{"id":120310,"date":"2021-11-15T01:29:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T07:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=120310"},"modified":"2021-11-14T18:21:41","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T01:21:41","slug":"why-did-tamils-kill-rajiv-gandhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/15\/why-did-tamils-kill-rajiv-gandhi\/","title":{"rendered":"Why did Tamils kill Rajiv Gandhi?"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Right now, C. V. Wignewaran is labouring indefatigably to lead the next\nTamil brigade to Nandikadal. Right now, there is no one in the Tamil political\narena who represents Tamil extremism more than C. V. Wigneswaran, the\nunrepentant devotee of Swamy Premananda \u2013 a convict who died in a S. Indian\nprison while serving his term for the murder of a Tamil youth and serial rape\nof under-aged Tamil girls. Deifying violence and worshipping evil figures who\ncommit  mass murders have been an integral  part of the violent\nSankili-Vellala political culture of Jaffna.  The cruel oppression of the\nTamil low-castes by the Vellala leaders throughout the feudal, colonial and\npost-colonial periods has been the norm in the violent Vellala culture Jaffna.\nThe serial killing of Tamil leaders and Tamil dissidents by Prabhakaran is\ntypical of the violent Sankili cult. It is also typical of the Tamil political\nculture to deify him as Surya Devan\u201d.  At the ideological level Tamil\nviolence found its ultimate expression in Arumuka Navalar, the highest\nspiritual guru of Jaffna, who told his followers to kill the blasphemers and if\nthey can\u2019t hire someone else to kill. This made Saivism of Jaffna another facet\nof the Sankili-Vellala cult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tolerant democratic liberalism failed to rise as a ruling ideology to\nliberate the individual from the tyranny of its inflexible religio-casteist\nforces. The ideologies and the political forces that ruled Jaffna failed to\ndeliver  equality, liberty, justice and dignity to the oppressed Tamil minority.\nJaffna was dominated by the Vellala majority which kept the low-caste in their\nplace by imposing its iron-fisted rule. The oppressive political class\/caste at\nthe top demanded total political supremacy and submission to the ruling Vellala\nideology which culminated in the Vadukoddai Resolution of May 14, 1976 \u2013 the\ncomprehensive political manifesto of the Vellala supremacists who declared war\nlegitimising Tamil violence against the democratically elected state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Velupillai Prabhakaran was the child that came out of the war-mongering\nVadukoddai Resolution. The violent casteist culture that kept the oppressed\nTamil minority under the feet of the Vellalas during the feudal and colonial\nperiods was the fertile soil for his rise in the peninsula. The transition from\nthe casteist violence of Vellalaism to Pol Potist Prabhakaranism was only a\nchanging of hands from one set of fascist tyrants to another. Both cultures\nproduced violent tyranny. Jaffna produced two prominent political rulers:\nSankili and Prabhakaran. And both were violent killers of Tamils. Liberalism,\ndemocracy, socialism, feminism, humanism, egalitarianism are ideologies that\nfailed to win over deep-rooted Sankili-Vellala cult —  the overwhelming\nforce that ruled Jaffna, particularly from the Dutch period. When Jaffna raised\nthe cry of discrimination, they were expressing the fears of the Vellalas \nlosing  their casteist power and privileges which remained in force even\nunder British rule and not the mass oppression of the ostracised Tamil\nlow-castes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wigneswaran is the latest manifestation of this Vellala-Sankili cult. He\nworships two Tamil criminals. He has no inhibitions in devoutly worshipping the\nconvicted criminal Swamy Premananda. He even holds poojas for this murderer and\nserial rapist. He manufactured legal arguments to defend this criminal who was\nconvicted by an Indian court in S. India \u2013 please note, not by a Sri Lankan\ncourt. He even wrote to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, pleading for his\nrelease. Colombo Telegraph<\/em><\/strong> reported that one of the images\nerected in his temple in Jaffna is that of Swamy Premananda. Mark you,\nWigneswaran cannot be dismissed as an eccentric from the hoi-polloi of Jaffna.\nHe studied in the best state school (free of charge \u2013 no discrimination there!)