TNA making big mistake:

We lived like a family at one time - Anandasangaree

By Manjula Fernando

TULF leader Veerasingham Anandasangaree, a moderate Tamil voice who constituted the few who fearlessly criticised the LTTE openly during the height of conflict spoke to Sunday Observer last week on the 13th Amendment.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: You undertook a visit to India recently. What was your mission?

A: The Indian trip was organised by a Sri Lankan Tamil organisation. They invited a number of expatriate Sri Lankan Tamils to attend this meeting, representing various Organisations. Our purpose was not to create trouble, just to request the Indian Government to see that the 13th Amendment is implemented in toto.

No one can find fault with that. We do not expect anyone to interfere in the country’s internal matters. It was an agreement reached between India and Sri Lanka on an important issue.

Q: Did you meet any leaders of the Government?

A: There was a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Dr.Sudarsana Natchiappan. He has taken a lot of interest in Indo-Sri Lanka relations and this matter, and he has come to Sri Lanka on several occasions. He had met President Mahinda Rajapaksa. His intentions are good. We discussed the concerns of the Tamil people there.

I was there for two days where I also celebrated my 80th birth day. I was not with the TNA delegation.

Q: You have been advocating the Indian model for all Sri Lanka’s constitutional ills but the Indian central government can impose direct rule on any State, to create new states by carving out from existing ones, or dissolving a state without the concurrence of the Chief Minister. But the 13-A deprives the President of those powers?

A: There is no question of creating a new region, it is already there. We want devolution of power based on the Indian model. Like the Indian state system. India is a big country, the Tamil Nadu population is five to six times bigger than ours. Leave aside the language, we are separated by just 25 miles of sea. That is why I have been harping on the Indian model, not for anything else. Through experience we have found, what is best.

A lot of people are reluctant to say that, but I say our mothers are from south India. I have read a nice article written by former Jaffna GA, Neville Jayaweera, he too holds this view. Today, a Sinhalese friend came to invite me for his daughter’s wedding, see the betel leaf here, this is our Tamil custom too.

We lived happily as brothers before Independence. Who are we to be blame for the divisions created. Those days we visited each others’ houses with family.

I went to the Kandy temple, the Malwathu Maha Nayake thera was there, he patted me like a child, that is the feeling that every citizen should have, I don’t treat any Sinhalese differently.

So what is this big worry about the 13-A. The worry is at a higher level, not at the lower level. I am also from the lower strata who works for peace. I will do anything for that.

This is a silly matter, if you are not going to implement the 13-A for the powers over dissolution alone that is foolish. If there is a just government, then why should there be an unjust dissolution. Before a child is born why do you want to think of its death.

India is the largest democracy in the world. The majority of the population is Hindu, who was the Prime Minister for the past five six years? There was constant trouble over Pakistan and Bangladesh, despite this, the head of state was a Muslim, they have learned to have faith.

In India, Sikh wanted a separate state. Today, the Prime Minister is a Sikh, the Army Commander is a Sikh. They have confidence in each other. Sikhs are two percent of the population. But the 98%

of Hindu’s have faith in him. This is the way we should look at it.

Q: The TNA is the dominant political party in the North. There is reason to believe that the TNA is guided by the LTTE rump. In such a situation, isn’t it fair by the majority to fear handing such sweeping powers to the region?

A: I have given thought to this question. I have repeatedly told the leadership of the TNA to seal the mouth of some of their representatives because they talk too much. I have no hesitation to say this. They give different versions to the TNA policy. The Tamil people are supporting the TNA because they want a united Tamil front, because then the bargaining capacity will be more.

You should not be misguided by a couple of TNA parliamentarians. The TNA has no control over some of them. There is a TNA parliamentarian who said, “my leader is Prabhakaran”. That is enough to shatter the faith of the Sinhalese people. He had announced in India that Prabhakaran is still living.

I personally knew Prabhakaran. When Prabhakaran started his movement, I doubt if this TNA member was even born. I met Prabhakaran for the last time in 2002. I knew him from his childhood and I saw his body, you cannot make a duplicate like that.

The fear entertained by some Sinhalese is genuine but my personal feeling is that it is exaggerated. Prabhakaran is dead everyone knows that. The people want a united solution. Our people want unity.

The TNA is making a big mistake. I would have been the best advisor to Sampanthan if he would have taken me in. But he is guided by people who were not even born when this problem in the country originated.

I lived at a time when the Sinhalese and the Tamils in the country never felt that they were strangers. They lived like brothers, before Independence.

The British government appointed the Soulbury Commission to go into the demands of the local people and recommend a new Constitution, before Independence.

D.S.Senanayake was supposed to be the father of the nation, even now he is held in high esteem. I have seen him but not spoken to him because I was too young at that time. He is the only former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka with whom I have not exchanged one word.

