Post on 14-Apr-2018
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POINT OF VIEW
Is Vigneswaran fit to be Chief Minister of Tamils?H L D Mahindapala
The effusiveness with which the pro-separatist/13A lobby has hailed former Judge C. V.
Vigneswaran as the next rising star for the salvation of Tamils is too premature. Knowing the twistsand turns that politics take in Sri Lankan politics only a fool or a knave would dare to predict the
outcome soon after he was nominated to be the Chief Ministerial candidate for the Northern Province
elections in September. The Tamils have produced many saviours before Vigneswaran -- all of whom
misled the Jaffna Tamils and let them down by relying excessively on their self-importance,
arrogance and over-inflated strength which never existed except in their racist imagination. To make-
believe that Vigneswaran is going to carve out a new path is as good as believing, as some Tamils
and "political scientists" still do, that Prabhakaran or his avatar is on the way from his secret hiding
place to lead the Tamils.
Take, for instance, the recent history replete with false prophets. The active Tamil lobby, in Sri
Lanka and abroad, hero-worshipped and went down on their knees pinning all their hopes on their
new, invincible "Surya Devan" who led them straight to Nandikadal. Earlier they canonized S. J. V.
Chelvanayakam, as the non-violent Gandhian who handed the Tamil people to "Surya Devan". He
was the iconic false prophet who lured the Tamils, particularly the children of Jaffna, all the way
from Vadukoddai to Nandikadal with his racist tunes.
His son-in-law, Prof. A. J. Wilson, elevated him to the level of "Thanthati
Chelva" - the caring father of his people" (p. viii - S. J.V. Chelvanayakam and the crisis of Sri
Lankan Tamil Nationalism, 1947 - 1977, A Political Biography) The psycho-babble used to justify
this title was that Chelvanyakam had no father (his father who was living in Ipoh, Malaysia dumped
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him in Tellipallai when he was only four and never saw him again until he was on his death bed. So,
Prof. Wilson argues, Chelvanayakam decided to be the father to the Tamil people.) In the end he
proved to be the kind of father that led his children to a watery grave with elusive promises of
unattainable Eelam.
Another Chelvanayakam
Then there were some who looked up to
India as their saviour and guardian who
handed the Tamils to Varadaraja Perumal
who had to leave everything, including his
theorizing ministers, and run as fast as his
legs could carry him to India. The high
priests in Tamil Catholic Church were
another lot, quite positive that God was on
their side and went about concocting a new
"Tamil theology" to justify Tamil violence.
Like "Thanthai Chelva" the fathers in the
Church also handed over the Tamil
children placed in their custody to
Prabhakaran. They even hijacked the statue of Holy Mary into Tamil Tiger territory in the belief that
she could be forced to be on their side.
The latest is the excitement of "political scientists" who are revved up and racing up the newspaper
columns somewhat like Mangala Samaraweera who had discovered a new sexy site of LGBTs
(Lesbians, Gay, Bisexuals and Transgender) in cyber space. Vigneswaran's jump from Hulftsdorp to
the snake pit in Jaffna has all the hallmarks of Jaffna Tamils returning to "Thanthai Chelva" -- the
Pied Piper of Jaffna whose legacy was to turn Jaffna into one mass grave.
Before rushing into predictions about the new messiah, who has been hiding his political identity
under a wig provided by the hated 'Sinhala State", it is necessary to take a close look at the origins
and the message to assess his quality and capabilities. What is new in Vigneswaran that can raisehopes for the future of the war-weary Tamils? What's new in his message that was not there in
message of the others that went before and failed? Even a brief glance at the new man, Vigneswaran,
will reveal that he is nothing more than another Chelvanayakam with a beard. His memorial lecture
on "Thanthai Chelvanayakam" - obviously a calculated political prelude to step into his shoes --
delivered on the 36th anniversary at the New Kathiresan Hall, Bambalapitiya on 26/4/2013 doesn't
Lakshman Kadirgamar S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
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reveal anything new. There is hardly anything in it to distinguish himself from the racist "Thanthai"
who dragged peninsular politics to the extremes of violence embedded in the Vadukoddai Resolution.
Vigneswarn's language is the same. His ideology is the same. His solutions are the same. He is even
predicting/hinting about the next stage of violence like Chelvanayakam. So what else is new in
peninsular politics?
Let's begin with the usual mantra chanted by all Tamil leaders who refuse to take responsibility for
their past follies that led their people to Nandikadal. Among other things Vigneswaran told his Daily
Mirror video interviewer that the Tamils have been made "second-grade citizens". Blaming the
"Sinhala state" has been the perennial political line of northern leaders to divert attention from their
own political, social, religious, moral and institutional failures. Vigneswaran repetition of the old
complaint about discrimination, second-class citizens et al, sums up the general accusations against
the Sinhala-Buddhist majority.
