Posts Categorized: Sri Kantha

by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 19, 2014 Prelude November 19th 2014 marked Indira Gandhi’s 97th birthday. It has been 30 years since she was assassinated on October 31, 1984. Unlike Sinhalese, Eelam Tamils (as well as a sizeable segment of Tamil Nadu Tamils) had warmth sentiments towards her. Despite Indira’s arrogance and political peccadillos, Indira… Read more »

Few days ago, I received an email from Mr. Villa Anandaram (currently living in Canada), a friend of 50 years standing. He had visited Sri Lanka two months ago and his email was a touching document for me. He had given me permission to share it with the readers of this website. I also include… Read more »

Part 21 by Sachi Sri Kantha, November 3, 2014 In the previous chapter, I introduced Erik Erikson’s generativity concept by MGR as a member of DMK in 1950s. As previous observers of DMK politics of that era, especially Robert Hardgrave Jr., had noted MGR was not alone in promoting DMK policies. Due credit should be… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 10, 2014 I wanted to write this item on Dr. Rohan Gunaratna in last February or March, after the verdict by a Canadian court, which awarded $53,000 to the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) against Gunaratna in a defamation lawsuit.  Seven months have lapsed since then.  If one googles ‘Rohan Gunaratna’,… Read more »

Part 20 By Sachi Sri Kantha, September 30, 2014 A Response received from Mr. Shrikanth Veeravalli I received an email from Shrikanth Veeravalli on Sept. 6th, related to my review of his recently published MGR biography book (see Part 18). As I requested permission from him to post his details unedited, and he had given… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, September 20, 2014 The Lake House mouthpiece of the Sri Lankan government, informed its readers on September 18th that, “President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday declared the year from September 17, 2014 – September 17, 2015 as the Anagarika Dharmapala commemorative year in honour of the late Dharmapala, the brave and vibrant social… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, Sept. 4, 2014 Book Review: Rajiv Gandhi Kolai: Marmangalum Maraikkappadda Unmaikalum [Rajiv Gandhi Assassination: Secrets and Hidden Truths] by S. Doraisamy, Vikatan Publishers, Vikatan Pirasuram 806, Chennai, Dec. 2013, 229 pp, 115 Indian rupees. [in Tamil]   A derisive Tamil idiom used by Jaffna elders is ‘Suttri suttri suppanra kollaikulle’ [i.e.,… Read more »

Part 19 by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 24, 2014 A synopsis of MGR’s political career Was it Amma (aka Jayalalitha) magic or MGR magic? In the recently held India’s general election (May 2014), All India Anna DMK, founded by MGR in 1972 (and currently led by his protégé Jayalalitha) made a convincing sweep in Tamil… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, August 19, 2014 ‘It’s better late than never’ – is a favorite working dictum of mine. Thus, I offer this brief late tribute to Dr. Grace Rajamalar Barr Kumarakulasinghe, who died on April 26, 2013, at the ripe age of 104 years! I presume, her longevity is a record for any… Read more »

For the uninitiated, the acronym RAW in the title stands for Research and Analysis Wing, India’s equivalent of CIA. In my previous commentary on rebutting the baloney of Subramanian Swamy, I made reference to his evading answer on RAW’s activities in Sri Lanka.   Thus, I wish to reminisce on the 25 year old most… Read more »

“Last year, even the prestigious New York Times in its editorial entitled, ‘Preventing Genocide in Liberia (Sept.13, 1990) referred to the current situation in Sri Lanka as follows, without naming the culprits: ‘From Sri Lanka to the Balkans, political opportunists have exploited ethnic rivalries in the quest for short-term advantage. Too often, their efforts have drowned their countries in blood.’ ”

Re-check the date of this particular New York Times editorial. It was before Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. Who were the political opportunists, who have exploited ethnic rivalries in the quest for short-term advantage? In Sri Lanka, the tradition was started by SLFP’s founder S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. And how about, Rajiv Gandhi in 1987? He was also a political opportunist exploiting Sinhalese-Tamil ethnic rivalry for short-term electoral advantage.

by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 17, 2014 Part 18 One merit in writing to the electronic medium is the availability of immediate opportunity to amend and revise previous errors. In Part 17, when I reviewed MGR’s two autobiography volumes, I had stated that Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi (a pal turned political foe) had published 4 volumes… Read more »

The militant group, Tamil New Tigers, made their first attempt to rob the Kopay branch of the state-owned People’s Bank on 4 June 1974. The policemen on guard gave chase and Sivakumaran, the leader, swallowed the cyanide capsule he was wearing. The Tigers wore and wear cyanide capsules so that when in danger of capture they can commit suicide, thus denying the police or security forces of information about their organization. Sivakumaran was the first to die that way.

Last month, the political stock of the descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) received severe thrashing at the recently held General Elections in India. As such, the commemoration of his 50th death anniversary that fell on May 27th was muted. After his death, politician Nehru’s visions for a socialist India or a non-aligned India also had… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 6, 2014 Part 17 In the previous chapter (Part 17), I reviewed MGR’s two volume autobiography. To this chapter, I received the following comment from my long standing friend Prof. Sundaram Gunasekaran of University of Wisconsin, Madison. His thoughts were as follows: “Very interesting, especially the story of his [MGR’s]… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 23, 2014 The dictionary defines ‘Schadenfreude’ as “n. pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune. ORIGIN German, from Schaden ‘harm’ + Freude ‘joy’”. Some English wordsmiths have stated that there is no exact English word, to express this sentiment. Thus, the word has to be borrowed as it is… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 4, 2014 Last month, South American Macaws kept by President Mahinda Rajapaksa made news, due to their surprising escape from high security territory. I have received exclusive details about the current plight of these macaws, from my source ‘Colombo Crow’. For four days (from April 16th to 20th), this news… Read more »

by Sachi Sri Kantha, April 29, 2014 Part 16 As I had mentioned at the ending of the previous part, to celebrate the memory of MGR, Kannadasan Pathippagam (publishers) had released MGR’s autobiography on January 17th of this year – to coincide with MGR’s 97th birthday. Thus, it is opportune to offer a review of… Read more »

I love lists of all kinds. Thus, it is not unusual that I had a treat that The Honorable Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Secretary for the Ministry of Defence in Sri Lanka, under his capacity as the Competent Authority, released his ‘Enemy List’ on March 20th. The description about this particular list appears only in one sentence…. Read more »