දෙමළ ජාතිවාදයේ ආරම්භය

දෙමළ ජාතිවාදයේ ආරම්භය

දෙමළ ජාතිවාදය ඇති වීම පිළිබඳ දැන් කලක සිට අලුත් කතාවක් කියැවෙනවා. එයින් කියන්නේ සියල්ලට මුල උතුරේ අනෙක් දෙමළ කතාකරන ජනයා මත ඇති කරන වෙල්ලාලයන්ගේ දැඩි කුල පීඩනය කියා. මෙය කරුණු විකෘති කිරීමක්. මේ අනුව කියන්නේ කුල පීඩනය නිසා වෙල්ලාලයන් කෙරෙහි දැක් වූ ජනතා විරෝධය මග අරින්න වෙල්ලාලයන් ආණ්ඩු විරෝධී (සිංහල විරෝධී) ක්‍රියා මාර්ගයක් අනුගමනය කළා කියා.

TNA wants nothing but war

It is said very often that the TNA is following the LTTE policies and is adamant that the so called thirteen plus is implemented. However, though it may appear that the TNA is following the LTTE it is not so. It was the LTTE that followed the policies of the TULF, ITAK (Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi – Lanka Tamil State Party or the so called Federal Party), TC (Tamil Congress of G G Ponnambalam), Hindu Mahajana Sabai of Ponnambalam Arunachalam formed way back in 1921 as the first racist political organization in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the racist policies of Ponnambalam Ramanathan that were all instigated by the English. The LTTE did not appear in the political scene all of a sudden and it was only a product of the evolution of anti Sinhala Buddhist policies of the English and of the Dutch prior to that. The Tamil Vellala leaders in Sri Lanka and of course the non Vellala Prabhakaran were used by the English to suppress the Sinhalas especially the Sinhala Buddhists. I do not want to go into details as I have analyzed racist Tamil politics in “An Analysis of Tamil racism in Sri Lanka” and in many articles written to “The Island” and “Divaina” but it has to be re-iterated that had the Sinhalas accepted the Vellala Coomaraswamy – Ponnambalam family as the leaders in the nineteenth century as the English expected, we would not have had the so called ethnic problem. However, it is to the credit of Sinhala majority outside Colombo and the then English speaking Sinhala Christian (both RC and non RC) lay leadership in Colombo that they did not want to follow the majority of the English speaking Sinhala Buddhist leaders in Colombo and accept the aforesaid family as the leaders of Sri Lanka.

The contemporary history of Sri Lanka is full of ironies. The Coomaraswamy – Ponnambalam family (the much talked about Annada Coomaraswamy in connection with the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapakse Rangahala and the Nelum Pokuna Mawatha was a cousin of the Ponnambalams) belonged to the Vellala clan who were descendants of the agricultural labourers imported by the Dutch for their tobacco cultivation and had been uplifted in the Hindu hierarchical society from Shudra to much more than Vaishya by the Dutch, English and finally theoretically by Shri Arumugam Navalar. The Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka did not have the same social structure as the Hindus in India and we do not find either Kshathriyas or Brahmins among the Hindus in Sri Lanka. This fact itself shows that the Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka do not have a history going back to time immemorial but has tried to follow the Sinhala social hierarchy that itself was a recent phenomenon encouraged especially by the English. The Vellalas were equated to the Govigama or better Radala, and the Sinhalas who lived in the Jaffna peninsula when the Dutch arrived in Sri Lanka were absorbed into the Tamil Hindu society and pushed down the social ladder into the Koviar and other castes.