Northern Provincial Council
Vigneswaran's statement should be treated with great importance not only because he is a former
judge of the Supreme Court who is supposed to be guided by hard evidence but also because he is
emerging as the leader of the Jaffna Tamils eclipsing M. Sumanthiram - a real possibility confirmed
by Vigneswaran's appointment as the nominated candidate of the TNA for the Chief Ministership if
they win the Northern Provincial Council in September.
His parrot-like repetition of Vadukoddai propaganda raises a
fundamental question that is relevant to assess his role in shaping the politics of the immediate future:Can the former Supreme Court Judge, Vigneswaran, provide credible, testable and provable evidence
of being treated as a "second-grade citizen" using his own case as an example. If there is anyone who
should know how a Tamil was treated as a "second -grade citizen" he should be the one to know it
because he was born and bred in Colombo. He was educated in a "Sinhala state" school - the most
prestigious one at that, Royal College. Did his Sinhala class-mates and teachers treat him as a low-
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caste in Jaffna who could not sit on chairs, or even enter schools of high-castes? Or was he accepted
as an equal and given right to share everything with dignity with the Sinhala Royalists?
After Royal he would have gone through the mill, going through law college, and then climbing up
the judicial rung until he ended up in the Supreme Court. Can he cite examples that obstructed hispassage upwards simply because he was treated as a "second grade" Tamil? If, however, he did
encounter slights, discrimination, second-class treatment why didn't he leave the racist/fascist Sinhala
state, as he labels it elsewhere, and serve in Prabhakaran's courts, or in his Vanni law school? After
all it was a Tamil state, with a Tamil police, Tamil judiciary and Tamil jails. What was holding him
back?
Well, if he thinks he is only one swallow that does not make summer, can he ask his fellow-TNA
colleague, M. Sumanthiram, who also went to his alma mater, the "Sinhala state" school, Royal
College, and passed through the same process at Law College, what humiliations he experienced as a
"second-grade" Tamil? If by any chance he did can Sumanthiram compare it to the humiliation and
oppression suffered by the low-caste Tamils in Jaffna whose schools were burnt down to prevent
fellow-Tamils from learning the subject taught to him free of charge by the Sinhala state school
accused of discriminating against the Tamils? Which Sinhala student refused to attend school
because "a second-grade Tamil" was in the class run by the oppressive "Sinhala state"?
English-speaking class
If two examples are not enough, perhaps, Vigneswaran could substantiate his case with a third by
citing the case of "Paki" Saravanamuttu - another Tamil who is supposed to be a product of
discrimination of the south. He, in fact, goes wining, dining, dancing - not to mention the other
"...ings" -- with the family of Bandaranaikes, the demonized Sinhala icon by Vigneswaran and his ilk.
So where is the discrimination?
After all Vigneswaran has entered politics with a reputation of having a sharp legal mind and he
knows that there is nothing better in law and in politics than hard evidence to prove his case. He can't
claim that the three cases mentioned above are exceptions. Referring to his own case, it is his moral
and political duty to prove how a second-class Tamil could get a first-class job in the highest court ofthe Sinhala racist state.
Yes, the three cases mentioned above prove discrimination. But it is not ethnic discrimination. It is
class discrimination. If you belong to the right class there is no discrimination. Whether in Jaffna or
Colombo if you belong to the English-speaking, middle or lower-middle class doors can open with
ease. The elitism of the English-speaking class was far superior to ethnicity (the "kaduwa" of the JVP)
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and had the power to power to break through all barriers. Even in Jaffna it is not all Tamil-speaking
people that succeeded. It is the Vellahla English-speaking Saivite elite that dominated peninsular
politics and jobs in the public service. The non-English-speaking Tamils and Sinhalese have been
relegated always to the kitchen. Though a token place was given to the non-Vellahlas in the Federal
Party, by and large, the peninsular political culture was dominated by the English-speaking Vellahla
elite before and under S. J. V. Chelvanayakam. So who was practicing discrimination against whom?
Though language issue is raised as key plank in the Jaffna Tamil politics it had hardly anything to do
with language discrimination on racist lines. As usual Tamil mytho-maniacs project it as if S. W. R.
D. Bandaranaike introduced it to displace Tamil and downgrade Tamil culture. Bandaranaike may be
guilty of many sins but he was never bent on eliminating or downgrading Tamil. In fact, the Sinhala
Only Bill was introduced not to downgrade Tamil but to overthrow English.
