{"id":57102,"date":"2016-07-28T16:08:40","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T23:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=57102"},"modified":"2016-07-28T16:08:40","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T23:08:40","slug":"sri-lanka-do-we-need-racist-tamils-like-wigneswaran-and-sambanthan-when-tamils-dont-vote-tna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/07\/28\/sri-lanka-do-we-need-racist-tamils-like-wigneswaran-and-sambanthan-when-tamils-dont-vote-tna\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka: Do we need racist Tamils like Wigneswaran and Sambanthan when Tamils don\u2019t vote TNA?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Anyone promoting reconciliation needs to understand that it is not a one-way street solution. You cannot have any peace when there are Tamil representatives who are racists and proud about it too. Moreover it is time that the world themselves realized that the TNA is not representative of the Tamils. Tamils have not been voting for the TNA. Results of votes is evidence. The best way they can hide this is to create public attention through their racism. The unbelievable factor is that the entire world chooses to be silent on Tamil racism while ever ready to point fingers at the Sinhalese.<\/p>\n

Firstly, there are no mono-ethnic enclaves and Tamil leaders have no right to be claiming any part of the island territory as their own. Yet, the Northern Provincial Council passed a resolution to prevent \u2018colonization\u2019 of Sinhalese. Elementary rule is – You cannot \u2018colonize\u2019 your own country and there is and was never anything that can lay historical claim for a Tamil only area! http:\/\/tamildiplomat.com\/sinhalese-colonization-in-north-wigneswaran-must-take-action-npc\/<\/a><\/p>\n

It is because these racist Tamil leaders cannot prove with historical evidence of a Tamil homeland that Wigneswaran has suggested that Sri Lanka\u2019s history be re-written. It is a piece of cake to have foreign funds given to academics some of whom would agree to put their name against any wild theories for payment and career progress. That endeavor has commenced already. https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/npc-chief-wigneswaran-wants-sri-lankas-history-rewritten\/<\/a><\/p>\n

What is annoying about Wigneswaran and his racist slanders is that he had been living all of his 70 plus years in Colombo among Sinhalese and went to live in the North only after becoming the Chief Minister in 2012. The irony is that while he says the Tamils must have their own leader, he ended up being parachuted from Colombo to the North to contest when it should have been a person living in the North who should have had the right to contest as Chief Minister. Wigneswaran became Chief Minister with much lobbying and assistance by TNA & India who ordered the voters to vote for him. Now would you call this democracy in action? Living in the North for just 4 years, how representative of the people of the North is he in reality??? This can be seen by his silence about the injustice to the Tamil fishermen at the hands of the Indian fishermen who are not only stealing the livelihood of his people but are also ruining the marine bed using internationally banned-bottom trawlers. If Wigneswaran stood for the rights of the Tamil people it is against the Indian fishermen that Wigneswaran should have stood his ground\u2026<\/p>\n

Wigneswaran has gone on to say Tamils cannot marry Sinhalese. We hope that the Tamil people know that both his sons are married to Sinhalese women and from politically connected Sinhala families too. So who is he really fooling?<\/p>\n

Do Tamils really vote for TNA<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to population statistics the Tamil population stands at 2.2million. It is questionably whether this figure are truly physically living in Sri Lanka or whether they are simply registered. Giving the benefit of doubt, we can see from the results that the Tamil people have not been voting for the TNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1956 Tamils (SL & Indian) population<\/td>\n1,858,800<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ITAK contested 13 districts<\/td>\n142,758 votes<\/p>\n

Total Valid votes = 2,391,538<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
1960 Tamils (SL & Indian) population<\/td>\n1,858,800<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ITAK contested 18 districts<\/td>\n176,444 <\/strong>votes<\/p>\n

Total Valid votes = 3,041,420<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
1965 Tamils (SL & Indian) population<\/td>\n1,164,701<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ITAK contested 20 districts<\/td>\n217,914 votes<\/p>\n

Total Valid votes = 4,046,720<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
1970 Tamils (SL & Indian) population<\/td>\n2,598,587<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ITAK contested 19 districts<\/td>\n245,727 votes<\/p>\n

Total valid votes = 4,991,798<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
1977 Tamils (SL & Indian) population<\/td>\n2,598,587<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TULF contested 23 districts<\/td>\n399,043 votes<\/p>\n

Total valid votes = 6,243,573<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Out of 2.5m Tamils TULF got less than 400,000 votes in 1977!<\/p>\n

How representative of the Tamils was the TULF though it ended up getting 18 seats in Parliament!<\/p>\n