In the first election to the Legislative Assembly held in 1912 with very limited franchise the English had wanted Ponnambalam Ramanathan to be elected as the representative of the so called educated Ceylonese. Perhaps the English were able to maneuver and get the support of the Sinhala Govigama leaders for the Tamil Vellala leader. However opposition came from the English speaking Sinhala Christians and Catholics who were mainly non Govigama and it became a contest between the Vellala – Govigama and the Sinhala non Govigama who had nominated a Karava candidate. The English educated Sinhala Buddhist Govigamas had become Olcott Buddhist (not to be confused with those who studied at the Buddhist schools) Govigamas by that time and the Sinhalese among the English speaking was represented mainly by the non Govigama Sinhala Christians and Catholics. The politics among the English educated Tamil Hindus revolved round wining the leadership of the entire country with the support of the English and at the same time repressing the non Vellala Tamils. It was after the general elections to the first Parliament in 1947 that Chelvanayakam realized that no Tamil Vellala could become the leader of the entire country through elections and he formed ITAK aka FP to fool the Sinhalas, to establish a separate state in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. In order to justify his aspiration he later claimed that the two provinces were Tamil homeland and that the Tamils were discriminated by the Sinhalas. All these aspirations and claims were finally incorporated into the infamous Vadukodai resolution in 1976, that became a basis for Tamil racist politics thereafter. However, by this time the terrorist “boys” had taken up arms not satisfied with the “methods” adopted by the elders to establish a Tamil Eelam.

The terrorists were only carrying out the politics of the elders in the TULF with arms. However there were groups among the “boys” who had another motivation, namely to fight against the Vellala domination in the Jaffna society. While the anti Sinhala campaign was mainly led by Marxist elements among the terrorists, the fight against the Sinhalas as well as the Vellala leadership was carried on by non Marxists under Prabhakaran. Finally the leadership battle among the terrorists was won by Prabhakaran not in Sri Lanka but in the streets of Chennai. The defeat of Vellala Uma Maheswaran symbolized the passing of the leadership to a Non Vellala (Karaivar) Prabhakaran who went on to murder many a Tamil Vellalas before he turned his guns against the Sinhalas. The clergy of the Catholic and Christian churches who mainly belonged to Non Vellala communities supported Prabhakaran. It is ironical that the leadership among the Vellala Hindus had to support a non Vellala with the backing of the Christian and Catholic churches in order to establish a separate state in the Northern and Eastern provinces. The TULF and later the TNA accepted that the LTTE that carried their anti Sinhala campaign as the sole party that represented the Tamils in Sri Lanka. The English had no problem in supporting Prabhakaran as they were interested only in using the Tamil community as a force against the Sinhalas, especially the Sinhala Buddhists. The church leadership in the country as a whole who in their eagerness to defeat the Sinhala Buddhists supported Prabhakaran and the LTTE wholeheartedly, though there were some priests and many laymen among Sinhalas who did not agree with their shepherds.

All these fights were political and the Sinhalas never agreed with the demands of the Hindu Mahajana Sabai or the TULF or the LTTE. At Thimpu if the Sinhalas had agreed with the Tamil racist demands which were supported by the English and the other western Christian nations ( Norway was only the puppet of English and Americans and Solheim a mere messenger whose position was inflated by the western press in order to hide the real culprits the English.) and of course the Indians. The Sinhalas resisted all these forces and even the thirteenth amendment that was based on the Indo Lanka Accord that recognized Tamil Historical Habitats in other words a homeland was rejected. It was clear that the so called peace talks were leading nowhere but to a Tamil Eelam following the little now more later policy of Chelvanayakam and the Tamil racism and it came to a stage that the anti Sinhala campaign had to be defeated in the battle field which is only an extension of politics using the armed forces. The anti Sinhala campaign was finally defeated at Nandikadal and there is no separate political problem to be solved now, as a military solution is also a political solution. Tamil racist politics continue to exist with the backing of the English and the other western Christian countries and if not for the dispersed Tamil community in those countries, the TNA leadership and the Christian clergy, the westerners would have found it difficult to make an issue against the Sinhalas. It is clear that the west is trying to use so called war crimes and the human rights problem against the President and the Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, and the recent letter from Hilary Clinton to the Minister of Foreign Affairs demonstrates what is in store for the country.

