By M S S Pandian and Kalaiyarasan A –
“And why not? It is better than never. The spark has grown into a flame and we add fuel believing that it burns till the light of equal rights reaches the long deprived and oppressed people” – Lalith Raja, senior system engineer, Infosys, Chennai, in NDTV Blog.
The spark which has ignited the students’ rage in Tamil Nadu against the United States-sponsored United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on Sri Lanka and India’s eventual support to it began in one of the most unlikely places, the Loyola College at Chennai. The academic excellence of the college, most believe, is a result of its depoliticised student body. Shattering the myth convincingly, on 8 March, eight young students from the college – Dileepan (18), Britto (20), Anthony George (20), Ramesh alias Paarvai Dasan (20), Paul Kenneth (20), Manikandan (19), Shanmugapriyan (19), and Leo Stalin (20) – went on an indefinite hunger strike demanding the implementation of a seven-point charter.
The charter demanded, among other things, a proactive role by the union government for an independent probe into the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan army at the end of Eelam war in 2009, a referendum on the demand for an independent Tamil state of Eelam and the imposition of economic sanctions on Sri Lanka. As if to “humour” P Chidambaram, the union finance minister who happens to be an alumnus of the college, the students promised a non-cooperation movement mobilising the people of Tamil Nadu not to pay taxes to the union government. Smelling a political opportunity, politicians – including those from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress whose direct and indirect complicity in the Sri Lankan war crimes needs no mention – made a beeline to the venue of the fast. But for K V Thangabalu, the former TNCC president, who was heckled with anti-Congress slogans, most of them were politely welcomed; yet their overtures were unrequited. The students’ resolve was to keep their protest unsullied by time-serving politicians.
In a midnight operation, reminiscent of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government’s past style, the Tamil Nadu state police broke the fast on its fourth day. For them, four days were more than enough. Not only did the fasting students receive support from students from other colleges, but it also triggered and galvanised a state-wide students’ protest against the UNHRC resolution. Thousands of them from arts and sciences as well as engineering and medical colleges took to the streets in different parts of the state, small towns were no exception. The protest in which young men and women participated in equal strength took varied forms – posters and pamphlets, hunger strikes, processions, human-chains, effigy-burning, rail and road rokos, and siege of central government offices.
Significantly, schoolchildren, accompanied by their teachers and carrying pictures of the 12-year-old Balachandran, who was shot dead in captivity during the Eelam war, too conducted their own protest marches. Parents and teachers, sharing the students’ concerns, tacitly endorsed their action. After all, three senior staff of the Loyola College kept vigil at the venue where the students fasted.
The fringe could not hold out for long. They soon joined the mainstream. Sixty-nine students from IIT-Madras, a campus where the only authorised political activity hitherto has been protesting against caste-based reservation a la the Youth for Equality and P V Indiresan, expressed their solidarity with the sentiments on the streets by observing a day-long hunger strike. About 40 of the students who sat in fast were from north India; and Som Prakash Singh, an MLA from Bihar, addressed the students. Posters giving details of the Sri Lankan conflict and its consequences for the Island Tamils adorned the campus. They were in seven languages, including Tulu. The IIT-M administration did not disapprove of the protest. Also, the IT professionals working in some of the IT majors conducted a human chain protest along Chennai’s IT-corridor. No less than 150 IT professionals took on themselves the task of distributing pamphlets on Sri Lankan war crimes to the suburban train passengers. They sought the passengers’ support for the student movement.
New Political Literacy
A slice of Tamil Nadu’s past may not be out of place here. In 1939, C Rajagopalachari, the premier of the Madras Presidency, ridiculed on the floor of the Madras Legislative Council the first anti-Hindi martyr L Nadarajan, who died in prison: “It was due to his illiteracy that he picketed and it was due to his picketing that he happened to be in jail, but his illness was certainly due to other causes”. The Congressmen did not miss Rajagopalachari’s gruesome humour about a dead man; and they laughed. Similarly, referring to the 1965 anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu, T N Seshan once observed, “Mobs of illiterate and semi-literate Tamil people, mostly poor, lapsed into fits of fury in the cause of so remote a language, English.” It is no longer a story of illiterate and semi-literate mobs. Things have indeed changed – perhaps because of decades of reservation for the underprivileged in educational institutions. The national media which played blind about the protest woke to the reality, though fleetingly, when the students of IIT and IT professional joined the agitation.
At the peak of the agitation, over two lakh students were on the streets.
