{"id":116465,"date":"2021-07-24T16:34:27","date_gmt":"2021-07-24T23:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=116465"},"modified":"2021-07-24T16:34:27","modified_gmt":"2021-07-24T23:34:27","slug":"whither-tamil-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/07\/24\/whither-tamil-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Whither Tamil Politics ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga \u00a0DSc<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

TNA leader R.Sampanthan has called for a re-merger of Northern and Eastern Provinces and he has said that the problems Tamils face cannot be solved without the two provinces coming together. Moreover he has raised the matter with the American Ambassador Ms. Teplitz. The Tamil leader may have fired a salvo against the moves made by some nationalist groups campaigning for the abolition of the 13th<\/sup> Amendment which is being discussed at present by the committee assigned with the task of making a new constitution. He knows the impossibility of any governing political party granting such a demand. Even the ‘yahapalana’ regime which was\u00a0 hand in glove with the TNA could not accede to TNA demands though they attempted to bring in a federal constitution. The ‘yahapalanists’ paid the price for their folly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamil politics had made the decision to chart a\ndifferent course and radically deviate from the main sociopolitical stream from\nthe time of independence though there were times of  convergence and cooperation albeit of short\nduration. Independence and universal franchise had driven a wedge between\nSinhala and Tamil leaders which was rather unfortunate for they were together  in the struggle for independence. Tamil politicians\nenjoyed parity of political power and suddenly they realized that their\nprivileged position was in danger due to universal franchise which would make\nthem a minority in the parliament. They could not reconcile with the fact that\nthey were representatives of a minority community. What is most unfortunate is\nthat they could not see the opportunities that were there for them to play a\nvital role in the development of the whole country.  The mistake the Tamil leaders committed at\nthat time was to abandon the opportunity that was available to jointly\nparticipate in the central government and contribute to the development of not\nonly the Tamils but also the whole country and instead choose the narrow\nparochial path of communal politics. This blunder has continued to plague the\ncountry and even caused the birth of terrorism and a bloody war. Power sharing\nat the centre by all the communities could have been a reality, ending the so\ncalled ethnic problem, if not for that grave blunder.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present sociopolitical chasm between the different\ncommunities had its beginnings in those early times and successive Tamil\nleaders have contributed to its widening instead of making an effort to achieve\nreconciliation. Muslim leaders had taken a page out of Tamil separatism and\nthis has led to the emergence of Islamic terrorism too in the country. Leaders\nof communal politics such as SJV, Amirthalingam, Ashrof, Sampanthan,\nWigneshvaran and others had adopted communal politics as their political\nphilosophy and this had caused an intractable communal problem in Sri Lanka.\nInstead of advocating a common ownership for the whole country they started to\ncarve out territories with no regard to the historical fact that a certain\ncommunity had developed a civilization on this land and therefore have a claim\nto the entirety of it. The fact that the evidence of that civilization is\nstrewn all over this land is of no consequence to the Tamil politicians. On the\ncontrary every effort is made to distort this history. Could such leaders contribute\ntowards reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Tamil political leaders communal harmony is an\nanathema. They need disharmony to create issues and slogans for their political\nsurvival. Knowing very well that no major political party could afford to grant\ntheir demands without committing political suicide these Tamil leaders continue\ntheir demands mainly to keep the fires of discord burning in the hearts of\ncommunities which would ensure their political survival. Sampanthan asking for\nthe merger of the North and East has to be viewed in that background. American\nAmbassador too would welcome such signs of communal discord. They would not\nwant to see communal harmony being achieved in Sri Lanka. That would not fit\ntheir grand designs for the country and this region. This is why they helped\nthe LTTE to develop into the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world.\nThe Tamil separatist agenda suits the imperialist’s geopolitical agenda very\nwell. And they are holding the poor Tamil people at ransom in the pursuit of their\ndastardly agendas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is time Tamil leaders thought about this country.\nThe game of political expedience they engage in will not help the Tamil people.\nAttempt to distort history is childish to say the least. The aim here is to\ncreate in the minds of ordinary Tamils that they have been denied their\nheritage, their lands and their culture. A discontented frustrated people would\nserve the purpose of the Tamil politicians as well as the imperialists. A\npermanently destabilized country which is the aim of the imperialists would not\nhelp the Tamils. Tamil leaders must realize the futility of pursuing this kind\nof political philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamil intellectuals often talk about a Tamil Course\nand  Tamil struggle that have been\ncontinuing since independence. The nature of this problem has never been\ndefined in clear terms. If they describe it in terms of the need for self\ndetermination of the Tamils the counter argument would be that more than 50% of\nthe Tamils live outside the North and the East. They cannot talk about issues\nconcerning language, religion, education, employment, culture or infra\nstructure for all of that have been resolved and Tamils are equal if not better\noff compared to Sinhalese. But the discourse on the Tamil problem continues in\nvague abstract terms which attempts to portray the Tamils as an oppressed group\nof people. This is an attempt to keep the Tamil people in a perpetual state of\ndiscontent. Yet this discourse is incomplete unless it contends with the\nrupture that occurred at the time of independence referred to above and\nconvincingly show that that was not the origin of the Tamil problem. But the\ndiscourse studiously avoids any reference to those historical beginnings of the\nTamil problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However the solution to the problem may lie in that\nhistorical error and the missed opportunities discussed above. The failure of\nthe then Tamil leadership to face up to reality and decide on a political\narrangement for power sharing at the centre has led to the creation of a\nsituation that could be amplified by separatists into a huge problem. If\nleaders like Ponnambalam Ramanathan didn’t commit the mistake of\nmisrepresenting historical facts about Tamil habitation on this land and their\nrole in its civilization there would not have been such a Tamil problem. They\nshould have sought political inclusiveness for Tamils at that time not by\nasking for 50% representation or a separate state for Tamils but by negotiating\nan arrangement that fits the magnitude of the problem. Instead the Tamil\nhistory in the country was blown up to fit their separatist agenda. This\nhistorical error has remained to plague the country.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least now after so much blood and tears the Tamil\nleadership must make an attempt to correct that historical error. They must\nrealize the grave injustice they commit against their own community. They must\nknow the immense benefits that would accrue to the Tamils if there is communal\nharmony. In the areas of economy, trade and commerce there could be greater\ninter communal activity bringing much profit to Tamils. All communities could\nparticipate without harboured acrimony in economic, social and cultural\nactivities to a much greater degree. Such endevours would be more successful if\nthere is unity and harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If instead the Tamil leaders continue to make demands\nlike Mr. Sampanthan  it would only cause\nfeelings of bitterness on both sides of the divide. Extremism begets extremism.\nSinhalese will close rank like they did in 2019 and will not allow minority\npolitics to hold the country to ransom. They must think of the future of the\nTamils and try to build a country conducive for communal harmony. A merger of\nNorth and East would create pockets of minorities who in their own country\nwould feel second class. Instead a central power sharing mechanism could be\nworked out for the good of everybody. Peripheral administration could be\nfacilitated by creating a system of District Councils which could reflect the\nethnic composition more accurately and which will not create minorities within a\ndevolved unit. Time is opportune for such a course of action as a new\nconstitution is being constructed. If this opportunity is missed it would be a\nrepetition of the mistake Tamil leaders committed at the time of independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga  DSc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga \u00a0DSc TNA leader R.Sampanthan has called for a re-merger of Northern and Eastern Provinces and he has said that the problems Tamils face cannot be solved without the two provinces coming together. Moreover he has raised the matter with the American Ambassador Ms. Teplitz. The Tamil leader may have fired a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-n-a-de-s-amaratunga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}