\nand rose to be a Judge of the Supreme in the Sinhala state\u201d (no discrimination\nthere again!). He moves in the highest social levels of the elitist Sinhala\ncircles in Colombo. It is reported that A. T. Ariyaratne, leader of the\nSarvodaya Movement,  too had participated in his poojas. Wigneswaran\u2019s son\nis married to Vasudeva Nanayakkara\u2019s daughter. This is typical of the Tamil\nelite. They keep one foot in Jaffna plugging anti-Sinhala-hatred to win votes\nand the other in Sinhala South to get whatever they can to advance their status\nand fortunes. After they extract the best from the South they revert to their\nmono-ethnic roots, demonising the Sinhala-Buddhists. They demand the fulfilment\nof every comma and full stop in the UN Charter but they have no\ncompunction  in worshipping criminals, knowing that they had killed and\nraped Tamils civilians. Is it, therefore, surprising  to find Wigneswaran\narguing in defence of Tamil terrorists? Writing in their defence he says\n:  <\/strong>The activities of the Tamil youths was (sic) a reaction against\nState Terrorism.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But was Tamil terrorism a reaction to State terrorism\u201d? If it was a\nreaction to State terrorism\u201d why did the Tamil terrorists slaughter Tamil\nleaders, the Muslims and Rajiv Gandhi, all of whom who had helped the Tamils\nall the way? What wrong did they do to the Tamils? What wrong did Appapillai\nAmirthalingam and Neelan Tiruchelvam do to the Tamils to be killed by\nPrabhakaran? What wrong did Uma Maheswaram, the Chairman  of the LTTE, do\nto the Tamils to be killed by Prabhakaran? Did he kill his chairman to get even\nwith the Sinhala state\u201d? Sivaram Dharmeratnam, better known as Taraki, the\nleading Tamil political analyst of his time, has stated that there were 37\nmilitant organisations in 1983 fighting the Sinhala state\u201d. (p.81 —  Learning\nPolitics from Sivaram<\/em><\/strong>, Mark. P. Whitaker.)  Each one  of them\nwas a killing machine. In time, they disappeared one  by one, eliminated\nby the LTTE. Why did Prabhakaran eliminate these Tamil organisations who were\nfighting for the same cause, Eelam?  Did Prabhakaran decimate his rivals\nto help the Sinhala state\u201d? Or was it because he was a creation that came out\nof the womb of the violent Tamil political culture?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, indiscriminate Tamil violence that went berserk targeting Tamil\nleaders, dissident Tamils, Muslims, and Indians debunk the myth of Tamil\nterrorism was a reaction to the violence of the State terrorism\u201d.  The\nmindless character of Tamil violence indicates that Tamil terrorism had its\norigins in the violence of the Sankili-Vellala political culture that ruled\nJaffna. Tamil violence has its roots in the Sankili-Vellala cult  which\nestablished political violence as the norm to counter any threats to the\nmono-ethnic power of Jaffna. Tamil violence is an autochthonous force that grew\nand rose like Jaffna onions from its soil. It needed no external stimulus to\nbreak out in full force. The declaration of war in the Vadukoddai Resolution is\na clear manifestation of the inherent Tamil violence. It legitimised violence\nand urged the Tamil youth to take up the gun against the democratically elected\nstate. In keeping with their violent political culture, the Tamil leadership\ngave the Tamil youth the licence to kill in the Vadukoddai Resolution and the\nTamil youth went wild with the new toy of guns in their hands, targeting the\nTamil leaders first.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? Why did Tamil violence target Tamils? According to\nWigneswaran\u2019s  argument, the Tamil terrorists were  response to\nState terrorism\u201d. This raises a fundamental question: why did the Tamil fighting\nState terrorism\u201d kill Tamils? They should have reacted by targeting State\u201d\nactors only. But the available evidence proves that Tamil violence\nindiscriminately fired bullets in all directions. Besides, the rationale used\nto justify Tamil violence is that it was necessary to protect Tamils from\nSinhala violence and give them security which the state could not or would not\ngive. But Tamil violence began with Tamil youth killing Tamil leaders. \nVelupillai Prabhakaran\u2019s first victim was Alfred Duriyappah, the mild-mannered\nMayor of Jaffna. He later assassinated the Chairman of the LTTE, Uma Maheswaran\nand the rival militants. The list of Tamils assassinated by him is long. \nWasn\u2019t this a recrudescence of the innate Tamil political culture? It was as if\nthe bottled-up violence in