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| Sunday, 28 September 2003 |
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Of pretenders and boomerangs by H.L.D.Mahindapala Mr. Ajith Samaranayake's essay on the generational change in the LTTE, Sunday Observer September 21 is a sign that he still has some life left in him. His latest concoction (which he thinks is an earth-shattering profundity) claims that there is a generational change simply because Anton Balasingham is eclipsed by the rise of S.P. Thamilchelvam (SPT). The unfolding events will confirm unequivocally that there is nothing corresponding to Mr. Samaranayake's claim either in the hierarchy or in the generation ruling in the Wanni. Prabhakaran has merely replaced one whom he suspects of attempting to outmanoeuvre him with a more pliant loyalist. The replacement of Balasingham with SPT is no more than Saddam Hussein replacing one who has been cast into oblivion with one who is more obedient. Perhaps, Mr. Samaranayake would understand it better if I put it in the local idiom and ask him: what generational change is there when Raigamaya is replaced by Gampolaya? The elimination and the replacement are to shore up the power of the one-man rule of a man who is forever looking over his shoulder to see who will under cut him. And this is not the first time that Prabhakaran has done this. But then it is too much for us to expect him to remember how Prabhakaran eliminated his other ally Mahattaya. Was this execution for generational change or to make sure that there is no opposition to his fascist dictatorship? Just for the edification of Mr. Samaranayake it is necessary to point out that the generational change in Jaffna Tamil politics took place not with the decline of Balasingham and the rise of SPT but when Prabhakaran assassinated Alfred Duraiyappah in 1975. Since then neither Prabhakaran nor his generation has stopped killing. It marked the beginning of the end of the old vellahla political class. One by one, the vellahla oldies who pretended to be Gandhians, were eliminated by Mr. Samaranayake's Thambi who had no compunction in targeting the line managers of Tamil violence, from Amirthalingam to Tiruchelvam and beyond. S. J. V. Chelvanayakam escaped only because he died of natural causes before Thambi could get him. In his own confused way, Mr. Samaranayake admits this change of guard when he says that the young men were getting ready to take over in the late seventies. In the same breath, he rambles on about S. J. V. Chelvanayakam remaining within the parliamentary framework whilst establishing in 1949 (long before the Sinhala Only Act or any of the mob-led violence) Thamil Illankai Arasu Kachchu or the Tamil State Party - a party committed to the establishment of a Tamil State. The inherent logic of forming a separatist party is to break away at the opportune moment and not to remain within the constitution as the loyal opposition. The inner dynamics of separatism also drove them to stoke the fires of violence because separatism and violence are inseparable. These pretenders to Gandhian politics were exposed by Justice Sansoni who documented the violence actively promoted by Chelvanayakam-Amirthalingam constitutionalists in the last stages of their careers. In 1976 these Gandhian constitutionalists passed the Vaddukoddai Resolution which declared a racist war on the Sinhalese the first community to openly step out of the parliamentary system and openly embrace violence. But their gamble boomeranged on them. The extra-parliamentary violence endorsed in the Vaddukoddai Resolution was grabbed by its children as a legitimate instrument to turn the guns on the fathers of the Resolution. Ironically, the first victims of the Vaddukoddai Resolution were the fathers of the Resolution. The old vellahlas of the ancient regime were cleansed from Jaffna and the new generation of non-vellahla youth took over. This is the only generational change that diverted Jaffna from the constitutional path into subhuman violence. There has been no generational change since. The changing of one or two 'ithaas' on the board is deliberately distorted by Mr. Samaranayake to mean a generational change. To quote Mr. Samaranayake's own words the LTTE, has been one of the most monolithic guerrilla groups in contemporary memory. He adds: Whether they call it a separate state, a Federal State or an Interim Administration the bedrock of their demand and their long-term goal will not change. Tactical shifts there might be changing moves on the chess board but their strategy remains constant and here they speak with one voice. In plain English, this means that the ideological, institutional and the hierarchical structures have not changed in generational or other terms. The strategies, goals, directions, labels and the God Father, of the monolith remain unaltered. So where is the generational change? Does changing one 'ithaa' on the chess board amount to a generational change? Only a Quixotic mind can fancy a generational change where none exists. Consider also his unwitting confession: Of course Thamilselvan was always there but now that Bala is not around this has become news for the international media industry. If, according to his confession, SPT was always there where is the generational change? How does the playing of musical chairs by Prabhakaran add up to a generational change? And look who is making an industry of missing Balasingham! To make his fiction of generational change sound plausible he projects Balasingham as if he represents a non-violent school of politics committed to the constitutional process. He traces the origins of Balasingham to a pre-1970 date. This is another example of his inability to grasp the meaning and the trends of his time. To begin with he is still not sure whether Balasingham has a doctorate or not. If he has read Adele Balasinghams hosannas written in praise of her husband, downgrading in a subtle way the role of Prabhakaran, he would know that she admits that Balasingham did not qualify to obtain a Ph.D. More than his idle patter on this issue, it is his attempt to present Balasingham as a constitutionalist in the pre-1970 mould that makes him look like a mixed-up kid brought forth from the warped loins of the late Baron Manchausen. Who is going to believe his tall tales about Bala belong(ing) to the pre-1970 period when the Tamil political movement was still proceeding within the politico-constitutional channels of the post-colonial Sri Lankan state when this willing partner in Prabhakaran's violence is liable to be charged with crimes against humanity for the massacre of 600 policemen entrusted to his care? Can a constitutionalist imbued with all the virtues of a pre-1970 period ever be a part of the killing machine that massacred more Tamils than any other group, as stated by Chelvanayakam's son, Chandrahasan? The list of Balasingham's crimes is only second to that of his master. The point to highlight here is that only Mr. Samaranayake so far has had the dubious distinction of talking about a fictitious generational change by white-washing Balasingham as a latter day saint of non-violent constitutionalism. ****** Note by Ajith Samaranayake Knowing that Mr. Mahindapala is spoiling for a fight I intend ignore his comic missive sent in response to half a sentence of my Sunday Essay last week. Anyway it is not a very edifying spectacle for readers, let alone a younger generation of journalists, to see two former editors of the Sunday Observer locked in a wrestle in the public print. |
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