By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole –

Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

The US Presidential elections that are on 5th November are full of false propaganda. Former President Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) is hinting at violence if he should lose. Many are scared to go out and vote. Ballot boxes have been burnt. The police seem to take no action. I advised my daughter in this milieu, to file a complaint with the FBI that she feels her life is threatened so as to take away the FBI its excuse for inaction.

Indeed, when Trump came into office in 2016 his anti-immigrant, anti-coloured-person views emboldened many White Racists. When she, my daughter, went to a restaurant in Oakland, California, she who was born a citizen was asked by her waiter to produce her visa papers. I believe that experience ensured that she would file no complaint as I suggested.

That same sense of nonbelonging is what makes us feel out of place in Jaffna and even threatened. Caste and religious identity set us apart. Here in Jaffna, the only two parties that deserve some consideration for our vote are, in my view, the Federal Party and the NPP. The others, to use a phrase from Donald Trump and his racist cronies, are garbage.

The Tamil Congress is responsible for the disfranchisement of Estate Tamils in collusion with DS Senanayake’s UNP. The UNP’s responsibility for the burning of the Jaffna Public Library and associated rigging of the 1981 District Council Elections saw the dismantling of the first experiment in devolution carefully negotiated by A. Amirthalingam. The UNP also was shamefully responsible for the 1983 riots and many massacres since then. The many shameless Tamils who plan to vote for the UNP in other Districts would do well to remember this. The SLPP too does not deserve a second look from us.

The late R. Sampanthan and Anura Kumara Dissanayake

Then we have the  LTTE leaning parties. I think we all remember the payment of almost a billion dollars to the LTTE which prevented our voting in 2005 and paved the way for Rajapakse to come to power, and the numerous massacres since then especially in Mullivaikal. We are all too familiar with the murderous antics of the SLPP (then the SLFP) and its LTTE stooges removing any vestige of democracy in our midst. I am horrified that many Tamils continue to respect the LTTE. We who decry our genocide by the state, perpetrated our own genocide when we ejected Muslims from our midst. Sumanthiran who has successfully filed many cases restoring our rights, has lost much support after testifying to the truth that we were wrong in what we did to the Muslims (many of whom were Federal Party members at one time).

The EPDP is another horrible den of killers who announced on Saturday that they are raising a statue to honour Pirapaharan! They with the EPRLF entered parliament when the LTTE prevented any Tamil from voting. Then, as Members of Parliament, some with only nine votes, became MPs under Sinhalese governments which were desperate to have a Tamil as a minister so they could claim to be national in character. Their support base grew as they used government handouts – sewing needles, shoes and copy books – and cultivated through government jobs a group of supporters large enough for them to get at least one genuine Member of Parliament on the national list. The people who vote for them show that when a people’s rights are denied for long and their dignity crippled, they can be manipulated as slaves into Uncle Toms.

In the islands off Jaffna we have had the EPDP holding sway under the protection of the Sri Lankan Navy. The EPDP is a good example of how a minority can be bought, and the police and even the judiciary corrupted. The EPDP is also responsible for many murders, so numerous that I do not have to get into details. Suffice it to say that my relations, the Bogan family, were murdered by the EPDP, and Douglas Devananda is wanted in India for a shoot-out and murder in Chennai.

Be that as it may, that does not prevent the Indian government from dealing with Devananda and even letting him visit India while a wanted man. Likewise, those like the EPDP’s Nepoleon who on 5.12.2001  killed two TNA members who went to campaign to the islands. As the Sri Lankan government was allied closely with Douglas, Nepoleon was charged in Vavuniya for a murder in Jaffna, and was given bail although he was being charged with a capital crime. He promptly fled and was given asylum in the UK. I believe the British government is complicit  in protecting killers (like India is) for its own devious reasons, pointing to the weakness of these democracies.

