{"id":106178,"date":"2013-09-19T01:28:52","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T19:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=106178"},"modified":"2013-09-23T02:25:48","modified_gmt":"2013-09-22T20:55:48","slug":"wigneswaran-bids-adieu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wigneswaran-bids-adieu\/","title":{"rendered":"Wigneswaran Bids Adieu…"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda-Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

If the TNA\u2019s manifesto<\/a><\/span> with its not-so-subtle separatist posturing dismays those who believe that the TNA has to be part of any discussion on post-conflict resolution, the party\u2019s Chief Ministerial candidate C.V. Wigneswaran<\/a><\/span> must leave them in tears.<\/p>\n

First, because his inconsistency plays into the hands of those who harbor apprehensions about the TNA\u2019s political will with respect to reconciliation.\u00a0 He was, ab initio<\/em>, a \u2018problem\u2019 for the hardliners in the TNA.\u00a0 He was a living contradiction of the discrimination gripe. He was \u2018Colombo\u2019, an eminent symbol of the city\u2019s cosmopolitan brag.<\/p>\n

He also walked into, precipitated and is a symbol of party disunity.\u00a0 The TNA\u2019s constituent parties are not exactly \u2018friendly\u2019 to begin with, and Wigneswaran\u2019s arrival, given his professional and public stature, has not exactly elicited cheer from the \u2018lesser\u2019 parties of the coalition.\u00a0\u00a0 He may have been cheered by section of the Sinhala politic for snubbing Tamil Nadu politicians revered by Tamil politicians, but this has clearly irked his detractors within the TNA.\u00a0 Such division stumps the emergence of an authentic and united political voice that can articulate grievance and extract \u2018solution\u2019.<\/p>\n

The second reason for dismay, clearly evident for example in the long lament of seasoned and well-informed commentator on Tamil politics, D.B.S. Jeyaraj where he refers to the how and why of Wigneswaran praising Prabhakaran<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 Jeyaraj details a pandering to hawkishness which many believe detracts from rather than further the cause of reconciliation.<\/p>\n

While a landslide win for the TNA would save some blushes, at least to enable the hawks to claim it won an overwhelming mandate to be \u2018Eelamish\u2019, a result which shows even the most marginal of gains for the ruling party would draw many pooh-poohs from many quarters.\u00a0 Even a landslide win on a hardline platform promising the undeliverable will only harden counterpart hawks and ensure that the country as a whole remains at an impasse on the vexed issue of inter-communal harmony.\u00a0 The shameless resurrection of Tigerish rhetoric shows that lessons have not only not been learned, but are being deliberately ignored for petty political gain.<\/p>\n

When someone of Wigneswaran\u2019s stature and reputation begins to mimic someone like Suresh Premachandran it only indicates the poverty of Tamil politics, a poverty which forces party and candidate to pander to the most chauvinistic of sentiments.<\/p>\n

While all this can be brushed aside as \u2018part and parcel of electoral politics,\u2019 Wigneswaran\u2019s flip-flopping on Velupillai Prabhakaran must upset those who believed he had the credentials to \u2018bridge\u2019 the so-called ethnic divide and that he was a man who the Sinhalese (for example) would be willing to listen to.\u00a0 In politics, track record matters, but given the terrible blows to reconciliation dealt by the LTTE, no one who glorifies that terrorist organization can expect anything but derision by the majority community.<\/p>\n

What is increasingly apparent is that Wigneswaran is just another Siva Pasupathy or worse, a closet Tiger.\u00a0 That\u2019s nothing new to those who distrust the TNA and have not forgotten that party\u2019s shameless genuflection before terrorism and terrorists.\u00a0 More disturbing to those who championed Wigneswaran or believed that the TNA was a credible outfit to discuss anything with, is Wigneswaran\u2019s turn-around with respect to the LTTE and in particular its ruthless leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.<\/p>\n

Wigneswaran stated in Prabhakaran\u2019s home town, Velvettithurai, that the terrorist was \u2018a great hero\u2019 and one \u2018who fought for the freedom of the Tamil people\u2019.\u00a0 Wigneswaran cannot pretend to be unaware of the horrors unleashed on the Tamil people in the name of liberation.\u00a0 There were no caveats, no subtlety and no apology in his words.\u00a0 He effectively downgraded himself to the level of Daya Master at the time the LTTE was a politico-military factor.<\/p>\n

Snubbing the likes of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi is one thing, but thumbing nose at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay<\/a><\/span> is certainly not going to draw any cheers.\u00a0 Pillay, a mass of contradiction herself and afflicted with partial myopia to boot, nevertheless stated, \u2018those in the diaspora who continue to revere the memory of the LTTE must recognize that there should be no place for the glorification of such a ruthless organization\u2019.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Wigneswaran took refuge in the \u2018Diaspora Clause\u2019 and believes he will be spared a knuckle-rap, but he has clearly embarrassed the lady, who many in the \u2018cause\u2019 see as ally.\u00a0 The next time she talks about reconciliation, negotiation and such, she could be asked, \u2018with whom?\u2019\u00a0 She won\u2019t be able to say \u2018TNA\u2019 because her statement could be thrown in her face, viz, \u2018you mean with people who glorify a ruthless organization, who, in your book, \u201cshould have no place\u201d?\u2019<\/p>\n

Indeed, given her special interest in Sri Lankan affairs, Pillay may want to say something about or to Wigneswaran.\u00a0 As for Sri Lankans sick and tired of communalism and chauvinism, it would be hard for them to see Wigneswaran as anything but \u2018obstacle\u2019 and read whatever he says as \u2018stuff out of Prabhakaran\u2019s old hat\u2019.<\/p>\n

C.V. Wigneswaran has bid adieu not just to the institutions of justice, but decency, civilization, reconciliation and potential statesmanship.\u00a0 The Tamil community is poorer.\u00a0 Sri Lanka as a whole is poorer.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nWigneswaran Bids Adieu... - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wigneswaran-bids-adieu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wigneswaran Bids Adieu... - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wigneswaran-bids-adieu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-18T19:58:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-09-22T20:55:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wigneswaran-bids-adieu\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wigneswaran-bids-adieu\/\",\"name\":\"Wigneswaran Bids Adieu... - 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