the Tamil political culture had at last found an\navenue to explode. They took to the firing of guns as if it was another \nfestival of lights. It also  means that Tamil violence had no moral\nlimits. If Tamil violence was to protect Tamils, then Tamils killing Tamils\nmakes no sense. It was inexcusable. Above all, it undermined the argument that\nTamil violence was a reaction to State terrorism\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinhala state certainly was not the primary source of Tamil violence. It\nis also true that sporadic violence of the Sinhala lunatic fringe, reacting to\nTamil provocations, (as seen in the Sansoni Commission report) did alarm the\nTamil community and heightened their sense of insecurity. Sinhala violence too\nhas its origins in Tamil politics and violence. Each violent bout of Sinhalese\nwas a reaction to the provocative politics of the Tamils. The explosion of\n1983\u201d, for instance, was a reaction to the chain  of Tamil violence that\nhad gathered momentum from the time the Tamil leadership declared war in the\nVadukoddai Resolution. The Vadukoddai Resolution legitimising and urging Tamil\nvoice was passed in May 1976. Ever since then the Tamils militants have been\nescalating their violence, mostly to provoke the Sinhalese as seen in the\nSansoni Commission report. The last straw that broke the camel\u2019s back was the\nkilling of the thirteen soldiers in Jaffna. The killing of Sinhala soldiers was\ncommitted deliberately to provoke Sinhala violence. All hell broke loose after\nthat.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also the known practice of the Tamil leadership to needle the\nlower-level of Sinhala leadership to provoke them into ethnic  violence\nagainst the Tamils, as stated by Prof. A. J. Wilson. Tamils invariably \ngloated in Sinhala violence against the Tamils as it enabled them to win\npolitical sympathy abroad. Provoking the Sinhalese into violence against the\nTamils paid political dividends internationally. It enabled them to play the\nsympathy card of a persecuted minority. But the extraordinary feature of Sri\nLankan ethnic violence has been that it has not driven both parties to \nbitter hatred of each other. There was always space left over for the\ncommunities to get back to normalcy within a short space of time. Sri Lankan\nstreet violence is like the fizz of a soda bottle: it subsides as soon as it\nexplodes. Besides, the ethnic divide has not been irreconcilable like the\nvisceral Arab-Jewish antagonisms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must be mentioned that there were some Tamil intellectuals who were\ndisturbed by the absurdity and dared to condemn it. The obscenity of Tamils\nkilling Tamils was unacceptable. Prof. Rajan Hoole was one of them. S. C.\nChandrahasan, son of S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, father of Tamil separatism and V.\nAnandasangaree, leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front, have openly denounced\nVelupillai Prabhakaran for killing more Tamils than all the others put\ntogether. Shocked by the horrors of Tamil violence Prof. Rajan Hoole asked why\nsuch fratricidal violence came from the womb of Jaffna? Now, why did\nPrabhakaran kill Tamils ? Was he reacting to State terrorism\u201d or was he\nkilling Tamils because he was a product of the violent Tamil political culture?\nSo, was he a liberator\u201d of Tamils or a liquidator of Tamils? On whose side was\nhe fighting? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most glaring example of Tamil\narrogance was displayed when Prabhakaran decided to kill Rajiv Gandhi. As a\npolitical decision it was counterproductive. As a calculated strategy to\ndisplay the invincible power\u201d of the LTTE it misfired. It took them nowhere.\nIt was a futile act that boomeranged on the Tamils as a community. They were\nbranded as ungrateful killers. They were compared to dogs who bite the hands\nthat feed them. From all points of view — political, military, power relations\nwith India, his image in the international arena etc., — there was nothing\nsubstantial that Prabhakaran could have gained by killing Rajiv Gandhi.\nReplacing Gandhi with another prime minister would not have changed India\u2019s\nstance of adhering to an undivided Sri Lanka. So, why did he do it? Killing of\nGandhi opened a window into the brutal psyche  of Prabhakaran. It\ncertainly confirms that his thinking was driven by insane fury\u201d.  A \nrecent book published in Melbourne throws new light on the issue. It reveals\nthat it was the insane fury\u201d of Prabhakaran that prompted him to kill Gandhi.