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 twists and 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 makebelieve 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

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 raise hopes 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

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-

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 his passage 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 of the 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)

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 he offered 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,

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

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 system In 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 them protection 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

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?

- See more at: http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=features/vigneswaran-fit-be-chief-ministertamils#sthash.Y4EtW63k.dpuf

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