A small digression on my personal experience. In 2011 when I was in charge of planning a new engineering faculty for Jaffna, I visited the Island of Velanai during provincial elections and described every antidemocratic crime by the EPDP which filed a police complaint against me with the stooge police. They claimed that I had written false reports against the EPDP’s election, and thereby caused a riot among their supporters. It was a B-Report (meaning a criminal charge) asking me to report at the Kayts Police Station for creating a riot. That report was given to me by the police at my office at the university where I was working then. I was advised that given that it was a B report, I would be placed under arrest. The magistrate at that time was a terrible woman. Judging by her horrible-looking teeth, she was not from a respectable family. Officials in court told me that when smuggled saris were caught, she was responsible for their auction and would take the best silk saris for herself without calling for bids.  She was asking anyone in authority including my lawyer N. Srikantha to have her made a High Court Judge. She must have been so bad that even Douglas could not help her unless he feared losing her services if she was promoted. Srikantha advised me to run. So I took a bus to Vavuniya, where I stopped at the campus to write up a follow up article on this. My daughter brought me my bag by bus since I, as a wanted man, did not want to attract any attention to my fleeing.

I fled abroad and  was working at Michigan State University to which Douglas wrote asking if they knew that a wanted criminal was being given shelter there. The university gave a well-researched reply. They said that they celebrate dissent in America, and they were aware that Douglas too was wanted in India and expected that he would appreciate the value of dissent in a democracy. It was when the university copied their reply that I knew of his letter. Had Douglas copied me his letter, who knows, I might have panicked and moved jobs.

In August 2015 when the bad magistrate was gone and the new government left the new magistrate alone, I returned within a week of the election. Because there was an open warrant for my arrest, I went straight from the airport to Kayts and surrendered before the new magistrate who let me off on bail. Then, for nearly three years, the stooge police kept telling the magistrate that they needed more time to investigate. And he, terribly disappointed, released me telling the police that he did not believe that any investigation was on, and if they found any evidence to file a new case. It is 6 years now, and Douglas’ coolie police have not found any evidence to support the complaint.

The EPDP’s Jaffna candidate now, Stanislaus Celestine, a Lawyer no less, in his press conference speech on 30th October 2024, derided In full view of the cameras, Mr. Chandrasekaran, the NPP’s main candidate for Jaffna District, as a nobody from Kandy who has no place here in Jaffna. I was aghast to hear this from a candidate from a party that pretends to be leftist and standing up for the dispossessed who form the majority of its low-caste cadre. It is noteworthy that Douglas publicly said that one wanting to swim must learn from a good swimmer and all his candidates have learnt politics from him. That tells in Celestine who I hope will not progress to murder.

Many vote for the EPDP thinking it stands for the low caste. Celestine had proved its true position. Caste prejudice is integrated in the Tamil mind because it is Krishna (not I) who said  in Bagavad Gita (4.13): “The four categories of occupations were created by me according to people’s qualities and activities.” That is, a person of high caste is of high quality and of low caste is of low quality. The EPDP’s murderous qualities seem to prove this.

Of course this is nonsense a d I do not buy it. In the infamous Kohilaambaal murder case in 1962, it was the “high quality” Brahmin woman having an affair with Veluchaami her Palla servant who murdered her husband who was  20 years older and according to the press had diminished sexual drive. Despite this and numerous other examples of evil high-caste men, the idea of the caste-quality nexus is ingrained in us. At CMS St. John’s College when a Paraiyah headmaster was brutally violent towards a child and the parent complained, the Principal took no action saying, “I say, what can I do? He has simply shown his Chaathi Puththi [qualities of his caste].” Interestingly that Headmaster too has assaulted a teacher on the road for being drunk.

As a result, in these elections as the traditional leaders have stepped aside many low caste candidates have appeared. Because the slate is district-based, we often do not know the caste of a candidate. In the old electorate system we lived close to candidates. But now in the district system only the rich can reach voters living miles away. Corruption is necessary for effective campaigning. People have complained that candidate so and so is of that caste when that is not so. Perhaps that is good. At the same time caste is always a factor in our voting although invariably that is denied. It is said that when one asks the UNP for nomination, one inescapable question at the interview is “What is your caste?”