The Vellahla-Saivite-English-speaking elite dominating the public service took it as a blow to the
Tamils not because it affected their Tamil language but because they mistakenly assumed it was a
racist act to deprive them of entry and/or promotion in the public service - the only growth industry
of the time. Besides, the hostile reaction to the Sinhala Only Bill came not only from the Tamil elite
but also from the English-speaking elite in all communities because they were the 6 per cent minority
that ruled the nation. The Sinhala Only Bill was a blow to their power, prestige and purse. It was
meant to overthrow the colonial elite. As remnants left behind by the departing colonial master they
all ganged up against Bandaranaike to preserve their privileges and perks. And our leading "political
scientists" believe that they are uttering political profundities when they regurgitate Tamil
propaganda against Bandaranaike.
Public servants
The clear proof of Bandaranaike's liberal approach to the Tamil minority - despite knowing the
virulent extremism of Tamil racism launched by G. G. Ponnambalam - is in suspending the Sinhala
Only Act passed in 1956 until 1960. In the meantime, he passed the Tamil Language Special
Provisions Act giving Tamils the right run the north and east in Tamil, recognizing their legitimate
needs. He gave any public servant who refused to work in Sinhalese the right to retire with full
pension rights, even if he was a new recruit. To those Tamils who decided to remain in service heoffered free tuition, in Sinhalese.
He also insisted that Sinhalese public servants should learn Tamil. Tamil tutors were hired by the
state to teach them Tamil and the Sinhalese too had to qualify in Tamil for promotions and
increments. How much more liberal can a state in transition, breaking away from centuries of
colonial baggage, be in promoting the welfare of the public and public servants? But Chelvanayakam,
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whipping up the communal cry, went round the kachcheris urging the Tamil public servants not to
learn Sinhalese and when they failed the exams qualifying for promotions and increments he
complained discrimination by the Sinhala state. This is another example of Tamil leaders misleading
their own people and blaming the failures of Tamils on the Sinhalese.
It is the duty of every state to serve the people in their mother tongues as far as possible. How
effective could a Sinhalese doctor in a government hsopital be in serving a Tamil patient in Sinhalese
or English? How effective could a Tamil doctor be in serving a Sinhalese patient in Tamil or English?
Chelvanayakam's policy was to force the people to learn the language of the public servants, which
was English, instead of the public servants learning Tamil or Sinhalese. Chelvanayakam's cry of
racism was accepted by the "political scientists" who take to Tamil propaganda without examining
the facts on the ground.
Most of all, the bogey of cultural genocide was raised by Chelvanayakam in raising his war-cry
against the Sinhala Only Bill.
He and his bandwagon predicted that the Sinhala Only Act would mark the beginning of the end of
Tamil language and culture. Over fifty years have passed since the passing of the Sinhala Only Act.
No one has yet written the obituary of the Tamil language or culture though our "political scientists"
are shedding crocodile tears for the imminent death of the great Tamil culture - nothing of which,
incidentally, has come from Jaffna. However, if the Tamil language is so decrepit and feeble as to
fall over and die because of one legislative piece passed by the "Sinhala state" then it certainly
deserves to be buried without any ceremony.
Vigneswaran recycles all this propaganda in his memorial lecture on "Thanthai Chelva". No doubt,
hearing the same old mantra is music to the "political scientists" and their pillion riders as the revival
of the Tamil separatism. But is it the kind of message needed to break away from a devastating and
destructive past? "Thanthai Chelva" paved the path to the decimation of the entire Tamil leadership -
most of whom were his partners in Eelam Inc -- and a whole generation of Tamil children. Is his
born-again avatar, Vigneswaran, following his footsteps to wipe out the remaining Jaffna Tamils
from the red earth of Jaffna?
Tamil leaders
Knowing how his people suffered at the hands of the IPKF and Prabhakaranist saviours is his task to
take the Tamil people back to square one in Vadukoddai? Or take them to a speedy reconciliation,
away from the nightmarish politics of the failed Tamil leadership? The agenda he has spelt out in his
"Thanthai Chelva's" speech predicts ominously a set back to the whole process of reconciliation. Is
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reconciliation to be found in going back to the failed past? Or in mapping out a new path for the
long-suffering Tamils misguided by the self-serving false prophets who thrived in a culture of either
violent casteism or racism?
