KARUNA EXPLODES WESTERN MYTHS
What made Karuna to revolt against the "Suriya Thevam". It is said that though Karuna had been relatively junior in the hierarchy of the LTTE, a few years ago, he has risen very rapidly to become its "military leader". Prabhakaran has had immense confidence in Karuna to the extent that the latter could have an "audience" with the "Suriya Thevam" carrying arms. However, today Karuna is considered to be a traitor and his life is in danger.
There are many people who want to "get the credit" or to "score some points" over the Prabhakaran - Karuna split. There are some who claim that if not for the peace process Karuna would have served Prabhakaran without revolting against the leadership of Prabhakaran. Karuna Amman for the time being is only attacking Pottu Amman but very soon he would start attacking Prabhakaran. The peace vendors always refer to the "peace process" as if others are not processes. Karuna's evolution is also a process that has historical links going back to the nineteenth century. Western bankrupt sociologists and their imitators are fond of using two terms in their "discourses" in reference to "processes". One is the so called "moment" as if the moment is some static point in a "process". Perhaps, they do not understand the contradictions in these terms. The other term they cannot forget is the "over determined" factor due to Althusser the structuralist Marxist, who was more interested in saving the "class struggle" within western social sciences. Nobody in western Physics would claim that something is over determined for the simple reason that the Physicists know that if something is over determined with reference to a theory then something is wrong with the theory. When there are two phenomena they know how to deal with them without making any one of them the "over determined" factor. Not so with Sociological theories, especially in those of the so-called left bank. Is there any particular "moment" in the evolution of Karuna that made him to revolt against the leadership? Is the caste "over determined" in Tamil racist politics? Where does Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinism stand with respect to these "moments" and "over determined" factors. It has to be mentioned that already a monk has claimed that Prabhakaran - Karuna split is after the Jathika Hela Urumaya decided to field monks as candidates at the forthcoming general elections. This particular monk is only attempting to score a few points, and, of course, to win a few more votes for the party that has been offered (poojafied) to the monks.
Karuna, for the first time, is challenging the Jaffna leadership of the Tamils. It was Chelvanayakam who at least decided to lead the Batticaloa Tamils and the Tamils of the most recent Indian origin living in up country. The Tamils unlike the Sinhalas are of recent Indian origin. The Sinhala nation came into existence during the Pandukabhaya period and it is culturally and biologically a mixture of the Yakshas, Nagas and other tribes who were living in Sri Lanka, and of the semi Vedics who came from India, as symbolised by Vijaya and his seven hundred men. The first group of Tamils whose descendants constitute the majority of the Tamils in the Jaffna peninsula was brought to Jaffna by the Dutch for the tobacco cultivation. The second batch who were brought to this country by the British mainly for construction of highways was settled down in and around Batticaloa. The present Batticaloa Tamil population is mainly the descendants of these forced "immigrants" The third batch was "imported" by the British for work in the plantations. The hierarchy among the Tamils in Sri Lanka is centered round the chronological order of arrival of the three groups and the purpose for which they were imported by the western colonialists.
The Tamil racists have been propagating the myth that the present northern and eastern provinces constitute one single unit and that they must remain merged. Further it is said that the two provinces are the homeland of the Tamils. The Tamil racists had attempted to give the impression to the others, undoubtedly with the help of their friends mainly in the Christian west, that the Tamil population is homogeneous. The Tamils had never been a set of homogeneous peoples and that is one of the reasons that they had not been able to establish themselves as a nation even in the south of Bharath during the last two thousand years or so.
Karuna by revolting against Prabhakaran has exploded a number of myths. Before Chelvanayakam the Batticaloa Tamils had not been given even a leadership by the Jaffna Tamils. The Ramanathan, Arunachalam and Comaraswamy family leadership was Jaffna Vellala Hindu and for most of the so-called Jaffna Tamils the Batticaloa Tamils had been a non entity. G G Ponambalam who was a political uncle of Prabhakaran took the leadership from the Ramanathan family but he himself did not make much changes. It was Chelvanayakam the Christian who first took an active interest in the affairs of the Batticaloa Tamils, as he was interested in establishing a separate state in the northern and the eastern provinces. Prabhakaran who depends on a Christian ideology carried on with the policies of Chelvanayakam with a change in the mode of operation. Prabhakaran who belongs to the Karaivar caste managed to give leadership to the Tamils in Northern as well as Eastern provinces through the barrel of the gun. With the hegemony he exercised over the Tamils he was able to "demonstrate" to the "international community" that the Tamils were a "nation" of homogeneous set of people occupying the "historical homeland" in the Northern and the Eastern provinces. This myth accepted by the west as well as the NGO "intellectuals" had been exploded by the Sinhala nationalists but it had to be demonstrated practically by somebody in the Eastern provinces. Karuna has now done so and no more the western social scientists and their imitators could claim that the Tamils are a nation of homogeneous set of people and that the northern and the eastern provinces are the homeland of the Tamils. The PA - JVP alliance had already thrown away the concept of homeland by the time Karuna came out openly against Prabhakaran and this implies that the so-called Indo-Lanka accord and merger of the northern and the eastern provinces have no basis.