The question of caste is rarely discussed but it is a legitimate topic because if you ask who the usual criminals and rowdies are, it is the low castes. Of course, there are exceptions to disprove the caste-quality connection like the upper-caste murderer JR Jayewardene who presided over the 1983 riots. The strong nexus between caste and crime is something that I believe is based on upbringing and needs time in the middleclass to get over. For example, a brother of mine established a theological college in Trincomalee and pressed by the need to support the upliftment of the lower castes, placed Panchamar who had just become Christians on the College Board. The Panchamar are the five lowest castes who do ritually unclean work: Paraiyahs (lavatory coolies), Pallahs (farm labourers), Vannar (washermen), Nalavahs (toddy tappers) and Ambattahs (barbers).

Rev. J Hensman

As soon as my brother died, the “Pastors” on the board systematically embezzled the college – in the year 2019, some Rs. 11 million came in and only some Rs. 4.5 million is reflected in the books.  In another example, I sent US$5000 to my church St. James’ Nallur) to repair its vicarage whose administration (including the Vicar) has been taken over by the lower castes after 1992. When I unexpectedly returned, I found that my gift had been recorded as Rs. 5000. Even though the records have been corrected, the vicarage remains unusable. The administrators fund-raised for a second vicarage that is palatial. Accounts are not presented in time for the parish AGM and Bishop Dushantha Rodrigo is fine with it. Likewise, the lower-caste administrators, finding no room for themselves in the graveyard, instead of expanding the cemetery at cost to themselves to the assigned land next door, are trying to take over some 5 Hensman graves with no appreciation for the heritage of the first Tamil Anglican Priest, Rev. John Hensman, ordained in 1865. Hensman was a Vellahla unlike the Bishop and most other administrators. The church is like the proverbial garland in the hands of monkeys.

The Bishop of the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India is of the Paraiyah caste and so far his administration has been good. So I do not say that high offices should be reserved for the high caste. But what I do say is that converts must be given time, perhaps even a generation, to inculcate the values and mores of the new life.

Similarly, I say that political parties when giving nominations can and should look for lengthy administrative experience and positive attestations  prior to giving nominations and positions of trust.

As experienced Christians left Jaffna, the Federal Party which had higher standards has also been rocked by religious prejudices coming from Arumuga Navalar. In his book “The Stare of Religion in Jaffna,” Navalar lets off steam on people who had coffee at the Mission House where the cook was a Paraiyah. Says he, you drank coffee from the kitchen Paraiyah. Navalar’s prejudices were spread  through his books for children. Even I was taught from his books in a mission school that say if a lower caste man, a menstruating woman or a dog sees a cooking pot, it should be smashed and a new pot taken. This is why even today the lower castes are not entertained in a Vellahla house in Jaffna. Even when invited they will not come.

I am yet to see any of Jaffna’s leaders disagree with Navalar or trash his books for children. How then will we ever elect a lower-caste candidate?

The caste system is resilient. It survives by letting those at the bottom aspire to higher status while putting down those below. At Nayanmaarkattu when a Paraiyah-Pallah love affair began, the Kanaharatnam Road from one village to the other was blocked and a battle with pelted stones went on for some weeks around 2005. Gandhi had his intense caste prejudices. In his newspaper The Harijan he had a series of articles around 1938 where he blamed Dr. Mott of the World Council of Churches for conversions saying the lower castes do not have the intelligence of a cow to discern Christian principles. In the Madras Guardian Gandhi refers to the palsied hands and palsied intelligence of the lower castes.

Thus the Paraiyahs of Ariyalai who want to be higher than the Pallahs of Nayanmarkattu but know nothing about Gandhi’s views on their intelligence, have named their library the Gandhi Centre! So they rise in caste.

The fisher-castes also have been insultingly described by Arumuga Navalar. Our Archdeacon has gone and blessed the private land illegally taken over by the Pallahs for the Nayanmarkattu library. When the Vellahla owner of the land with his deed endorsed by the court queried the municipality on the building, they said it was all done with permits approved by Mayor Emmanuel Arnold and other officials. However, they could not produce the permits and the matter has gone to the new Governor Mr. Vedanayhan.   

