Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Still seeking ‘parity of status’ for the Tamils

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Senior politician and Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Veerasingh­am Anandasang­aree speaks to Feizal Samath on the politics of the North of Sri Lanka, which led to a protracted separatist armed insurgency, which he opposed as a pacifist.

Mr. Anandasang­aree advocates devolution of a Federal nature.

When Tamils organised a satyagraha (protest) against the Official Languages Act No. 33 of 1956 (often referred to as the 'Sinhala Only Act') at the Galle Face Green in front of the then Parliament just as the bill was being enacted into law, rowdy mobs attacked the protestors forcing one of the protesting Senators to seek refuge in the nearby Galle Face Hotel, recalled veteran politician Veerasingh­am Anandasang­aree.

“Those were terrible times,” he said, adding that at that time he was attending Law College classes in the morning and worked as an English Teaching Assistant in the afternoon at a government school in Ratmalana managed by a Buddhist monk.

The often controvers­ial 89-year-old politician, who fell foul of the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and faced multiple death threats from the terrorists, was speaking on the eve of the 75th anniversar­y of Sri Lanka's Independen­ce, from Jaffna where he resides nowadays. The one-time lawyer, who is also fluent in Sinhala, went down memory lane in recalling events ‘in my own words and recollecti­ons’ as to how Tamil parties were formed in the late 1940s, the cry for separation, his conflict with another veteran politician R. Sambanthan and his ‘frosty engagement’ with the LTTE, and how LTTE-backed nominees through its Tamil National Alliance (TNA) entered Parliament at the 2004 general election with 22 seats.

A year before Independen­ce in 1948, fatherof-the-nation and Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake wanted Tamil leaders to join hands and cooperate with his government. “I think he got our support.” At that time the Tamils didn’t have any major issues and were happy with the assurances by D.S. Senanayake that the Tamils would be treated equally.

During the pre-Independen­ce period, there was the Jaffna Youth Congress. The membership was radical, but non-communal. The elections to the first State Council on May 4, 1931 under the Donoughmor­e Constituti­on saw a new breed of indigenous politician­s coming forward to contest in the first all-island elections. It was largely based on caste, race, wealth, education, religion.

The Jaffna Youth Congress called for a boycott of these elections. The boycott failed, but some seats in the North went unconteste­d by June when the polling ended. A young Cambridge educated lawyer, Gnanapathi­pillai Gangaser Ponnambala­m (G.G.Ponnambala­m) refused to join the boycott. He was defeated but soon became a spokesman for the Tamils and in his mid-30s formed his own party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) as political parties started to be formed throughout the country.

Quite a few Tamil MPs were part of the left movement and members of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party (CP) who had branches in Jaffna. “I also started my career as a member of the left movement (LSSP).”

At one point in late 1949, Mr. S.J.V. Chelvanaya­kam and a few others broke away from the ACTC (after the ACTC decided to join the ruling United National Party) and formed the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) which means “Tamil Rule Party”.

At that time, there were no major issues that the Tamil parties raised, but the ITAK was pushing for a federal solution in the north and the east while plantation leader Mr. S. Thondaman was fighting for the rights of the Indian Tamils on the plantation­s and pushing for their citizenshi­p rights.

One of the problems at that time was the national flag issue. The lion in the flag represente­d only the Sinhalese. Mr. Chelvanaya­kam and others raised issue and D.S. Senanayake appointed a national flag committee including Tamil and Muslim members. Their recommenda­tion was that the maroon portion should represent the Tamils and the green portion the Muslims.

“I was a keen political student while my father was principal and was with (former prime minister) W. Dahanayake at Teacher Training College. I recall during an election procession that I joined, the

ACTC candidate collapsed and died.”

In 1956, Tamils wanted ‘parity of status’ or equality during the tenure of S.W.R.D. Bandaranai­ke.

In 1959, Mr. Anandasang­aree contested the Colombo Municipal Council against V.A. Sugathadas­a and lost and when general elections were held in January 1960, he was nominated by Dr. N.M. Perera (LSSP) to contest a parliament­ary seat from Kilinochch­i. Since no proper government could be formed after that election, another election was held in March 1960.

In 1970, Mr. Anandasang­aree entered Parliament as a member of the Tamil Congress also known as the ACTC. Then the trouble started when Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranai­ke brought in a Republican Constituti­on in 1972.

“We were opposed to the removal of Section 29 of the earlier (Soulbury) Constituti­on which was the only protection minorities had. This section ensured you cannot enact any law that would favour a section of the people or discrimina­te against anyone,” he recalled.

“There was a move for all Tamil parties to join together. I also joined this movement for a united Tamil front.”

Various groups of people met to create the TULF in 1972. At that time, the fear was that with Sri Lanka becoming a republic, there would be more restrictio­ns on the Tamils. Mr. Chelvanaya­kam and Mr. Ponnambala­m were political enemies and not talking to each other, but they too joined.

On 14th May 1972 the TULF (Tamil United Front – TUF at that time) was formed at the Trincomale­e town hall. Mr. Chelvanaya­kam was the president and subsequent­ly Mr. Ponnambala­m and Mr. Thondaman (one of the founder members) were made joint presidents.

At the first convention, two years later (1976), a resolution (Vaddukotta­i Resolution) calling for separation was supported. However, it was stated that if the Tamil problem was successful­ly solved to the satisfacti­on of the Tamil people, they would not demand separation. “Our main demand was to introduce a federal system of government.”

After TULF leader Appapillai Amirthalin­gam was assassinat­ed, there were hardly any meetings of the leaders of the TULF for four years. “I supported Mavai Senathiraj­ah to take over Amirthalin­gam’s position but (Mr. R.) Sambanthan wanted that position. What I feared happened, as the TULF was destroyed after that,” he said on his disagreeme­nts with Mr. Sambanthan.

“My proposal, which I still believe is valid, was to follow the Indian model of governance of various states. At one time, I met a Buddhist monk and explained to him why I was proposing the Indian model. He agreed with me and offered his support. Several ministers offered their support and there were three newspaper editorials supporting my view.”

Mr. Anandasang­aree, who is the leader of the currently lowly placed TULF, is bitter with the current Tamil leadership and their policies. “They are not fit to be in Parliament,” he said.

“It was the 60 million Tamils in South India who started the separation call for their state. Then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru convinced them to give up separation and provided enough autonomy to the states. Here too, we should have followed that example and I had the courage to promote this thinking,” he said, adding, “That was how I viewed the problem and felt my thinking was correct”.

 ?? ?? Veerasingh­am Anandasang­aree
Veerasingh­am Anandasang­aree

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