TNA realizing that the Nandikadal victory can be reversed only through a military exercise is now preparing the ground for another “war”. This time it is not going to be another non Vellala Prabhakaran who would lead the fight against the Sinhalas but the Anglican Christian David Cameron. The TNA is aware of what they are doing and Hillary Clinton would press the minister G L Peiris to accept that war crimes had been committed in the last stages of the humanitarian operations. The TNA does not want a Parliamentary Select Committee nor anything else but war and only war. The war this time would be fought by the western mercenaries with some remnants of the LTTE, Janarala of JVP, the NGOs again funded by the western governments, the free media people living in the west under the auspices of the western countries and of course some disgruntled elements of the UNP. If the other groups unite under the leadership of the President Mahinda Rajapakse the mercenaries would learn a lesson that they could not learn in the Arab world.(12/02/08 - non published)

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

Thirteen minus not thirteen plus

The thirteenth amendment was forced on us by India following the infamous Indo Sri Lanka Accord, without considering the historical, cultural and geographical background and the Sinhala opinion. India for a long time had acted without listening to the Sinhala majority, without even taking into consideration the importance of Sri Lanka in respect of security of the subcontinent. Delhi listened only to Tamil Nadu, that had ulterior motives and hence to the Tamil Vellala leaders until non Vellala Prabhakaran appeared in the picture. As far as India was concerned there was repression of the Tamils by the Sinhala people but never wanted to find out the truth of the allegations made by the Vellala leaders. India should have at least learnt a lesson at the Thimpu talks that they cannot impose their views completely even on J R Jayawardhane who could not have been considered as the most ardent supporter of the Sinhala views. The delegation sent to Thimpu by the government rejected the so called Thimpu Proposals but India failed to realize that there was a Sinhala opinion in the country against devolution of power to the Northern and Eastern Provinces of the country, based on historical cultural and geographical facts. India wanted the Sinhalas to recognize that those two provinces were the historical habitats of the Tamils failing to come to terms with the fact that the two provinces were creations of the English (British Raj) and that final demarcation of the nine provinces was carried out only in 1889 three years after Ananda Vidyalaya was established, and so much for identifying the Northern and the Eastern Provinces as the historical habitats of the Tamils in the country. The term historical habitats which really meant Tamil homeland as far as the Vellalas and Prabhakaran were concerned was never acceptable to the Sinhala people.

When the Sinhala people were not prepared to accept the proposals of India to solve the so called ethnic problem India applied force on J R Jayawardhane government with what is known as Parippu or Dhal diplomacy. J R Jayawardhane who had been prepared to support the Americans and the English even against India would have been surprised to find that he did not receive any support from his allies in the west when India dropped parippu, threatening to attack Sri Lanka if the government did not obey India. English who created the problem, following the Dutch who brought the Vellaas (agricultural labourers and hence shudras in the Brahmin hierarchy – in this connection one should realize that there are Vellalas in South Africa who had been taken there by the Dutch and that they had not been elevated to a “higher caste” in that country) after 1750 for their tobacco cultivations, would not have supported J R Jayawardhane. In fact it is now known that the English and other westerners knew what India was up to in 1987 and that India decided to “invade” Sri Lanka with the blessings of the western governments.

The English elevated the Vellalas to a hierarchical position in the absence of a Brahmin class in Sri Lanka probably with Shri Arumugam Navalar providing the necessary “theoretical” background later, and used the English speaking Vellalas as a force against the Sinhalas especially the Sinhala Buddhists. Any Indian who is interested in the history of Tamils in Sri Lanka before talking of historical habitats of the Tamils should ponder on the absence of a Brahmin sect in Sri Lanka unlike in India. If the Tamils in Sri Lanka had a long history going back to thousands of years and if they had a similar evolution in Hindu culture there should have been a Brahmin caste similar to what is found in India even today. There is no Brahmin caste among the Tamils in Sri Lanka for the simple reason that there had been no Brahmins (or Tamils) before the Dutch brought the Vellalas and that the Dutch did not import any Brahmins as the latter were useless for them for their tobacco cultivation. The absence of a Brahmin caste among the Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka also goes to establish that the Tamils Hindus in Sri Lanka do not have a very long history in this country as permanent settled residents.

