align with these very countries as their partner.

The compromise formula mooted by the Tamil politicians is a fictitious offer of replacing a separate nation with autonomy within a united Sri Lanka. While promoting this notion, they are also using their foreign connections to lobby the Sinhala leaders to tweak the new constitution to subtly remove the unitary framework of the new constitution whereby it would be easier to eventually demand ‘separatism’ which is in their party constitution’s under aims and objectives which the Sinhala leaders have ignored to take action against. For the irresponsible actions of the Sinhala politicians, Sri Lanka is likely to have a divided nation and the drafters and promoters are likely to take the next flight out of the island escaping all accountability.

What are our leaders walking into by their sheer ignorance of the dangers at hand camouflaged by their selfish self-centred hunger to somehow remain in power enjoying the perks and privileges of office and not caring what happens to the country or its people.

Then again, if it is only the Tamil politicians in Tamil Nadu and the Tamil politicians in Sri Lanka and elements of the Diaspora Tamils who wish a separate state, can any nation please give some space in their territory for them to raise their Eelam flag and live because the Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslims have been living very happily and it is only the politicians who are fanning trouble every year.

Shenali D Waduge