The symbolisms which accompanied the agitation are important. The flag of the LTTE and pictures of the slain LTTE leader, Velupillai Pirabhakaran, had a constant presence in the students’ agitation. Yet, this was not a call to arms but an act of clinging on to a memory of the Island Tamils’ decades-long struggle against the Sri Lankan majoritarian state. The students’ demand was to conduct a referendum among the Island Tamils and the Tamil diaspora on the question of Eelam. It may be remembered here that it was the moderate Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), under the leadership of Appapillai Amirthalingam, which sought a mandate for a separate Tamil state by means of a vote during the 1977 Sri Lankan general election. In addition, the flag of the LTTE, an organisation banned by the central government, asserted the students’ defiance against the Indian state and the Congress Party.
It is not the pictures of Pirabhakaran but the poignant images of Balachandran before and after his killing were the ones which mobilised the students, children, and indeed the wider public. Also, the black shirt, a polyvalent symbol of Tamils’ degradation introduced by Periyar E V Ramsamy among his cadres during the days of the Self-Respect Movement, was ubiquitous in student protests. The newness of the protest did not, thus, abandon all past inheritances.
New Leadership
Significantly, the students’ agitation has thrown up a new young leadership, men and women, in Tamil Nadu. Listening to Shanmugapriyan alias Chembian of the Loyola College or Divya of the Dr Ambedkar Law College (the erstwhile Madras Law College) in television talk clearly shows that here is a new generation of Tamils which is imagining new political futures. Self-assured, articulate and well-informed, they could rattle ill-informed TV anchors without batting an eyelid and confidently talk of Geneva convention and Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. Their understanding of politics too is complex. For instance, they are deeply aware of the politics that the media has played and continues to play. A large flex banner which was used in one of the demonstrations read, “Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The Official Media Partner: The Hindu”. Indeed, a brilliant summary of the newspaper’s shameless role in defending the Mahinda Rajapaksa’s genocidal regime. The students’ agitation is slowly acquiring organisational structures. One among them, Tamileelam Viduthalai Manavargal Iyakkam (Students Federation for Free Eelam), works on the basis of collective leadership, student teams, and a think tank.
If the DMK chief M Karunanidhi, whose contribution to stop the civilian deaths during the last phase of the war in Sri Lanka in 2009 was a four-hour farce on the sands of Marina Beach which he and his party calls a protest fast, had to leave the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), he had no other option. As the DMK MP and the party’s official spokesperson T K S Elangovan confessed, “The atmosphere in Tamil Nadu is too charged. It is a burning issue. We can’t afford to be isolated.” It is not the DMK which reduced the UPA to a minority, but the credit for that should go to the protesting students of Tamil Nadu. If the Tamil Nadu chief minister and the leader of the AIADMK, J Jayalalithaa, who earlier described the civilian deaths in the Eelam war as unavoidable collateral damage, had to endorse all the demands of the student agitators in the form of a state assembly resolution, she too did not have any other option. Political parties no longer lead but are being led – at least for the moment.
If the Congress nurtured hopes of a political future in Tamil Nadu, it is no doubt bleak. The fear and frustration of the party functionaries in Tamil Nadu is all too evident. The spectres of 1967 when student campaigners ensured the defeat of the Congress stalwart K Kamaraj and reduced the party to irrelevance in the state might be haunting them. The senior Congress leader E V K S Ilangovan, facing the cameras in the studio of Puthiya Thalaimurai (New Generation), a new Tamil television channel which takes up issues ignored by the mainstream media, accused the channel of being a front for the LTTE and threatened CBI raids on the channel. Elsewhere, he has declared that the Congress would bring out short films and posters explaining its contribution to the Island Tamils’ cause during the past five years. Going by the social media postings, the new generation of Tamils hope – of course, in jest – that these will include the Congress contribution to the war crimes in Sri Lanka too.
*M S S Pandian teaches at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Kalaiyarasan A is a PhD scholar at the Centre for Studies in Regional Development in the same university. This article is first appeared in the Economic and Political Weekly
Indian student protesters are asking for is justice to their Tamil brethren in Sri Lanka
Dodo / April 13, 2013
Yes, and the SRI LANKA SPIRNG began last night with the candle-lite protest against the Balu Sena in the heart of Colombo outside the Sambuda Jayanthi broken up by the Rajapakse miliatary juggernaut – but not before we heard them speak?
organized by the educated middle class that wants to SAVE BUDDHISM and BUDDHIST VALUES from the Rajapakse military dictatorship and the Balu sena or saffron clad thugs that they have groomed to DIVIDE, DISTRACT an RULE LANKA.
Organizing on Face book Lanka’s the young literatti and glitterati of Colombo stepping out and walking the Talk!
Lanka is on her way – steaming towards REGIME CHANGE!
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Damma Asoka / April 13, 2013
When the Sri LANKA SPRING began in Colombo and was attacked by the police on April 12, the Uthayan office was burnt in Jaffna? Is this a good or bad omen for the Sinhala and Tamil New Year that dawn on the 14th of April?
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Kamini / April 13, 2013
The cowardly Rajapakse regime will try to kill the Lanka Spring.
But why did not the cowardly media – newspapers – not carry the story on the headline front page?
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Native Vedda / April 14, 2013
Damma Asoka
There won’t be any Sri Lanka Spring.
Sinhalese want it to be a Sinhala/Buddist spring.
Tamils have their own brand of Tamil/Saivaite spring.
Muslims dreams of Caliphate spring in Kathankudi.
The Christians of course want their kingdom of god spring.
Whence cometh the Sri Lankan Spring?
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Kapila / April 14, 2013
Grow up dude and figure that most people are Cosmopolitan and have multiple identities and will rally TOGETHER against the corrupt and criminal mahinda rajapassa dictatorship in north and south Lanka!
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Native Vedda / April 14, 2013
Kapila
I know what you mean:
Muslim can also have a Tamil/Saivaite identity.
Tamils can be a Sinhala/Buddhist.
Sinhalese can be a Tamil/Saivaite.
Christians can have a Sinhala/Buddhist identity
Tamils can be Sinhala/Buddhists.
All of them have their fogotten common identity, the descendants of Kallathonies. All of you can unite under this common identity.
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OutRider / April 14, 2013
Pandian
If they are smart students from prestigious schools as you say, how come the LTTE rump and their local lackeys were able to brainwash them with their hate propaganda and racist disinformation?
Were you requested by the same parties to write this article to give a veneer of respect to what is essentially a campaign by disreputable political elements and the lunatic fringe in Tamil Nadu?
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manisekaran / April 15, 2013
outrider, you are frog in well and confirming that you dont even know what calibre Tamil students in TN possesses. They know clearly what is politics and what is brainwash and what is struggle for freedom and human rights?.
lunatic fringe? my foot, there are 2 lakhs students in unison directly and more than 200 legislator joined in passing resolution in assembly. calling fringe is naive on part of you. Between Chennai population itself 1.5 crores which is your total island sinhalese population who know clearly eelam struggle since 1983. Between can you come out of your brain washed mind boasted by your media.
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OutRider / April 16, 2013
Manisekaran
Today’s (15 April 2013) Indian Express reports to me in the well:
“India’s image on tackling corruption has not improved with Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) placing it at 94th rank out of 176 nations this year.
This year, India is ranked below neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and China, while Afghanistan, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh fared much worse than India when it came to corruption in public sector undertakings.
Sri Lanka, which is slowly limping back to normalcy after a three-decade civil war, is ranked at 79 while China is ranked at 80.”
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Senguttuvan / April 13, 2013
If the Rajapakses either – out of sheer ego, cussedness or foolishness – ignore or misread the growing support for Lankan Tamils in India, they will do so at their own peril and that of the future of the island. The issue is not as simple as what these students think.
Loyola College and IIT in Madras/Chennai are highly respected educational institutions turning out able graduates annually that go out to serve India splendidly in many areas – both within and outside India. They did not openly engage in the struggle previously – as they do now. They carry a strong voice and can also influence powerful feelings in the rest of India. The fire they have started is likely to spread far and fast.
The Rajapakses may have won the war but they are fastly losing the peace, which is, by far, the more vital to their own continued political survival. They have made an awful mistake in mis-handling Tamilnadu competently. There is no head of the office of the DHC in Chennai – for whatever reason.
I know of several offers made to the Rajapakses a few years ago – by people who knew them personally and who had influence with the rulers in Tamilnadu. But the Rajapakses did not have the intellectual depth to take advantage of the offers. It is too late now. If the Rajapakses think starting yet another 7/83 and killing a few hundred Tamils in the streets will help them and check India, they calculate badly.
Senguttuvan
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raja / April 13, 2013
What ???? You have a Tamil spring and you will have many black July which the sinhala radical groups and BBS are looking forward to.Can you just forget the past and learn to live with each other for the future of the country.
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raja / April 13, 2013
apologize for my previous posting about tamil spring because I thought it was Sri Lanka but instead it is India.
Anyhow a Tamil Spring in India will NEVER be fruitful either because the views of Tamils in India or Tamilnadu or in Sri Lanka are deemed irrelevant by the respective governemnts.
So I suggest the Tamils in India and Sri Lanka just learn to live with the mainstream majority for the benefit of the country.
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Siva / April 13, 2013
The majority Sinhala-Buddhists and their Sinhala leaders including their government has proved to the world that they are incapable of governing minoritie.
It is time for the Tamils to demand for a Referendum for self rule. The world has to decide (just like what happened in Kosov and South Suda) to let the minorities govern themselves.
The next step is clearly the ‘Eelam Referendum’. The Tamil spring should/will persuade the IC and the UN to support a Referendum for Tamil self rule in Sri Lanka.
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manisekaran / April 15, 2013
You are wrong Raja.. let us wait and see.. past is never refelction of future..
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Manivannan MP / April 13, 2013
WHY TAMILS CANNOT BE GIVEN THE RIGHT TO RULE THEM SELF IN THEIR OWN TERRITORY?
DO YOU CONSIDER THEM AS SECOND CLASS CITIZENS ?
WHY THE SINGALESE DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE FEELING OF TAMILS ?
WHY ARE SINGALESE COLONISING TAMIL AREAS! WHERE THEY HAVE THE MOST FERTILE LANDS WITH REVERES AND RAINFALL IN SOUTH – COMPARED TO INFERTILE AND BARRON LANDS IN THE NORTH & EAST?
EVERY ONE IS BLAMING LTTE! CAN ANY ONE TELL ME HOW MANY SINGALESE CIVILIANS HAS BEEN KILLED BY LTTE ACTION OVER 30 YEARS?
AND HOW MANY TAMIL CIVILIANS KILLED BY SINGALESE ARM FORCES OVER THAT PERIOD?
WHY SINGALESE ARMY OCCUPYING TAMILS AREAS WHERE THERE IS NO RESISTANCE ?
WHY SINGALESE NATION IS PROMOTING EXTREMISM ?
ARE SINGALESE NATURALLY BAD AND SELFISH PEOPLE ?
IF YOU ARE A SINGALESE CAN YOU PLEASE ANSWER THE ABOVE QUESTIONS !
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Yogi / April 13, 2013
“WHY TAMILS CANNOT BE GIVEN THE RIGHT TO RULE THEM SELF IN THEIR OWN TERRITORY?”
Because it is a bit like in Tesavalami. In Thesavalam law, if the neighbours do not want you to sell your own landto someone, you can’t do anything about it. The Eelam land is sorrounded by India, Sinhala South, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China in the east. None of these `neighbours’ want us to have self-rule.
However, by some hook or crook, if we get self rule in the North, what happens to our people (almost 50%) who live in the sinhala south? The heated emotions involved in creating self-rule in the North would be such that there would be wide-spread antagonism to the Tamils living in Colombo and the South. The whole country would once again plunge into civil war.
And we, being a minority, would be once again decimated. Remember, in the 1970s the Tamil population in the Island was like 15-18%. Now we are about 10-12% ONLY if we count the Tamils in the south. The Tamils living `IN THEIR OWN TERRITORY’ is less than 5%.
The Tamil Nadu boys will make a lot of noise, but in the end they will NOT do anything to help us . They have NEVER done anything before. What did they do when the Indian `Peace Keeping’ force did more damage to the Tamils than the SL army ever did in a comparable time span, and provoked Prabhakaran to assassinate Rajeev?
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Manivannan MP / April 14, 2013
YOUR ANSWER IS NOT SATISFACTORY AND YOU FAILED PLEASE REWRITE THE ANSWER WITH SOME COMMON SENSE !
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manisekaran / April 14, 2013
This defeated attitude is what Sinhalese expecting from you by force!Well, If you want to leave a slavery and second class citizenship to your next gen, they will curse you. You can leave them poor economically but not politically.
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mahela / April 15, 2013
Yogi,
What you have commented above is the same mindset that Rajapakses have.
Knowing that 50% of Tamil people live in South among Sinhala majority, both you and Rajapakses think that southern Tamils could be used as a buffer and to take them as ransom similar to 1983 riots.
This time both you and Rajapakses are badly mistaken. The reasons are follows….
1)It was this southern Tamil population that Rajapakses were eying as scape goats to get away from implementing LLRC or 13th amemdment.
2)Rajapakses were thinking by using southern tamils as buffer to intimidate Nothern political base and Nothern tamil vote and also to hoodwink international community saying Southern tamil people are living peacefully among sinhala people and therefore no need to implement LLRC or 13th amemdment that they promissed to India.
3)This was why Rajapakses did not bother to implement UNHRC resolution and now GLP saying that GOSL have a home grown plan.
4)But after the second UNHRC resolution, Rajapakses were in a very tight situation both with US, UN, CW, EU and with India dealing on trade,political and monetary aspects.
5)Loosing EU GSP status and not getting IMF loans have put Rajapakses in quandary where at the moment there is a huge trade deficit, balance of payment problems, import export trade, GSP status,CB forex and gold reserve,cash flow problem, Inflation and cost of living.
6)Rajapakses will never be able to get away from above crucial issues unless it has to follow the UN charter.
7)Knowing Sri Lanka’s history in 1971, 1983, 1989 and at 2009 Nanthi Kandal, UN,US,India and EU have warned Rajapakses on repercussion if they repeat anothe similar massacre.
8)That’s why Rajapakses introduced BBS, Rawaya, Rawana and Sinhala urumaya as a third and fourth batallion, in case they need their help to supress minority on Patriotic “Jathiyala” Deshapremi adjanda to cover up economic, political and social issues and when the international community comes after Rajapakses.
9)It is very easy to get Sinhala Buddhist majoritie’s support to instigate violance among minority population (Pepiliyana Fashion Bug riots started by buddhist monks sounding the temple Bell) by Buddhist Clergy to start riots and Rajapakses to hide behind them during a foreign intervention.
Therefore How this Rajapakse BBS,RAwaya, Rawana, Sihala urumaya drama going to end………
1)Very soon Rajapakses will be subjected to face Economic,political Human rights violations and could be brought under International scrutiny.
2)Already almost all our corporations, manufacturing, services and all transport sectors including Mihin Air and Air Lanka are running at OVER BILLION RUPEES A DAY IN LOSSES TO OUR ECONOMY……….which at the moment there is no way to get out from this mess.
3)Our export sector have collapsed while no new funding for projects have come through that could jump start our economy.
4)No alternatives available to get foreign loans other than small and short term loans at very high interest rates.
5)No visible GOSL solutions are given to our Health, education, agriculture, Industry, SMAE’s, unemployment and other economic issues.
6)Cash flow problems at Banking sector with no incentives given to Businesses, industry and economic development have lead to spiral or chain reaction effecting whole community.
7)Govt. corruption and political infighting will lead to further downgrading our economy.
8)Forcing President Rajapakse to dismental BBS, Rawaya and Rawana will lead to Rajapakse Family disputes and Parliament infighting that could eventually lead to dismember of UPFA.
9) Knowing of the economic down fall, Rajapakses could unleash another communal riot against Muslim, Tamil or Christian population using BBS, Rawaya, Rawana or Sinhala urumaya could eventually lead to Foreign intervention and could divide country on Religion and Racial lines.
10)Opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe’s dreaming of becomming the next President is just another dream.
At the moment he survives only through President Rajapakse and the fall of Rajapakses will eventually be the down fall of RW also.
11)There could be a breakdown or seperation among Buddhist clergy themselves who will take sides (BBS,RAWAYA,RAVANA, HELA URUMAYA AGAINST OTHERS) and eventually this could lead to a total down fall of Buddhism in Sri Lanka when Buddhist people also taking sides.
12) There could also be a possibility of Majority becomming Minority in Sri Lanka when many international governments supporting their own Religions and races.
All these are due to people not trusting Rakapakses anymore due to deceiving, double play, adverse Political, Economic, Social and International decisions and due to rampant corruption.
These are forecasted by me using Sri Lanka’s Political, Economic, Social, Religion and International political standings………and not by using “Sasthara” Palmistry, astrology or Horroscopes.
ONLY AFTER STUDYING CURRENT SOCIO,ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND RACIAL STANDINGS.
ALL SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENTS ARE WELCOME.
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SinhalaOnly / April 13, 2013
Sinhalese have been re-writing history ever since they came to SL. They claim the whole island for themselves and they view Tamils as enemy and invaders, contrary to the facts which suggest Tamil speaking people have lived in SL way before the refugee Sinhalese came to SL.
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dgd / April 14, 2013
proof??
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jan / April 14, 2013
What tamil land are you talking about. The land of th sinhala kandyan kingdom. Your claim is based on the british provinces that has nothing to do with tamil land. Propaganda has become reality. The sinhala people will never forego their land .
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J muththa / April 13, 2013
Leave the past to rest and move on or else, nobody either in India or Sri Lanka will get any peace.
At present the Tamil Population in Sri Lanka is about 4-5%……
Start the spring flame and it will dwindle to about 3%.
People who are Attempting to light the flame be aware as it is not they who will face consequences but the innocent tamil folk back in sri Lanka.
Unfortunately, even during the LTTE time tamils and instigators from outside never bothered or cared for the Tamils in Sri Lanka what they went through
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CHANAKYAN / April 13, 2013
The exposition by two distinguished personages gives an idea of the sea change that has been set in motion in Tamil Nadu. The extensive reach of the student community over the widest spectrum of society is clearly seen. Student power has shaken the traditional moribund parties like never before. That they are in jitters is plain to all. What is unprecedented is the new self confidence of the assertive and vibrant youth who have steered clear of formations whose lamp of life is close to being extinguished.
In the wake of the emerging solidarity, a distinguished leader Jashwant Sinha made a brilliant speech in the Lok Sabha which stirred the conscience of the government and the opposition alike. His follow up visit to Tamil Nadu and the speech hinting at forebodings are for the politically mature to take due note of. It is said that when a finger is pointed, the wise would look in the direction.
Insensitivity to serious portents prompts puerile academic gossip on whether foreign policy is under the purview of the centre or a matter for the state. It is good to be aware that Tamil Nadu is not an inconspicuous state of the Indian Union.
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manisekaran / April 14, 2013
Chanakyan,
Honestly, Tamils in TN are very proud to be part of India, because since their demand of not enforcing on Tamils autocratically anything against them let be cultural influence or linguistic influence were nicely endorsed by India and also we all live in absolute freedom. In SL, you cannot expect the same, though many here speak the spirit of oneness and when you peel their skin you see true color, let it be governments or majority of Sinhalese. Thats were the real problem.
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Lasantha Pethiyagoda / April 13, 2013
Most regimes around the world, which rule with the force of an iron fist, only respond to a similar force if an issue arises. Diplomacy and fair play are usually ignored when hubris prevails. India has many complex problems, least of which is their southern neighbour’s or the agitation of their cousins in India. Regional and global politics are more on its agenda than ever before.
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Siva / April 13, 2013
Tamil New Year Gift to Eelam Tamils by the Racist Sinhala-Buddhists is burning down the voice of Tamil freedom of Speech.
No Wonder the Eelam Tamils want Internal Self Governing authority to be implemented in North & East as their voices are being Stifled by the racist Sinhalese.
Last week attack on the same paper failed to deter Udhayan from doing its service to Eelam Tamils & this Cowardly attack also will not be able to scare the cries of Freedom being voiced by Eelam Tamils.
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Native Vedda / April 14, 2013
Siva
“No Wonder the Eelam Tamils want Internal Self Governing authority to be implemented in North & East as their voices are being Stifled by the racist Sinhalese.”
Their voices were being Stifled by the racist Tamils too.
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daham / April 13, 2013
As long as Tamil politicians and Indian politicians do what they are doing now to create fear in the minds of Majority Sinhalese, Tamils living in this country will not be able to enjoy equal rights or live as equals in this society. Sri Lankan politicians also play this game to create a fear psychosis and mislead people for their advantage. Tamils should learn not to try to put their head in when they are given an opportunity to put a finger. (When provincial councils were established Vardaraja deciding to declare independence) However in the political and business arena Tamils are as or more powerful than most Sinhalese. Most problems that are highlighted in the world media actually does not exist in the Country and specially in Colombo.
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Upul / April 13, 2013
Pleeeez! Friends lets lot get into a tizzy and start mixing up our metaphors and idioms !!
Its nice Indian citizens are getting worked up about their bretheren in Sri Lanka. I would hope they will show more concern about the abuses their own go through on a daily basis in India.
That said, the Udayan attack is a precursor by the Rajapakses and their acolytes to silence the media because they are smart enough to know that the Provincial Council elections they will eventually have to hold, will be the beginning of the end! There is no way in hell they can convince the Tamils and Muslims living in the Northheast to vote for their lot. So, this is about creating the conditions to delay and postpone what the International community is urging needs to happen. You can convince a few fools to do your bidding but you cannot convince all of Sri Lanka.
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Lankan / April 13, 2013
It is important that Indian students should understand that its not a separate state the minorities in Sri Lanka need but equal rights and rule of law. In this context the Indian students should make sure that all the students in all SAARC and Commonwealth countries join hands in bringing equal rights to all citizens and students in Sri Lanka. In the recent past we have seen how democratic and civil rights of the students in Sri Lanka were deprived from them.