In the mid-1960s, the Federal Party had a sure municipal seat in Ariyalai, home to Chiviyah’s and Paraiyahs. The Paraiyah vote was always the Federal Party’s.  So the Tamil Congress folk I think, got an educated Paraiyah teacher to stand against the Federal Party. The party then got some rowdies to beat up the teacher, remove his verty and made him run naked leaving his bicycle on the ground. He withdrew his candidature. Because he was so violent to his students and to his wife, we never felt that what the party did was wrong. The party won the seat, but lost its nonviolent ethos.

Sumanthiran and Anura – May Day in Jaffna – 2018

As perhaps a more serious example, Federal Party elder CVK Sivagnanam (a former Provincial Commissioner) is from the Kaikula Caste that makes dyed cloth. They claim equality to Vellahlas who do not accept that claim. So it is important for them to assert caste status. He therefore objected at a Federal Party meeting to Emmanuel Arnold being Mayor of Jaffna. The majority however made him Mayor. Subsequently at a party meeting someone abused Arnold of being a Christian Chakkily (like a Paraiyah but lower) and the enraged Arnold assaulted him and was led away by the police who later helped suppress the charges.

On an earlier occasion then Batticaloa MP C Yogeswaran (with Federal Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran on the stage with him) claimed that only Saivites who speak Tamil are Tamils and those who are not Saivite are not Tamils even if they speak Tamil, and that Christians and Muslims who speak Tamil are not Tamils but merely Tamil-speakers.

So SJV Chelvanayakam was not a Tamil! No disciplinary action has been taken against these three. Worse, even after his atrocious statement, Yogeswaran was given the party nomination for the 2020 elections and the people of the East defeated him, effectively over-ruling the Federal Party Central Committee that gave him its nomination.

But there are other good signs too. MA Sumanthiran who publicly says that the ejection of the Muslims from the north was wrong has strong party positions although weakened for speaking up for Muslims. Then Chandrahasan Elankovan, the grandson of SJV Chelvanayakam –  also of EMV Naganathan (Irumpu Manithan, aka Hensman) – is a candidate as is Kesavan Sajanthan from Chavakacheri. We have good choices.

Elankovan must be returned to save Chelvanayakam’s name. If Elankovn can forgive the party  for its insults to Christians and his grandfather, perhaps we too can.

However, in the NPP too we have good choices – indeed a rare choice to escape identity politics and be rid of our corrupt ways. The President’s real name is long – Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Anura Kumara Dissanayake  – and the length gives away his agricultural Goigama-caste status. I am reliably told that he shortened it to escape that caste identity to Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD). Few Tamils would give up their Vellala identiy to be labelled a low-caste.

In Jaffna there is a lot of misleading propaganda against AKD. At the Jaffna Press Club on 31.10.2024 Sumanthiran said that the NPP is back-pedalling on the repeal of the PTA. Indeed, Vijitha Herath seems to be creating doubts that the PTA would be repealed.  I asked Bimal Ratnayake, former JVP MP, about this. He said I should ignore what individual JVP-ers say and that their positions are immutable and as stated in their manifesto. So I read the Tamil manifesto (The English version came late). The statements so key to Tamils are in the last 2 pages – pp. 230, 231. It is explicitly stated that the PTA would be abolished and that land settlements altering ethnic demography would be halted. Non-discrimintion is also promised leading to treating all religions equally. I hold the NPP to its Manifesto.

I urge Tamil readers to choose between the Federal Party and the NPP and then 3 persons from the party of your choice.

Voting for the NPP is the way truly to open up corruption-free politics, to a new beginning. It is the high road to freedom. I suggest that the Federal Party and the NPP are the only two real options for Tamils. Sumanthiran at the said interview at the Jaffna Press Club kept open the possibility of the two parties working together. That would be the fastest way for solving the problems of minorities. May God give the President the strength to keep his word.