PRESIDENT, LTTE, WEST AND INDIA
The President would be in India by the time this column appears in print. Most probably he would have been given a state reception, and the delegation including Mr. Udaya Gammanpila would have been given a grand welcome. Today's newspapers would be carrying smiling photographs of the leaders of India and Sri Lanka hugging each other or shaking hands. However, can we smile with them, laugh at ourselves or sing don't cry for me Sri Lanka? There are number of questions that could be asked regarding the first official visit to India by the new President? Why did not the JVP join the delegation? If the JHU is represented by Mr. Gammanpila, Mr. Wimal Weerasinghe or somebody else could have represented the JVP. According to the official statements the JVP on its own had taken a decision not to be part of the delegation, at least this time. It may be so, but did India have a hand in the decision?
It was more than two thousand three hundred years ago Arhat Mahinda came from Dambadiva or Jumbuddveepa. Arhat Mahinda came to this country bringing the word of Buddha. The Tamil racists insist that at that time the Sri Lankans were all Dravidians, and some of them were converted to Buddhism by Arhat Mahinda, and with the influence of Pali the language of the texts of Theravada Buddhism, the Buddhists evolved the Sinhala Language, whereas the Dravidians who did not become Buddhists continued to use Tamil as the language of communication. Unfortunately for the Tamil racists, Arhat Mahinda had spoken in Sinhala, and had texts called Helatuwa which are commentaries of Buddhism in Sinhala, and Pali became the language of Theravada Buddhism after the fifth century. Also we are not told whether those Dravidians who did not become Buddhists lived in the entire island scattered among those who became Buddhists or whether they were confined to a limited area. It is very improbable that these areas were the present Northern Province and the Eastern Province as according to the Tamil racists themselves the Tamils in those provinces, the so called Tamil homeland, were Buddhists at one time. The Tamil racists are obviously not good at constructing consistent theories. If there were Tamils in those two provinces, then those Dravidians after becoming Buddhists should have become Sinhala with Theravada Buddhism and Pali. Would the Tamil racists inform us when the Tamils in those two provinces became Buddhists, and also what made them to become Hindus later and when did they begin practising Hinduism. Also it would be nice if they could refer to some inscriptions in Tamil by Tamil Buddhists in those two provinces. Perhaps while they were Buddhists they spoke Sinhala and reverted back to Tamil when they became Hindus for some reason or other, thus leaving no Tamil inscriptions at the Buddhist sites.
In any event, among the Dravidians it was the Andra people who spoke Telugu, who became Buddhists and not the Tamils in present Tamil Nadu. A former student of mine researching in this field has come to the above conclusion, and as pointed out by him Kanchipuram famous for Buddhist artefacts was previously in Telugu country, and became part of Tamil Nadu only recently. The Telugus were also Theravada Buddhists who knew their Pali, and one wonders why they did not become "Sinhala" Buddhists and speak Sinhala or a similar language, following the "Dravidians who became Sinhalas" in Sri Lanka. It is interesting to note that Andra Buddhists also had their commentaries on Theravada Buddhism, and that they were written in Telugu. The Tamil racists should first and foremost learn to construct theories without contradictions. At least then they would be able to construct a history that is worth investigating.
Irrespective of what the Tamil racist "intellectuals" are engaged in, this time a Mahinda has gone from this side of the Palk Straits to the other side. However he has no message to be delivered, and would be going there to receive "help". There are many Sinhala people who think that India would come to their help, but it is very unlikely that India would be of any help to them. It was India who nurtured Prabhakaran when he was not only an unknown youth but was nowhere when compared to Uma Maheswaran and some others. India unlike in the days of great king Dharmashoka has only her interests now, and it is the Panikkar Doctrine that is important to modern India and not Ashoka Principles. The President having gone to meet Mrs. Nirupama Rao at the India House next to College House of the University of Colombo, has created a precedent. Even Dixit who behaved as if he was the viceroy did not summon President Jayewardene to India House. Mr. Rajapakse may think of himself as a practical man, and Prabhakaran may have the same opinion of the President. However, even a practical man needs some theory, and without grounding his feet in solid theory no practical man can succeed. It is futile to ask for help from India as she is now more occupied with the western world. India's interests demand that she should refrain from antagonising USA, and her only interest as far as Sri Lanka is concerned is to see that the Tamil problem does not spill over to India. With that objective India wants pseudo federalism in Sri Lanka as well ignoring the major differences between India and Sri Lanka.
As we have pointed on several occasions more than fifty percent of the Tamils in the country live outside the Northern and the Eastern Provinces, and in that respect and several others the situation here in Sri Lanka is different from that in India. However, following the western nations which try to impose their "solutions" on Sri Lanka, India wants us to become a pseudo federal state. Unlike India that became one country after the British, Sri Lanka had been not only one country but a unitary (eksesath) state at least from the time of king Dutugemunu. It is futile to attempt to model Sri Lanka after India, as we have had a history that is very much different from that of India. India had never been a single country before the British arrived and the British had to "unify" and establish a country, whereas in Sri Lanka it had not been the case. Sri Lanka had been successful in creating a culture unique to the country though there may be some similarities with India in certain areas. We never succumbed to the Brahamin tradition that India (Bharat) created with the Vedic culture, after the "Aryans" came to that country. Buddhism has roots in the Pre Vedic or non Aryan (neither Aryan nor Dravidian) culture, and the Sinhala culture, though some people may like to call it Aryan, is neither Aryan nor Dravidian.