\nThe following passage from Sabaratnam Sundaramoorthy\u2019s Dare to Differ<\/em><\/strong>\nreveals the hidden  cause: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/strong>Killing of Rajiv Gandhi\nblackened the image of Tigers in the eyes of the world. Many countries that had\nlot of sympathy for our freedom fighters started questioning the rationale\nbehind this murder. They were not prepared to listen to any reason, or anyone\ntrying to justify it. International media even began to address Tigers as\ninternational terrorists. Though Rajiv was not the prime minister of India at\nthe time of his murder,  the Gandhi dynasty and the way in which the\nmurder took place on  Indian soil  invitably made the Tigers look\nlike the enemy of India. The editor of The Hindu newspaper went all out to\ncondemn Tigers with venom never shown anytime  before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was, however,\nconsiderable speculation about the death of Rajiv Gandhi. No one dared to\nimplicate Tigers with murder except the Sri Lankan and Indian politicians and\nthe media. So, I decided to find out from Bala (Anton Balasingham) during a\nconversation as to why we killed Rajiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bala said, Iysay, when\nThalaivar (Leader, V. Prabhakaran) was there (in Delhi) during talks it was\nIndia\u2019s plan to push Tigers to accept their proposals which Thalaivar refused\nto sign\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this time Thalaivar\nwas guarded by Indian protective services, the Black Cats, at Asoka Hotel and\nwas man-handled by them in a manner that made the rest of the Tiger\nparticipants furious. It made their blood boil to the extent of seeking\nrevenge.  The immediate response was to  make Rajiv pay for this and\nthe rest is history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said to Bala: To me it\nseems that it was not a valid reason to kill anyone.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bala responded: Sundar, we\nare talking about Thalaivar who is regarded as our supreme leader. There are\nthousands who would give their lives for him and for them it\u2019s something they\ncould not bear to see. It was an affront to their pride and dignity. They could\nnot accept  anyone manhandling our Leader in such a crude and humiliating\nmanner. How dare anyone lay a hand on him? Many Tamils across the world regard\nThalaivar Prabhakaran as a God or an avatar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did not want to question\nhim further on such a history-changing event. Besides, I knew what his answer\nwould be if I questioned him further. Our Boys\u201d would not simply listen to\nanyone when they decide to eliminate one deemed to be an obstacle standing in\nthe way to achieve their goal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to this report\nRajiv Gandhi was kiilled not because of any serious political differences but\nbecause the Black Cats, the Indian commandos dealing with anti-terrorist\nactivities, had man-handled\u201d Prabhakaran when he was at Asoka Hotel in Delhi.\nThe immediate response was to  make Rajiv pay for this and the rest is\nhistory,\u201d said Anton Balasingham. Undoubtedly, it was an act of personal\nrevenge. It had  nothing to do with the larger issues of Tamil politics. As stated by the Melbourne Tamil political\nactivist, Sundar, who knew the inside workings of the organisation, hurting the\npride and dignity\u201d of Prabhakaran was not a good enough reason to kill Gandhi.\nBesides, there was more than the pride and dignity\u201d of Prabhkaran at stake.\nThe lives of millions of Tamils were hanging on the relationship between Rajiv\nGandhi and Prabhakaran. But Prabhakaran was concerned only with his pride and\ndignity\u201d. He had only one answer to all his political problems: his insane\nfury\u201d to kill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reveals the narrow\nlimits of Prabhakaran\u2019s small mind. Balasingham asked: How dare he lay an hand\non him?\u201d There is a point in what Bala says: Prabhakaran should have been\ntreated with some  respect. The Indian Black Cats obviously had given him\nthe third degree. It was not the way to win his heart. The Indians should have\nhandled him with greater finesse. But Prabhakaran had averred that he \nlaunched his movement to serve the Tamil people not his ego. So, how did\nkilling Rajjiv Gandhi help the Tamil people? How did the killng of \nAmirthalingam and Tiruchelvam help the Tamil cause? Killing Tamils who had done\nso much for the Tamil cause served no purpose. It is obscene. Killing a fellow\nTamil because he poses a political threat to his exitence is\nunpardonable.  