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| Sunday, 28 August 2005 |
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Remembering
Thondaman
As they have done in the past, hundreds of thousands of men and women of plantation origin to whom the late S. Thondaman was an almost demi-god, will flock to those many functions faithfully held in various parts in the plantation areas, to pay homage to the memory of their Perum Thalaivvar (great leader) on his 93rd birthday on August 30, as they dutifully did when he was alive. They have much to remember him for. It was the late Thondaman who ushered in a revolution of sorts in changing the lot of the estate worker. They were exploited and voiceless. The inadequately and poorly clothed picture of malnourishment was changed by him. In spite of all these shortcomings, turning out in harsh conditions, through their sweat and blood, the "Green gold" that goes to sustain the country's economy, for over a hundred years. In Colombo, Kandy, Hatton, Avissawella, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya and other towns with a pronounced concentration of the estate population.the late leader will be remembered by a grateful public in functions organised by the CWC-founded by him. Nation On the inspiration, among others, by the immortal Pandit Jawharlal Nehru, then named the Ceylon Indian Congress. Later this organisation gave the worker a voice to express his grievances and demand for a more equitable share for his labour. Thondaman urged a new mind set for his people and created that necessary consciousness that Karuppiah and Letchimi are also an integral part of the post-1948 new nation-a feature, that was to be interrupted for half a century and more by a communally inspired de-citizenisation aberration that is now generally accepted as one of the principal source of troubles. Even today, it threatens the territorial integrity of the nation. The course of this country's history might have been differently chartered, if the legislation depriving the Tamil plantation workers of their voting rights had not been resorted to. That legislation was enacted at a critical moment, when unity and not DIVISIVENESS (emphasis mine) should have been uppermost in the minds of the new leaders" (P19-Report of the Presidential Truth Commission on ethnic violence chaired by a former Chief Justice-Sept.-2002) That Thondaman secured citizenship rights of his people later through peaceful negotiations is now part of this land's history. Armed with confidence of his inalienable rights, the plantation worker and descendants also looked beyond the horizons of the estate areas for their own pot of gold. Thondaman used his parliamentary and political clout to hasten this process and the estate population consequently produced political leaders, teachers, police officers, grama sevakas and later on graduates, doctors lawyers engineers, civil servants and a vast array of successful business entrepreneurs - all contributing since to a Sri Lankan composite whole. Influence Earlier Thondaman used his influence with the government to provide electricity to the estate areas and the consequent marginal upward standard of living among his people followed. While Thondaman and the CWC helped workers gain some rights the wages to the workers, then as now, remained lower than the rest of the country. The dichotomy is more transparent today where the plantation worker gets below Rs. 150 per day compared to the daily national labour average of about Rs. 500. This factor alone is one that often created a situation where radical trade union elements in the plantation sector were ready to take a tough stand with employer interests where the industrial and social harmony in the plantation areas would have been compromised causing severe difficulties to the Government. Governments of different political persuasions looked upon and indeed sought Thondaman's good offices to contain his followers, while he negotiated with the employers and the Government for better wages and conditions for the workers. Thondaman obliged in this sensitive tight-rope scenario. To the relief of Colombo governments, Thondaman checked the growing radicalisation of plantation politics with visible north-eastern roots although the problem ofthe educated-unemployed and other forms of unemployment in his areas were widespread. He also counselled his people from responding along communalistic lines and reminded them that they were all one people belonging ot a single Sri Lanka. This resulted in many Tamils in the plantation areas learning Sinhala. In sharp contrast to Thondaman and his CWC MP's of the pre-1977 period, today's MPs and politicians in the Plantation areas speak Sinhala fluently-with many of them proficient in reading and writing the language as well. While some of them are delightful platform speakers. Leaders of Thondaman's genre provide today's younger leaders a lesson or two-sometimes tempting them to gravitate towards opportunistic politics. However, politics is an area of activity where social responsibility and scruples should be observed to the last. He totally rejected violence, although he was personally subject to physical violence several times in his long political career. No surprise, therefore, the memory of this remarkable man continues to draw large crowds long after he is gone. - A. Kandappah (The writer was formerly Secretary-General of the Sri
Lankan Indian Community Council of which the late Thondaman was President.) |
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