Prabhakaran had previously been challenged by Mahaththaya and others but Prabhakaran who is the darling of the westerners managed to eliminate all those who challenged him. This time at least for a temporary period Karuna has managed to survive and it may be that he has the blessings of India or some other country. The challenge to the Sun God now comes from the East and the Sun is prevented from rising from the east. This particular sun had always risen from the west with the support of the western Christian colonialism. All the challenges to Prabhakaran, until Karuna's revolt, had been from the northern province and the eastern province had been a mere spectator in the power struggle. Karuna now wants the LTTE to devolve power to the eastern province. It is devolution of power within devolution of power. It was Ashraff who first raised the question of devolution of power to the Muslims within power devolved to the northern and the eastern provinces. As far as Ashraff was concerned the Muslims were a different ethnic group and not merely the Tamil speaking people who happened to be Muslims in religion. It was not Chelvanayakam but Ponnambalam Ramanathan who first claimed that the Muslims were not a separate ethnic group. The Ramanathan family who wanted to be the rulers of entire Sri Lanka with the help of the British, while not giving any recognition to the Batticaloa Tamils wanted to absorb the Muslims also into the Tamil ethnic group. Ponnambalam Ramanathan in the nineteenth century had claimed that he represented the Muslims also in the legislative assembly. If Ashraff challenged the Jaffna Tamil leadership on behalf of the Muslims, Karuna representing the Batticaloa Tamils is now challenging a weak Prabhakaran who is being maintained by the Christian west and their paid and unpaid servants in Colombo. Prabhakaran following the policies of Chelvanayakam was able to "unite" the Tamils not through a Hindu ideology but through an enforced Christian ideology with the aid of the gun. Without the support of the Christian west Prabhakaran the Karaivar could not have lasted long. He became the "undisputed" leader and the sole representative of the Tamils thanks to the support he got from the west. Anandasangaree had already shown that Prabhakaran who depends on a Christian ideology has no power even in the Jaffna peninsula. The devolution of power now belongs to the history.
It is true that Prabhakaran was supported by India during the regime of JRJ. However that was mainly in retaliation to the policies of JRJ and not because of any ideological similarities. However, it was reported recently that the Catholic mother of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi had made contacts with the LTTE on behalf of the Congress Party. Though Rajiv Gandhi was killed by the LTTE on the orders of Prabhakaran, the present Congress that has a non Hindu ideology is prepared to reach some agreement with the LTTE that is also not based on a Hindu ideology. One should not be surprised if the BJP and the RAW are backing Karuna. Prabhakaran is no longer the "undisputed" leader of a people suppressed by the gun and the LTTE is not the sole representative of the Tamils. All these were myths propagated by the western Christian colonialism not for any love of the Tamils but to use a "dictator" as one pillar to maintain their hegemony over the Sinhalathva, Schalk of Upsala are you listening, and Hinduthva as well. Though the Sinhala nationalists had always maintained that they were myths, the west through their ideological hegemony kept them alive using the so-called impartial western media. When Karuna exploded all the myths no wonder that the entire Christian west was disturbed to say the least.
The British high commissioner Evans found himself in Killinochchi speaking to the LTTE leadership within a few hours of Karuna defecting the Vanni LTTE and establishing his own Ampara - Batticaloa LTTE. Solheim, not the sole representative of Norway though many Sinhalas call him Solehyme, rushed to Colombo to make a trip to Vanni. The Bishop of Batticaloa lost no time in running to Vanni to facilitate negotiations between Prabhakaran and Karuna. Very soon the NGO "intellectuals" would be travelling to Vanni and to Batticaloa to bring Karuna and Prabhakaran together. Why are these worthies so upset about the dispute between Prabhakaran and Karuna? They want to maintain Prabhakaran if possible to do so. Prabhakaran is not the leader of a so-called liberation struggle. He is only a weak character who has been inflated by the western press as an invincible military strategist as a part of western Christian hegemonic propaganda. If not for the weaker leaders provided by the west to the Sinhalas there would not have been a Prabhakaran for so long.
We do not know what the west would do now. They would most probably try to defeat Karuna if he is not agreeable to a settlement meaning accepting the leadership of Prabhakaran. If things go wrong for them they could even drop Prabhakaran (he cannot be dropped without killing him) and "appoint" a new leader or they may even attempt to make Karuna the new leader. It all depends on the course of action that would serve them to maintain western Christian colonialism in this part of the world. In the meantime the SLFP - JVP - MEP alliance has to address the Tamils directly without depending on the so-called leaders.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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