The insane fury\u201d of Tamil politics was blind.  They\nwere killed for disagreeing  with the Tamil quasi-state. Is that a valid\nreason to kill? It is like killing Rajiv Gandhi because he hurt the ego of Prabhakaran.\nViolence based on insane fury\u201d is immoral and counter productive. Tamil\nviolence was driven by insane fury\u201d. It has been a part of Tamil political\nculture. The two leading heroes of Tamil politics, Sankili and Prabhakaran, \u2013\nboth ruthless killers of Tamils \u2013 reflects the innate characteristics of the\nTamil political culture. The post-Nandikadal anti-Sri Lankan campaigns of\nTamils based on human rights is to revive Prabhakaranism and return to\nterrorism. Tamil activists in Western capitals aim to win through human rights\nwhat Prabhkaran lost through brutal violence. Can a return to Tamil tyranny\nredeem the Tamil people? After centuries of suffering under Vellala and\nPrabhakaranist facism do they not deserve even a modicum  of freedom in a democratic\nstate? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajiv Gandhi\u2019s story above\nreflects the arrogant nature of egotistic Prabhakaran who was basking in the\nglory of his initial military successes. As Bala says, his Tamil followers had\nelevated him to a deity.  They admiringly overlooked the nature of his\ninsane fury\u201d that was driving his politics because his  violence was\npromising Eelam. Justifying and glorifying Tamil violence was a political\nnecessity for the Tamils desperately chasing Eelam. After declaring war in the\nVadukoddai Resolution the Tamils had to produce a Sankili to eliminate all\nopposition. Prabhakaran was born out of the Vadukoddai Resolution \u2013 the\nimprimatur of the Tamil leadership to take up the gun. The misguided Tamil\nyouth marched all the way from Vadukoddai to Nandikadal propelled by the power\nto kill authorised in the Vadukoddai Resolution. Tamil tyranny could only live\non Tamil violence. Sankili killed because the Tamil Catholics owed allegiance\nto the King of Portugal. Prabhakaran too killed the Tamils who owed allegiance\nto his rivals. History repeated itself in Sri Lanka, first as an insane fury\u201d\nand then as a cultural habit of egotistic maniacs, (apologies to Marx!). It was\nthe insane fury\u201d of the Tamil leaders that eventually destroyed the Tamils. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The immorality is in killing, whatever the cause.  The morality was\nin both parties putting an end to their killing. One party cannot claim that\nthey have a higher morality that justifies the killings of the other\u201d. In\ndeclaring war against the Sinhalese in the Vadukoddai Resolution the Tamil\nleadership assumed the right to kill the Sinhalese for the political reasons\noutlined by them. It spawned dozens of militant groups — all aiming to achieve\nTamil Eelam.  They were all killing machines of the Tamils. They were\narmed not only with the gun but also with the war-mongering Vadukoddai ideology\nthat justified killing. They assumed that attaching a political label like\nliberation\u201d would give them the moral right to kill with impunity. They\nassumed that killing for their political cause was the morally correct\ndecision. The problem is a that the other side too believed they had the moral\nright to kill Tamils for the good of all, just not the Tamils. Each claimed the\nsuperior moral right to kill the other\u201d. Eventually, their righteousness\ndecimated all parties competing for the right to  kill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamil capacity to destroy Tamils is unlimited. Tamil violence is also\nself-destructive: it kills more Tamils than the enemies. As some Tamils used to\nsay, Prabhakaran was determined to fight until the last Tamil left for Canada.\nFortunately, Jaffna was saved for the Jaffnaites by the Sri Lankan before\nPrabhakaran could eliminate them all. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala Right now, C. V. Wignewaran is labouring indefatigably to lead the next Tamil brigade to Nandikadal. Right now, there is no one in the Tamil political arena who represents Tamil extremism more than C. V. Wigneswaran, the unrepentant devotee of Swamy Premananda \u2013 a convict who died in a S. Indian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120310","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=120310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}