The Sinhalas became a nation during king Pandukabhaya's time and here again unlike in India or Europe we did not have to build a nation after the eighteenth century. The western sociologists and political scientists who want us to build a nation are only assuming that the others could become nations only after the Europeans built their nation states. The Tamils in the Northern Province, most of whom who are descendants of those who were brought to the country by the Dutch for their tobacco cultivation, the Sinhalas who were living in the Jaffna peninsula and Velakkaras specially from Chera, together with the other Tamils and the Muslims have to be included in the nation that the Sinhalas built, without of course the Tamils and the Muslims losing their identity. It is the extension of the nation that we are faced with and not with the building of a nation. (We can forget those works on unmaking of nations which only reflect the bankruptcy of western sociology). We have to look at our problems through our eyes and not through those of either the westerners or the Indians. However, we must admit that we have not been able to solve the problem of extending the nation for the last fifty seven years or so, mainly because we have been trying solve non existing problems that the westerners have been telling us to solve. The so called devolution of power, whether according to the western model or the model that the Indians have adopted, is the other so called solution the Sinhalas have been resisting ever since Mr. SJV Chelvanayakam established the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi or Lanka Tamil State Party, to set up first a federal state and then an Eelam. Incidentally Mr. C. Suntharalingam had spoken of an Eylom long before Mr. Chelvanayakam and it appears that it was the commissioner (later Governor General) Soulbury who "corrected" the spelling of the word Eelam. Instead of lecturing on Sinhala Buddhist supremacy or hegemony, why not the westerners (not the "intellectuals" in Sri Lanka who cannot "think" independently) ponder on the reasons of the Sinhalas for resisting "devolution of power" and for insisting on "unitary" state, without of course assuming that Sri Lanka became a unitary state only after the British were able to rule the entire country.
The Tamils first wanted more power at the centre, much more than the representation they were "entitled" to considering the demographic and historical factors. After they realised that it was not feasible to do so, they demanded a separate state for the Northern Province and the Eastern Province as demarcated by the British, gradually claiming that it was the homeland of the Tamils. The Sinhalas will resist this for historical, cultural and other reasons and they would consider power within the framework of the concept of extending the nation, a concept that is not found in the western text books or seminar and research papers. Within that framework which amounts to inclusion of Tamils and other in the nation, it is a corollary to include Tamil and other representatives at the central government, which should incorporate the sole legislature in the country. It is not only the westerners and the Japanese who should begin to think differently but the Indians as well. Why don't all these ladies and gentlemen, Shrimathies and Shrimaths, think of Sri Lanka as a different country with a history different from theirs.
It is very unlikely that even Mr. Gammanpila would argue along those lines while in India, let alone Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse. However Mr. Rajapakse should learn by now that he is not Mahinda Mama or Mahinda Aiya or even Mahinda Malli to all those Akkas, Nangis, nephews and nieces of other countries. He is the President of the country and should not be visiting various houses on receiving a telephone call. Also he has to be firm. The recent incidents do not augur well for his presidency. There is no point in manoeuvring a split in the CWC and driving Arumugam Thondaman to Prabhakaran's lap. It is not from the point of view of India that Thondaman should not have any links with Prabhakaran but after having taken into consideration the Sri Lankan interests. The President was firm in not allowing Akashi to go to Kilinochchi. However, when the ko ko co chairs wanted to visit Thamilselvan he gave permission to the dismay of the armed forces. The ko ko co chairs who went to Kilinochchi came back empty handed. It is clear that these gentlemen are not applying pressure on Thamilselvan and the LTTE to give up terrorist activities. The frequent statements on non violence and appealing to both parties to restrain themselves are of no value. Neither the westerners nor the Japanese are serious of what they pronounce. Their statements are in mere diplomatic jargon which do not serve any useful purpose. The LTTE goes on killing people. They have now killed Joseph Pararajasingham who was one of their ardent supporters not long ago. The moment one dissociates even slightly from the LTTE line one's days are numbered. The LTTE killed Sivaram alias Taraki and even made him a mahavir posthumously to mislead the world, simply because he did not want to go along with them.
Who is supposed to have raped and murdered the Montessori teacher in Jaffna? Was it the result of personal affair? It could even be the work of the LTTE which is notorious for killing people to gain a political mileage out of it. The Tamil racists who gave publicity to the photographs of devotees at Kataragama making various sacrifices claiming that it was torture by the Sinhala Buddhists on Tamil Hindus are capable of doing anything to gain the sympathy of the western public. It is very likely that in this respect the western media and the politicians help the Tamil racists willingly to propagate these myths. Prabhakaran the insane survives to kill others mainly because the westerners and the Japanese maintain him. The so called peace talks are meaningless and there is no point in inviting India to become a co chair of the so called aid group. What is necessary is to do away with the co chairs and prepare militarily to defeat the LTTE. Instead of waiting for the enemy to come and attack the armed forces they should take steps to destroy the camps of the terrorists. It requires only one terrorist to throw a hand grenade and kill several soldiers, when the armed forces are sitting like lame duck. It has been said so many times that attack is the best form of defence. The President should inform the public who voted him what international pressure he is subjected to. After all it is these innocent people who voted for him and not the diplomats and journalists of the other countries. The people have to be prepared for the not so rosy future ahead and the country should be put on a "war footing" not only against the LTTE but also against possible economic sanctions by the west, when we refuse to swallow their line.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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