In Jaffna Exit Boycott Enter Fifth Column

By S. Sivathasan –July 29, 2015

S. Sivathasan

Tryst of Tamils with Boycott

It is 135 years since Mr. Charles Boycott entered the English vocabulary and also the dictionary. ‘Boycott’ as noun and ‘to boycott’ as verb. As a term it connotes a finer shade and more to the word ostracize or spurn or set aside. For 85 years the idea has plagued the Tamils with its rampant use and devastating damage. It ravaged Tamil politics from State Council elections. Ever active, it dealt a mortal blow to Tamils in 2005. It stalked unerringly till December 2014 and demised in January 2015. When political ineptitude of the Tamils invaded the scene even in a fragmented form, Mr. Boycott showed his head. But the ghost too seems exorcised from January 8, after 85 years.

Scourge of Fifth Column

Yet, poor satisfaction for the Tamils. A curse goes off but a scourge comes in. Boycott is replaced by Fifth Column – a group from within to undermine the larger interest. Oh fate, oh fate, what malevolence have you in store for the Tamils? So asked Bharathi our renaissance poet, in helpless anguish. Boycott philosophy, in its final gasp made its last try in 2013 Provincial and 2015 Presidential. It is now ditched.

In its place have mushroomed from June 2015, cancerous elements ruinous for the Tamil cause. What are they committed to? Acting the Fifth Column – to eat up from within. Who are they? Single digit MPs of 1994 and their ilk, who came into limelight amidst the havoc of boycotts. Tamils of little consequence decisively rejected by the mass of the people time and again. Anti-social elements who terrorized voters in times past. The most venal are status seekers who piggy backed on the TNA, only to find their impossible ambitions unfulfilled. Yet others who had a monopoly over violence with immunity guaranteed by the state previously are at their last try. They now seek to enter the fray as spoil sport to weaken Tamil representation. Voters have to rise to a man to relegate them to limbo. Unless cauterized in time, they will become malignant and turn again into destroyers. At what moment do they raise their head? When the TNA has surged forward as sole authentic voice, widely acknowledged by the Tamils.                                                                 Read More