In 1987 India tied down the hands of J R Jayawardhane and with tied hands he signed the Indo Sri Lanka Accord as he had no choice then. He may not have been the greatest patriot but he would not have signed the document if his hands were free. The thirteenth amendment was not acceptable to the majority of the Sinhalas, except to the NGO and Marxist pundits of many varieties and a few others in the Christian Churches of various denominations (the Marxists most probably would not call them Sinhalas but working class intellectuals). However India used its powers and the Bill was passed in the Parliament with the support of the predecessors of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The opposition of the Sinhalas to the accord was manifested in the uprisings by them, which were made use of by the JVP that constituted mainly of Sinhala Buddhist youth in spite of their Marxist rhetoric. The JVP was crushed without India or the westerners having a moment to think of their human rights most probably because the Sinhala Buddhists have no human rights in a western Christian dominated world.

Though the thirteenth amendment is now law of the country, the majority of the Sinhala people never agreed with that, and even Chandrika Kumaratunga the pink socialist with her French connections could not implement it due to opposition of the Sinhalas. It is mainly the non implementation of the thirteenth amendment that prolonged the survival of the LTTE as in spite of their lip service to eradicate terrorism the west and India gave their tacit support to the LTTE in order to crush the Sinhala opinion. Had the Sri Lankan government implemented the thirteenth amendment which has been drafted thinking of Indian historical conditions with dynastic regimes throughout, and not of those of Sri Lanka where we had an Eksesath Rajya (a form of unitary state) from the time of King Pandukabhaya, it is very likely that Prabhakaran would have gone to Nandikadal much earlier, though Tamil racism would have survived with the support of the west. However, the Sinhalas were not prepared to devolve power in order to satisfy the Vellalas, the Indians and the west and finally it was left to President Mahinda Rajapakse to defeat the LTTE though the west opposed it. The President, it appears had been able to convince the Indian leaders that he was determined to crush the LTTE whatever opposition he may have to face. The west that could not save Prabhakaran even at the last moment is opposed to the President and they are now looking for so called evidence to punish both Messrs Mahinda Rajapakse and Gothabaya Rajapakse for the crime of defeating terrorism in Sri Lanka.

If India or any other country thinks that the Sinhala people who were and are opposed to the thirteenth amendment would agree to a so called thirteen plus in order to satisfy the Vellala leadership of the TNA then it is wishful thinking. The Sinhalas will never agree to devolving police powers and land distribution powers to the Provincial Councils and they would make the government to abolish the thirteenth amendment, if not for the problems that the government has to face. The Armed forces (Ranaviruvo) sacrificed their lives mainly against the thirteenth amendment and the question of going beyond that does not arise. The question of the thirteenth amendment was solved at “war” and militarily that legislation has been thrown into Nandikadal. What the government should have done immediately after the defeat of Prabahkaran was to bring in legislature to abolish the thirteenth amendment. It is nothing but hilarious in a way for people to talk of going beyond a legislature that has been defeated at “war”. After all “war” is nothing but politics and Cameron is now saying that there would not be any talks on Falklands. Would Churchill have agreed to discuss with Nazi supporters after the so called second world war. Would Shri Nehru have agreed to talk on Goa after the war. Wars are not outside politics and what has been decided at war can be reversed through war. The west is trying to do that by encouraging and giving support to the dispersed Tamils in the west and the TNA leaders and there are signs that the west wants another “war”, which would be a threat to India as well.

The Sinhala people realize the problems of the government and would not agitate for the abolition of the thirteenth amendment at present. However they will oppose devolution of police and land powers to the Provincial councils and definitely to a so called thirteen plus. What they could finally agree with is a thirteen minus and if the west or anybody else thinks that they could ignore the Sinhala opinion then they have not learnt any lessons.

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva