A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Friday, April 28, 2017
“FEDERAL UNION OF SRI LANKA”: THE WAY TO RESPECT AND HONOUR S.J.V. CHELVANAYAGAM – RAJITHA SENARATHNA
Minister Senarathana delivering his speech
Image: Chelvanayagam at the 1961 sathyagrahaya.
When we were political cubs, we knew of Chelvanayagam as one who was the
“father” figure of Tamil Nationalism. He was one Tamil political leader
who was affectionately called “Thanthai” – meaning ‘Father’ – Chelva.
Samuel James Velupillai Chelvanayagam dominated Tamil politics in the
first 03 decades in post independent Ceylon.
I would say that Chelvanayagam was fortunate. He did not live to see the
agony of the Tamil people and of Sri Lanka that got dragged into a long
brutal war. He was fortunate that he was not there to shoulder the
heavy responsibility that his most favoured political recruit, R.
Sampanthan, is burdened with now as leader of TNA.
Chelvanayagam was a man of principles. He never compromised on his
convictions and principles. He differed with leaders like G.G.
Ponnambalama Snr. in the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) and C.
Suntheralingam on the issue of disfranchising the Indian origin Tamil
labour. He stood by their rights consistently, as Prof. Ratnajeevan
Hoole had recently confirmed.
Like both Mr. Sampanthan and Mr. Sumanthiran today, Chelvanayagam’s
conviction that Tamil people need to be treated as equals in the island
of Ceylon made him give up a very lucrative legal profession. This was a
political position he was determined to work towards. He became a full
time politician on his convictions.
It was the issue of the rights of Plantation Tamils that led to his
departure from ACTC in 1950 to form the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi
(ITAK). ITAK is popularly known as the “Federal Party” in English. A
“federal State” was the fundamental Tamil political demand that
Chelvanayagam stood for. How Chelvanayagam defined federalism was
written in the resolution adopted at the first national convention of
ITAK in 1951 in Trincomalee.
“The I.T.A.K recommends to the Tamil-speaking people the feasibility and
desirability of establishing the autonomous Tamil linguistic state
within the framework of a Federal Union of Ceylon, as the rational and
natural culmination of centuries of close association between these two
nations it is their common motherland and with a view to promoting and
maintaining national goodwill and close co-operation with the Sinhalese
people.”
There’s nothing about a “separate State”. Nothing about an “Eelam”. It
is about living together in a single country; a “federal Union of
Ceylon”.
What is “federalism”? Federalism is the most democratic form of power
sharing within a single united country. It allows people in different
regions to take care of their day to day responsibilities including
their cultural life, while acting together as a single Nation State.
Chelvanayagam was a man born for peace. He was ever ready to sit and talk through issues, and to negotiate.
He proved his willingness to be flexible, as long as it did not hurt the
dignity of the Tamil people, when he signed the
Bandaranayake-Chelvanayagam Pact in 1957. It was far less than
federalism. It was for Regional Councils. Chelvanayagam dropped his idea
of a merged North-East federal government for Tamil people in accepting
Regional Councils.
Regional Councils were clusters of 22 administrative districts then in
Ceylon. All local government body members within a region were to elect
Regional Councillors.
Certainly, Chelvanayagam went a long way to settle the issue
with dignity. Having very badly being let down in 1957, he was once
again willing to engage with Dudley Senanayake in 1965 to sign the
Dudley-Chelvanayagam Pact.
Instead of Regional Councils, the compromise in 1965 was to “establish
District Councils in Ceylon vested with powers over subjects to be
mutually agreed upon between the two leaders”. The two main “Left”
political parties, Samasamaja and Communist parties also played a racist
role in 1968 to undermine the D-C Pact.
The First Republican Constitution in 1972 was also a bad let down for
the Tamil people. This compelled Chelvanayagam to consider the option of
a Separate State.
After 30 years in active Tamil politics from 1944, after he resigned his
KKS parliamentary seat in 1972 as a protest against the ’72
Constitution, the Coalition government postponed the due by-election for
02 years and finally held it in 1975 February. Chelvanayagam polled
over 72% at this by election. This was the highest ever percentage a
candidate polled. He declared to the Tamil people, that this was a
mandate for a “separate Tamil Eelam”:
“I wish to announce to my people and to the country that I consider the
verdict at this election as a mandate that the Tamil Eelam nation should
exercise the sovereignty already vested in the Tamil people and become
free.”
So, to cut short a long history of promises, negotiations, agreements,
abrogation of pacts and a brutal war, we still remain without a decent,
workable, power sharing system to allow peaceful and productive living
in this country.
Who is to be blamed? Both major political parties and the
two traditional “Left” parties have to be held responsible for this
catastrophe. That does not leave me out. I am also part of mainstream
politics in the South.
In the 80’s, we were in a different political formation and we
sacrificed many lives in Kurunegala, Moneragala, Anuradhapura, Badulla,
Kalutara, Galle, Hambantota and Matara – all Sinhala local leaders who
stood for power sharing within Provincial Councils. Vijaya Kumaratunge
was the popular political leader to have lost his life over Provincial
Councils. Thanks to the JVP, I still carry shrapnel in my nape as proof
of our commitment to have provincial councils established. I suffered
this not because I raised my voice on behalf of my own community, but
for the rights of the Tamil people. I consider this an honour.
I have always stood for the rights of the Tamil people. And
the more I stood for this, the more my vote bank in the South increased.
That is because we have stayed consistent in our position, and the
people trust us because of this.
We have failed despite all those sacrifices to convince the Sinhala
South to agree to power sharing. My question is, “where did we go
wrong”? I firmly believe, we in the South have approached the issue of
“Federalism” in a very wrong way. We were only supporting “federalism”
as a demand by Tamil people. Therefore the Sinhala South was made to
understand that “federalism” is a path to a “separate” State. We have to
talk of “federalism” as a democratic model for national development.
We should have asked, “Why only for Tamils? We in the South also need
federalism”. We need “federalism” because centralised power from the
Parliament of 1947 to that of 2017 – for 70 years – have failed to
develop the rural Sinhala society. Every Constitution – the Soulbury,
the First and the Second Republican Constitutions – have centralised
power in Colombo. The poor rural South has been left out. Even my
district Kalutara, though within Western Province, is lagging behind the
Colombo and Gampaha districts. We have not been telling the South they
are poor because political power is centralised in Colombo.
According to the Central Bank, in 2012/2013 the per capita
income in the Western Province was Rs.16,124. But in the South it was
Rs.10,973, in the North Central province it was Rs.9,877 and in Uva it
was Rs.9,382. The per capita GDP in the Western Province in 2015 was
Rs.771,117 when it was Rs.453,714 in the South, Rs.446,138 in Uva and
Rs.392,913 in Sabaragamuwa. This disparity can be seen in all Sinhala
rural areas. For 70 years with a centralised power structure, rural
society both in Sinhala and Tamil areas have not gained any economic
benefit and social development.
It is therefore time, I believe, that we change our approach in politics
to achieve national development within a stable and a peaceful Nation
State. It is time for the South to go with Chelvanayagam’s formula – to
have provinces “within the framework of a Federal Union” of Sri Lanka.
That, I think, is how we in the South can respect and honour this great
democratic, Tamil leader – S.J.V. Chelvanayagam – in post independent
Sri Lanka.
(S.J.V. Chelvanayagam Memorial lecture – delivered by Dr. Rajitha
Senaratne, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine on 26th
April 2017)
Thank you.
Thank you.