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jan / April 14, 2013
Human Rights what human rights Go to India you will see the abuse of human rights. The plight of the poor , deprived masses in Bihar, UP whose human rights are daily abused are such a eye sore that it is a reflection of the moral deprivity in a country shouting about human rights in SL . There is no comparison the abuse of human rights in India is a million times worse than SL. Physician heal thyself.
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manisekaran / April 14, 2013
Poverty is different from human rights abuse..whereas SL is human killing government.
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mahela / April 14, 2013
It is not only Tamils but now all of us Sinhala, Muslim and Burgher communities are under siege by this Rajapakse Crook, dictatorial, moronic and authoritarial crooks and now fighting to liberate our country.
The moment I saw this Hambanthota Tsunami thief cunning fox visiting Buddhist temples every day giving them endless land deeds, giving them free luxury cars,endless (Dolos Mahe dana given 365 days to those who visit Anuradhapura buddhist temple) Danas, building Pansalas, Buddha statutes,Buildings, sending Buddhist Priests on endless trips across the world, etc,etc,I knew what’s the game this bas….d planning to play.
I was also told that at Kandy Dalada Maligawa, each day they cook 32 (thirty two) Bushels of rice and four types of vegetables every day to feed the fish in the Kandy Lake when so many poor people go hungry each day. This is how this Ma..d As..s got his longest and most Prestigious name in history from the three Kandy Preletes.
Just look at today’s news which say that Seven Govt. Corporations alone have accumulated a loss of Staggering 185 Billion rupees Loss during 2012.
Please see the following web.
nation.lk/edition/biz-news/item/17233-seven-soes-pile-rs185b-losses.html
This is after paying super high payroll and other perks to the respective Ministers and their secretaries who manage these corporations. Also It’s we Sri Lankan Consumers who pay the Highest Rates for Electricity, Gasolene and House hold gas out of the whole South East Asian countries.
Basil Rajapakse wasted Divineguma 85 Billion rupees by giving endless seeds to farmers to grow vegetables at once, but not making arrangements to buy them or store them in cool roomes or even can them and preserve them like other countries, and thereby destroying over 800,000 Kilos of vegetables that farmers over grew and were not able to sell them. This is utter waste og Money and loosing revenue to Growers.
Each day Mattala looses 22 Million rupees as operation, maintenance, utility and administrative(1400 staff) without any revenue, after destroying 500 acres of Fertile land and soil covering with concrete and animal habitat and bird sanctuary.
Now GOTA trying to supress people through Killing, harassing and intimidating Reporters, Trade unions, General public and student movements by using BBS,Police Dept, Rakna Lanka special secutity thugs, white van Goons, his special security thugs and Govt.goons.
Also the biggest illicit and illegal 10,000 Billion rupee Kasippu Business and 5,000 Billion rupee Drug business, 2,000 Billion rupee Casino, Night club, brothel and other illicit businesses are solely Run by Mafia Rajapakse Cartel. I promise all of you that I got a Kasippu bottle from the Policeman working at Thimbirigasyaya Police Headquarters through a friend of mine.
Also many Policemen at Moratuwa Police station and other stations are drunk after 7.00 PM. Police stations are the new Kasippu Joints under Rajapakse Kingdom.
It is time to call for foreign help to Kick out these Hambanthota Fu….k croo…k bas…..ds from power even by asking International community to come to our rescue and to liberate our country from these blood sucking leeches, before they ruin the whole country.
Also call for International community calling for Travel Ban on the whole crook Rajapakse family, it’s cabinet, police department, special forces, Bodu Balu Sena, Rawaya,Sinhala Karumaya, and other Govt,coolies.
It’s time to rise up against genoside,injustice, corruption, thuggery, looting, robbing and destroying, democracy and freedom of speech.
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Senguttuvan / April 14, 2013
Well said Lankan. What Tamils need, as you say, are equal rights and the rule of law. Add to it, immediate restoration of their houses/land stolen from them and compensation thereto, Police/Army as in hitherto peaceful times and the unhindered conditions to live ordinarily and peacefully. A free-flow of adequate funds sanctioned via Parliament is sine quo non. I believe most Tamils will substitute this to a Separate Country – and, presumably, the TGTE, GTF and the likes as well.
Senguttuvan
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karl singham / April 14, 2013
Senguttavan says:
“I believe most Tamils will substitute this to a Separate Country – and, presumably, the TGTE, GTF and the likes as well.”
I have to ask what imaginary country is he living in?Haven’t you been reading their statements and hysterical blogs?If however you have some influence with them you could persuade them to say so and stop agitating overseas and deal with the GOSL and the people in the country.
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Senguttuvan / April 14, 2013
TGTE, GTF seem to be of the view the tide is turning in their favour.