Last census in 1981 \u2013 Tamil population was 2,705,528<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1989 Tamils (SL & Indian) population<\/td>\n2,705,528<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TULF contested 4 districts<\/td>\n188,594 votes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
1994 Tamils (SL & Indian) population<\/td>\n2,705,528<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TULF contested 2 districts<\/td>\n132,461 votes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

If TULF was so popular among the Tamils why did they contest only 2 districts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
2000 Tamils (SL & Indian) population<\/td>\n2,705,528<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TULF contested 4 districts \u2013 this was less than the figure they got when they contested 2 districts in 1994<\/td>\n106,033 votes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
2001 Tamils (SL & Indian) population \u2013 taking last census population of 1981<\/td>\n2,705,528<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TNA formed comprising TULF, TELO, ACTC, EPRLF contested 6 districts<\/td>\n348,164 votes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
2004 Tamils (SL & Indian) population \u2013 taking last census population of 1981<\/td>\n2,705,528<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TNA contested 5 districts \u00a0– 5000 LTTE \u2018volunteers\u2019 used to ensure TNA won<\/td>\n633,654 votes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Note: No sooner LTTE chose to use TNA as its political arm votes started to surge!<\/p>\n

EU election observer mission head John Cushnahan in his EU report on 17 June 2004 clearly established LTTE-TNA link:<\/p>\n

Firstly, the LTTE intended that no other rival Tamil party (or Tamil candidate from the mainstream political alliances) to the TNA would be able to claim to represent Tamil interests. A chilling message to this effect was sent early in the campaign when a UNP candidate and an EPDP activist were murdered. Incidents such as this seriously restricted the right of the parties other than the TNA to campaign freely in the Northern and Eastern districts. During the 2004 elections, the major incidents of violence was perpetrated by the LTTE, whereas at the earlier elections, the primary source of the violence (although not all), were the two largest political parties\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
2010 Tamils (SL & Indian) population \u2013 taking last census population of 1981<\/td>\n2,705,528<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
TNA contested 5 districts \u2013 note how votes dropped after the defeat of the LTTE<\/td>\n233,190 votes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

It is very clear from the above that there is a bogus campaign to make TNA the representative of the Tamil people in the same way the LTTE did but the voting patterns and results clearly show that Tamils have not been voting for the TNA.<\/p>\n

The votes that the TNA have secured have been with a lot of Indian involvement and bogus promises made at personal levels to the voters.<\/p>\n

What needs to be further highlighted is that these TNA leaders are from the elite Vellala caste where they are using divisive politics to remain feudal leaders of their people. You will not see a low-caste Tamil coming up the TNA ladder. While a handful of lowcaste Tamils are kept none of them can even dream of rising up the ladder to hold a meaningful role unless they function as lackeys. Let us note that it was against this rigid caste system that Prabakaran rose but given that to survive he needed to play the game he ended up taking his manpower and from the lowcaste and impoverished Tamils who constitute the majority in the Tamils. The same problem exists in Tamil Nadu political culture as well.<\/p>\n

The latest racist ploy by Wigneswaran is his response to the attack by Tamil university students on Sinhala students for performing a kandyan dance act. This was a display of crude racism now coming into the open and without apologizing Wigneswaran\u2019s response is that the Sinhala students were attacked for bringing external cultures into their area? What about the daily Vel ceremonies that Tamils are now free to hold in the rest of the country? Has Wigneswaran banned these because these Tamil events are external to the areas? Has Wigneswaran demanded Tamils leave these external areas where they are living and come to live with him in the North? Why does he not make such a request\u2026 he knows that the moment he says that they will in turn ask him where he was living all his 70 plus years and how if discrimination by Sinhalese persisted, he became a Supreme Court judge, and rose in his position.<\/p>\n

The so-called international community must realize that TNA is a very irrelevant political party given grandeur only through propaganda. They do not have voter authenticity to claim to be Tamil representatives.<\/p>\n

The men who have come forward to say we need homes not merger of the north and east need to be heard and it is people like them who are best equipped to live peacefully with all communities \u2013 not racists like Wigneswaran and Sambanthan. http:\/\/www.sinhalanet.net\/attention-international-community-we-want-homes-not-merging-of-north-east-says-tamils<\/a><\/p>\n

A minority party such as the TNA saddled with a past linked to LTTE must be investigated first and not be given opportunity to steer Tamils towards dividing Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

It is welcome that the Tamils are coming out to question the TNA – https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lWY43Iz_UI8<\/a> Sumanthiran got his dues in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge Anyone promoting reconciliation needs to understand that it is not a one-way street solution. You cannot have any peace when there are Tamil representatives who are racists and proud about it too. Moreover it is time that the world themselves realized that the TNA is not representative of the Tamils. Tamils have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57102","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=57102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}