India's faulty Sri Lankan Policy

 Many people in India, particularly those from the North, think that the Tamils in Sri Lanka are those who went there during British times in search of jobs like those who went to Mumbai and North Indian cities. Nothing is further from truth. The Tamils in Sri Lanka are concentrated in the North and East of Sri Lanka. When the British came, there was a Tamil Kingdom there, separate from the Sinhalese region.

 The ancestors of present Sinhalese went there during the time of Emperor Ashoka and they were Buddhists.  The Sinhalese language belongs to the Indo-European family. One can see many Sri Lankan names sound like Sanskrit names. The original migrants might have spoken Pali, which was the language in Maghada in India then. The original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are a different group. Their language is different from Sinhalese. Now they are a minority.

 The Buddhists in Sri Lanka are not like the original compassionate Buddha. They are brutes. The Buddhist Bikkus violently interfere in politics. Mr. Bhandarnaike, husband of Sirimavo Bhandarnaike and father of Chandrika Kumarathunga, was assassinated by a Buddhist Bikku. According to Sri Lankan Constitution Buddhism is the state religion of Sri Lanka, just as Islam is the state religion of Pakistan. Overwhelming majority of the Tamils are Hindus. Hence the Sinhalese consider them as aliens. Any Sri Lankan government can afford to alienate the Bikkus.  Sri Lanka is a unitary state under the control from Colombo, of the majority Sinhalese. Aristotle said that democracy is the tyranny of majority class interests. It is exactly that, which is happening in Sri Lanka. For a long time after Sri Lanka’s independence the Tamils were asking for autonomy, which was denied by the Sinhalese majority. In 1983 there was a pogrom against Tamils. Many Tamils were massacred. In India people criticized Narendra Modi for the Gujarat riots against Muslims. But Julius Jayavardene kept quiet. It was then that, having been convinced that the Tamils will not get autonomy, LTTE was born.

 Whenever there was problem for the Tamils in Sri Lanka there used to be agitations in Tamil Nadu. Indira Gandhi supported those agitations, not because of any love for Tamils, but to get a foothold in Tamilnadu from where Congress had been wiped out. When Rajiv Gandhi came, he also supported the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka. Once when the Sri Lankan army blockaded the Tamil areas, Rajiv Gandhi arranged to airdrop food materials in the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka inviting the wrath of the international community.

 Then in 1987 came the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord between Rajiv Gandhi and Julius Jayavadene. Under the accord Sri Lanka would “work towards”  (not give) autonomy for the Tamils and the LTTE should lay down arms immediately. Many Tamil parties supported the accord. But LTTE refused to lay down arms, because, if they did so, it was certain death for them. The Sinhalese could never be trusted. Still the Accord was imposed upon them and Rajiv Gandhi decided to send the Indian Peace-keeping Force [IPKF]. He thought that the LTTE can be finished by the Indian army. But worse part of his decision was he decided to send the Madras Regiment, so that, Tamils will fight Tamils. IPKF could not crush LTTE. Instead they lost 1500 of their cadre including Major Parameswaran falling victim to the faulty Sri Lankan policy of Rajiv Gandhi. Later Viswanath Pratap Singh withdrew IPKF.

 During the next election in 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated.  Probably Prabhakaran thought that, if Rajiv Gandhi came to power, he would follow his old Sri Lankan policy. However it was deplorable and unwise on the part of LTTE to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi. Soon after, LTTE was banned in India. Jayalalitha, who was then Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, permanently turned against LTTE, which amounted to turning against Sri Lankan Tamils. Years later, Sri Lankan government was preparing to hold peace talks with Prabhakaran under the aegis of Norway.  Whereas Sri Lanka thought that holding talks with Prabhakaran was the only way to solve the Tamil problem, Jayalalitha took a stand against the talk and said that instead Prabhakaran should be brought to India for trial. In any case the peace talks failed as was to be expected. Karnanidhi had sympathy for Sri Lankan Tamils. But for him his chair was more important than the Tamil cause. Thus there was no one in India to support the Tamils.

 China and Pakistan took advantage of the situation and helped Rajapakshe. When it was too late Jayalalitha   started supporting LTTE purely for political advantage. Indian Government took the stand that LTTE were terrorists and world enemies. When Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister Mr. A. P Venkiteswaran was foreign secretary. He stated that what was happening in Sri Lanka was a freedom movement for basic human rights and not terrorism. He was removed from his post by Rajiv Gandhi.

 All said and done Sri Lankan Tamils have become helpless with no international support whatsoever. If a single person was to be held responsible for the present situation, it was the foolish Rajiv Gandhi.

MPS Ramani