The Rajapakses fumbling in the international arena gives the former encouragement. Paying colossal sums to Lobbyists – a.k.a. arrangers of bribes – is admission the Rajapakses have no room to have faith in the career or apey-minussu diplomatic service. The embarrassing fact is if you make up with India, you don’t need these non-performing and super-costly Lobbyists. By the way, has Parliament approved these huge payments and under what Votes are they being paid. I know of an instance where our trade man in Tokyo failed to come for a meeting where a SL delegation was visiting Osaka. Later on he whispered he could not get the travel fare from the office.
Senguttuvan
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Deep Thought / April 14, 2013
Machang,
Why do we want to loose what we have by chasing after political power? Let the Hingalaya have it. We have our territory and Thesawallamai given to us by kind colonial masters, the Dutch and the British. Aren’t we doing well already? See how Hinglaya women slave in M/E as house maids but we take what they earn through our chains of jewellery shops by selling some fake alloys.See our shops in every street n Colombo and towns and villages always full of these women. Look at the corporate sector and the Pettah wholesale business. The Corporate sector is in our hands except for a couple of Hingalayas. Wholesale businees is entirely ours. So why disturb this golden opportunity by chasing after political power?
Let the status quo remain. We wll control the economy and reduce the Hingalayas to skeletons.That was the lesson our great leader Ponnambalam Ramanathan taught. Do not be misled by these Tamil Nadu. They will want to come here and oust us.See how our Muslim brotheren are doing it. They send some sweets to Hingalayas and they are happy.
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Native Vedda / April 14, 2013
Deep Thought
You sound like a deep throat.
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Lester / April 14, 2013
If Tamil Spring is an analogy to “Arab Spring”, one should at least be aware that “Arab Spring” was a failure. The “Arab Spring” was not about spreading democracy, rather, a way for Western nations to obtain cheap access to oil and for radical Sunnis to conquer more territory. Right now the centre of the “Arab Spring” is Syria, where most of the Christians have fled and the Sunni rebels are spreading Sharia Law.
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K.A Sumanasekera / April 15, 2013
Mr Sengutuan says, “all what Inhabitant Tamils want is equal rights, and rule of law “.
And the other bits lik compo for any acquired land and houses.
Too easy .Isn’t it?.
No mention of any Two in One , and it is a first.
Has Mr Sengu mellowed or God of Wisdom has visited him?.
If his new idols Sambandan and Sumanathiran utter these words in public tomorrow, there will be total reconciliation day after and an election for the North in the shortest possible time under the electoral law.
Even the Govt may support them,as long as the lives of Deva and KP could be protected.
Would they do it?.
Being a punting man myself, I wouldn’t put money on it?.
Why?.
Can they disappoint, their mentors and handlers overseas,Rudrakumaran. Rev Emmanuel and the new associates in Tamil Nadu?.
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Ram / April 15, 2013
‘Tamil Spring’ is likely to bring about the emancipation of the Dalits (before they become Buddhists and Chritians) and the proper place being given to the Tamil language, at least in the southern half of India. The rights they enjoy in Sri Lanka must be extended to the Tamils of India.
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Senguttuvan / April 15, 2013
Dear Sumane,
Suba Aluth Avurudak Weva (Buddhist, aren’t you?) How come you spared me for so long? See my post elsewhere on Rajapakse-TN relations, the prospect of a BJP victory etc., Won’t be long before the Rajapakses are forced to take on the people and a Govt of Sri Lanka (Sinhala lead) will be forced to operate from Tamilnadu? Not a pleasing prospect, I concede, but may be an inevitable one. There can be a smaller GiE operating from Pakistan lead by our brethren in the EP.
Do go to the British Council Library and take notes on how Charles de Gaulle handled matters from London during WW2. It will help in the useful writing you engage in.
Cheers, bud.
Senguttuvan
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AKP / April 16, 2013
The brutal manner in which the Tamil Tigers were vanquished, the realization in Tamil Nadu of the genocidal imperative of successive Sri Lankan regimes,the example of the corruption free effectiveness of the de facto state run by the LTTE and the insidious role played by their own central government have all contributed to the ‘Tamil Spring’.
It’s inevitable that the demise of the LTTE should result in the release of historical forces with the potential to shape the future of Sri Lanka and the Tamils in the coming decades.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / April 17, 2013
It is yet a bitterly cold and long winter! It has been so for a very long time and it will remain so for a very long time. We are not ready for a spring, which represents reawakening and renewal in its true sense. It is day after day of stupidity, madness and darkness.
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
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