Judicial systemIn regurgitating the failed Vadukoddai ideology he is not exhibiting any courage or vision. He is far
removed from the polished, pragmatic and perceptive Lakshman Kadirgamar - the Obama of Sri
Lankan who broke through racist barriers and rose to new heights promising ethnic harmony and
unity. Kadiragamar earned the respect of the enlightened political spectrum outside the dogmatic
fascist Prabhakaranists at a time when the Tamil tide was running against his visionary future. More
than any other group it was the Sinhalese who embraced him. He was the one Tamil whom the
Sinhalese respected as a trustworthy Tamil who could build bridges of hope. He had charisma. He
had stature. He could inspire confidence. He was brilliant.
Vigneswaran lacks these qualities of going out to reach to the other side. His pedestrian speech on
Chelvanayakam confirms that he is not locked inside an ideological box but in the coffin of
Chelvanayakam. After Prabhakaran decimated the entire Tamil leaders he looks good in the absence
of other talented leaders. He stands out as the one-eyed man in the land of the blind. But neither his
Memorial lecture on Chelvanayakam nor his interview with the Daily Mirror revealed any promise of
taking the war-weary Tamil-people into the promised land of peace. Like cosmopolitan Kadirgamar
he has the capacity, if he decides to do so, to carve out new and pragmatic paths for his people. But
he too steeped in the racist ideology of Vadukoddai to see the future in a new light.
In his interview with the Daily Mirror he justified the TNA for acting as prisoners of Prabhakaran.
What else could they do, he argued? In other words, he is saying that if was a judge in Prabhakaran's
courts he would have given judgements to please his "Sun God". He had the courage to be
independent in the 'Sinhala state" because the judicial system - however flawed it is or was - gave
him the freedom to be just and fair. But if he was in Prabhakaran's judiciary he would have happily
been a stooge like the TNA.
He excuses TNA for being silent in the Vanni. But, on the contrary, the "Sinhala state" gave themprotection and the full freedom to oppose it with all their might, even when they were acting as
stooges of Prabhakaran. This defence of TNA's silence also explains his silence as judge when an
innocent man was sentenced by one of his fellow-judges to jail. He was complicit in that crime. No
judge could be exonerated from the crime of sentencing an innocent man to jail. In his own
confession before the entire bar he admitted that an innocent man was sent by a fellow-judge for a
crime he did not commit and he did nothing about it. He knew how corrupt the official and the
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unofficial bar is but Judge Vigneswaran did nothing about it. He did not even report it to the
authorities nor did he provide remedial measures to the victim of a heinous judgment. How credible
can he be in the eyes of the public when he poses as the righteous man now standing up for human
rights?
Political goals
In a perverse sense he has demonstrated his capacity to be a chief minister because that is what chief
ministers do routinely: give a wink and nudge to the crimes committed under his regime.
Vigneswaran is very good at covering up or justifying crimes. He told the Daily Mirror that the TNA
was not for violence knowing very well that they were all committed Vadukoddians who never
rejected or deviated from Tamil violence to achieve their political goals, as stated in the Vadukoddai
Resolution. As stated earlier, he went on to manufacture excuses for going along with Prabhakaranist
violence. If Vigneswaran's argument is that the TNA MPs had to be silent as they had no option in
facing the oppressive force of Prabhakaran's regime how come they had all the opportunities to
oppose the "Sinhala state" which they denigrate as fascist/racist? Doesn't this prove that the Jaffna
Tamils were far better off under the hated "Sinhala states" at all times than under their Tamils
saviours, whether they were the inhuman Vellahla fascists in feudal and colonial times or
Prabhakaran's low-caste fascists in the post-Chelvanayakam period in the Vanni?
So what guarantee is there that Vigneswaran is going to be any better than his predecessors? Isn't his
elevation to Jaffna leadership a confirmation of the habitual and incorrigible Jaffna trend of
producing only Prabhakarans and their extremist fathers like "Thanthai Chelva"?
Wake up Jaffna! Your future is about to be hijacked and dragged back to the failed past! And when
that happens you and your pillion riders will, no doubt, take great delight in blaming the "Sinhala
state". That is predictable. But political theorizing apart, when it comes to personal loss and suffering
whom will you blame as you watch helplessly your children being forcibly plucked from your bosom
or school and dragged into another needless war waged by the next Prabhakaran? Who was it who
dragged the whole of Jaffna into Nandikadal with the blessings of "Thanthais" in verti, on the one
hand, and soutanes in the Holy Church, on the other?
Ultimately, it comes down to one simple question: does Jaffna plan to co-exist peacefully in a
multicultural, multi-lingual, multi-religious state or go to war once again in search of an elusive
Eelam with no guarantee of winning it, with or without the military capabilities of another fascist
Prabhakaran?
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- See more at:http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=features/vigneswaran-fit-be-chief-minister-
tamils#sthash.Y4EtW63k.dpuf
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