Mother India and Eelam Tamils

Time to move forward together

by S. Makenthiran

Anton Balasingam’s statement that the killing of Rajiv Gandhi fifteen years ago was a monumental tragedy, and that India should forget and forgive the past to help the Eelam Tamils solve their problems with the majority Singhalese has created heated controversy. While all sincere Tamils agree with these sentiments, the Singhlalese have worked themselves into a frenzy.  While most Indian top leaders have received the statement with magnanimous silence, the  maverick, fringe anti-Tamil elements in India are passing some petty and uncalled-for opinions.  People who matter, like Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, are wisely, magnanimously and discreetly silent and non committal, as is appropriate on this occasion.

Thiruvalluvar, the greatest and wisest Tamil Indian Hindu poet wrote many centuries ago in letters of gold:

“It is not good to forget a good deed done;
It is best to forget then and there a bad deed done.”

Many Indians and Eelam Tamils are followers of the ancient great Hindu religion and solidly bound by it. South Indian Tamils of Tamil Nadu and the Tamils of Tamil Eelam are one and the same people separated by the eroding seas.  We are of the same flesh and blood and let enemies and friends not forget that, mavericks and clowns notwithstanding. It is well known how much Eelam Tamils owe to MGR, MK, Vaiko, Nedumaran, Ramdas, Thirumavalavan and others of Tamil Nadu for their indomitable support. When the children of Eelam cry in despair, Mother India will not remain unconcerned.

Mother India has always come to the aid of her  lost children when they cry in despair.  The 60 million Tamils of Tamil Nadu and the estimated 3 million Tamils in South Africa, Mauritius, Canada, USA, England, Europe, Australia and other parts of the world will not condone or tolerate the atrocities being committed by the Singhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government since the grant of independence by the British. 

Our colonial masters made Tamils the sacrificial lamb at the altar of  Singhalese chauvinism.

Out of a population of 19 million in Sri Lanka, 3.5 million are the surviving Tamils.  About 1.5 million (30 %) of the Tamils who inhabited Sri Lanka at the time of independence, then called Ceylon, have been killed, expatriated or forced out of the country by a wicked process of ethnic cleansing. 

Half a million Upcountry Tamils were forcibly sent out in the sixties by the infamous Srima-Sastri Pact. The rest were killed or chased out by Singhalese state and mob terror during the six decades of genocide.

The international community should know that the half million Upcountry Tamils who were forcibly sent out to India by the racist Sri Lankan government under the Srima-Sastri Pact, were Tamils of Indian origin who had lived in Sri Lanka for centuries.  They are languishing in Tamil Nadu.  The remaining battered Tamils are surviving in sub-human conditions in the estates. If they are alive today, it is because of the strength of their armed Eelam Tamil brethren.  Even the White South African Apartheid government did not treat the Tamils of South Africa in this cruel manner.

The other one million Tamils who fled Singhalese mob terror are in addition to the thousands of internally displaced refugees, who are being looked after by TRO and other NGOs.  These are Eelam Tamils of the Northeast, the original  inhabitants from times immemorial, who lived here when the Singhalese arrived in the country uninvited in the 6th century B.C.  Folklore refers to the great Tamil Hindu King Ravanan, who ruled all Lanka many centuries earlier.

Singhalese are the mortal enemies of the Tamils as well as Indians.  Indians will not fail to note that  the Singhalese are toying with the idea of cultivating the support of  India’s hostile powers on its volatile borders.  They are running to Pakistan and China for arms.  During the Indo-Pakistan and Indo-China wars, Indians know who were cheering her enemies.  Indians know that it was the fear of India, not friendship, that forced the Singhlese to accept the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.  Indians know that the terrorist JVP and racist JHU and Singhala Urumaya were growling against the IPKF presence in the Northeast.  The Indians know that the Singhalese cheered and praised the Singhalese naval rating, who tried to kill Rajiv Gandhi at a guard of honour , as a ‘ Singhala Veeraya.’

India, as a regional super power, can always count on the support of Tamil Eelam in time of exigencies. Tamil Eelam will be a bulwark for Mother India’s rearguard.  Blood is thicker than water.

Till the Tamils, after three decades of futile peaceful and non-violent agitation and pleadings took up arms in desperation to defend their hearth, home and honour, the Singhalese had become accustomed to treat the Tamils derisively.  It was common to hear the Singhalese refer to Tamils as “Parai Damalo’ (those pariah Tamils) and ‘kallathonis’ (illegal boat people), little realizing that the Singhalese themselves arrived in Ceylon illegally.  After Tamils took up arms in resistance, Singhalese give them more respect.

The Tamil poet Kasi Anandan’s lamented in desperation, “If not for the existence of Tigers  today, even rats will eat the Tamil race.” The sagacious S.J.V.Chelvanayagam, before his death, uttered in despair, “Now only God can save the Tamils.” And God came in the form of armed Tamil youth to save the helpless Tamil people.

When American spokesmen ask the Tamil Tigers to disarm without guaranteeing protection for Tamils from Singhalese predators, they want to throw the lambs to the wolfs.  The Tamils will not, repeat  will not, willingly submit to slaughter, to please the Americans and the Western powers.  Let superpowers take note that Tamils are not meant for sacrifice.  Tamils of Eelam are not for sale.

We Tamils will not forget that the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi stopped the massacre of  unarmed Tamils in 1983 by warning J.R. Jayawadena, the SL President, who organised it. We will not forget that when Tamils were forced to flee to India by Singhalese mob terror, she gave them sanctuary, and armed them to protect the Tamils.  We will not forget that the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi dropped food supplies when the people of Eelam were starving. We will not forget that India stopped the Singhalese army when they were killing and advancing on Jaffna.   We will not forget the attempt by Rajiv Gandhi to give autonomy for Eelam Tamils by signing the Indo-Sri Lanka Pact. 

It is a historical misfortune that the suicide of Colonels Pulendran and Kuparappa and 10 Tamil fighters due to Singhalese perfidy, ignited the IPKF war, resulting in the deaths of 7,000 Tamils and 1,200 IPKF personnel. It is also a misfortune, that the IPKF war resulted in the deaths of many Tamil civilians, doctors, nurses, teachers, men, women and children due to army excesses.  It is also a misfortune that a Tamil girl raped by an Indian soldier allegedly assassinated Rajiv Gandhi. Unfortunate mistakes have been made by both sides.  We Tamils mourn the death of Rajiv Gandhi, a fellow Hindu and a great son of India from the bottom of our heart.  We can feel the pain of his widow and children.

India has harboured no revenge against the Sikhs, one of whom killed Indira Gandhi, nor against the Brahmins, one of whom killed Mahatma Gandhi. It is time for Mother India and the Eelam Tamils to forget the past and move forward together. The present Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a great Indian Sikh leader, cautioned the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, a Singhalese extremist wolf in sheep’s clothing, to stop killing Tamil civilians.  The beleaguered Tamils will not forget that.

The Singhalese are scared stiff  that two of their adversaries are moving closer, and their pretensions may not work for long.  They know that the game is up.

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