This Prime Minister told the Tamil members of the Council at that time, there were a number of Tamil members in the State Council, ‘here is a Constitution and here is an opportunity for us to rule ourselves, we don’t want to be ruled from London. If you trust me, my party and my people, the Sinhalese people will not let you down’. On that assurance only, all the Tamil members unanimously voted for the adoption of the Constitution.

Every minority member in the State Council supported. If one person had opposed it, and demanded separation or asked a regional autonomy, the British government would have definitely considered it.

Even the man who asked for the 50 – 50 balance representation, G.G. Ponnambalam, also supported it. Today everybody is talking like pundits without knowing head or tail about the history.

I am sorry to say such things, but I love my country and I love my people. I love the Sinhalese and I love the Muslims. I have lived among the Muslims, the Sinhalese and even taught their children. I was taught by Sinhalese and Muslim teachers and I know what is what and who is who.

Q: If a 19th Amendment is brought in to dilute the 13th Amendment what will be the repercussion as you see it?

A: It will be a serious issue. We will go back several years. Why should the Government want that. At the 59th Independence day celebrations, at the Galle Face Green in a landmark speech, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said ‘we have a duty to safeguard the interest of the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslim children. I will not give in to the demands of the blood thirsty LTTE. But it would be reasonable and fair enough to give into what people like Ananda Sangaree and Douglas Devananda are saying’. At the time when he said this I was vigorously campaigning for the Indian model.

He was always talking about unity and fair play. There are people around him trying to spoil the soup. They are disturbing the peace of the country. To be frank the Tamils in Sri Lanka and Kilinochchi are thinking that they were better off under the LTTE because of the work carried out by the ‘stooges’.

These stooges are only worried about safeguarding their own positions than the people of this country, asking for favours and going behind someone to get petrol pump licenses in Jaffna, is what they are interested in. Not in the people.

I don’t say or imagine for a moment that the LTTE was fair. They are the people who brought the country to this state, but now if people start saying we were better off under the LTTE, then see the pinch they are feeling. So many things are promised but someone has to ensure that what is promised is delivered to the people. There are ‘poosaris’ in between!

Q: Can the Government defy the voice within, the JHU and the other parties and ignore their call?

A: If President Mahinda Rajapaksa can announce that he has to be fair by all the people, I am sure no one will dare defy his voice. When those who matter keep silent the others take the upper hand. They try to spoil the soup. If you go through the papers everyday, it is evident that the annoyance is caused by others.

Q: There is a question about the legitimacy of the 13th Amendment itself. It was not the people’s wish, no one wanted it at the time, not even the Tamil people. Then how rightful are you to ask for its full implementation?

A: If you take history, it has not been the people who have taken decisions all the time. Solutions are not always suggested and owned by the people. The same rule applies here also. It is the representatives who meet and determine the various issues relating to their people. It is Parliament.

Above all, experts and top leaders from both sides were behind the drafting of the 13-A. India came as a mediator, to solve a long standing problem mixed with violence and ruthless conduct of some groups.

At the time this was the best. I call India our mother country since our mothers have come from India. India was much respected. We had leaders in both countries respected by both countries.

When the tsunami hit Sri Lanka, a Tamil Nadu medical team was here within four hours, in spite of the fact there were several thousand who died there as well, it was on the instructions of the Central government. Other countries,too, come and help but India is the first country that reacts to our distress call.

This accord was drafted after long deliberations between top ranking leaders of the party - political, administration and justice. I would not say this was forced upon Sri Lanka by India.

If India just closed their eyes on what went on in Tamil Nadu, we would not have been able to win the war on terrorism with the LTTE. Tons and tons of lead and razor bolts that were to be used as ammunition for LTTE weapons were seized by the Q Branch of the Tamil Nadu police. Indian politicians are still suffering for helping the Sri Lankan Government to defeat the LTTE.

Q: One demand of the JHU is that before the election in the North is held, the Sinhalese and Muslims evicted from the North have to be resettled or given voting rights?

A: There were Sinhalese people living in the North but, there were no settlements there. I remember almost all the midwives, or all the midwives I knew in Jaffna were Sinhalese. There were no Gynaecologists at the time. The period I am talking about is pre- Independence or immediately after Independence. When a Sinhalese midwife known to the village was leaving we gave her a grand farewell. Her brother was my playmate. When I met him one day at the Education Department after so many years I immediately recognised him. We were happier without our own politicians ruling us. We lived peacefully.

I taught Civics in a Sinhalese school in Ja-ela. My brother taught at the Dharmashoka Vidyalaya. Some of the Parliament members are my students. Even UNP parliamentarian and the former Speaker, Joseph Micheal Perera is my student. Everything has changed now, decisions are taken for the vote. If you speak to their conscience, you will see the reality.