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
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Monday, May 15, 2017
Modi addresses a delighted, cheering crowd of 30,000 in Hatton
By Namini Wijedasa-Sunday, May 14, 2017
“India beats in your hearts,” visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi
declared to jubilant Sri Lankans at the Norwood grounds on Friday,
moments after declaring open a multi-specialty hospital in Dickoya built
with Indian funds.
Alluding to them as “Indian-origin diaspora”, Mr Modi told the estimated
30,000-strong crowd that their progress was India’s pride. “We take
much joy from your accomplishments in various walks of life,” he said.
“We rejoice at the success of the Indian-origin diaspora as they leave a
mark across the world, near and far.”
Thousands of Indian origin Tamils—all of them now Sri Lankan
citizens—climbed into buses early Friday morning and were driven to the
Norwood grounds to hear Mr Modi speak. Villages were festooned with
orange, white and green streamers, the colours both of the Indian
national flag and the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC).
The Indian Premier arrived at 12.45 p.m. And when he opened his speech
with a few words of Tamil, a loud, delighted cheer rose from the crowd.
“You have kept your bonds with India alive,” Mr Modi said, switching to
English (a translator was at hand). “You have friends and relatives in
India. You celebrate Indian festivals as your own. You have soaked our
culture and made it your own. India beats in your hearts. And I am here
to tell you that India fully reciprocates the warmth of your sentiment.”
Premier Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka, his second since the Sirisena
administration took over in 2015, is significant in the face of growing
Chinese influence in the country. Indian origin Tamils have for 200
years worked on Sri Lanka’s tea plantations, ensuring the growth and
survival of its most famous export.
The Indian Prime Minister was quick to note the fact. He called the
plantation workers “that indispensable backbone of the thriving Sri
Lankan tea industry”. And he referred to his own special association
with tea—he was once a tea-seller—as a point of commonality with those
gathered before him.
The forefathers of Sri Lanka’s Indian origin Tamils were men and women
of strong will and courage, Mr Modi said. They never gave up. The
prevailing generation then encountered “the stiff challenge of making
your own mark and identity in a newly independent nation”. But they
faced it boldly, he remarked, fighting for their rights peacefully.
The Prime Minister said India would fund the construction of 10,000
houses in the estate sector, in addition to the 4,000 already pledged.
The emergency ambulance service will be extended to all provinces. “We
will help you overcome the challenges of your past to realize the
promise of your future,” he vowed.
Spectators largely welcomed Mr Modi’s visit. There were numerous
placards and hoardings displaying his photograph alongside that of
President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and
incumbent Indian origin Tamil leaders of Sri Lanka. There was strong
competition between CWC’s Armugam Thondaman and Palani Digambaram,
leader of the National Union of Workers. Some minor scuffles also broke
out. “It’s just as well the wine stores are closed in these areas
today,” said a local journalist.
“India didn’t know that there were Indian origin Tamils in Sri Lanka,”
remarked T. Ravi, a 39-year-old bus conductor who attended the meeting.
“They thought Sri Lankan Tamils meant only those of the North and East.
But now they know about us and can do something for us also.”
Several of the spectators reiterated that India had paid attention only
to the issues of the Tamils of the North and East. Like Mr Ravi, some
felt that it was not even known the Indian origin Tamils existed as a
unique group in Sri Lanka. But they were also eager to stress that they
were citizens born and bred in Sri Lanka.
“We have relatives who returned to India,” said J. Prabhakaran, the
34-year-old deputy principal of Vivekalaya Tamil Vidyalaya. “Those are
the ties we have now. No other. We are Sri Lankan citizens. Even when we
fill out forms, we put ourselves down as ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ and write
‘Índian origin’ only within brackets.”
“Some are saying that only the Jafffna people are real Tamils because we
came only later,” said 31-year-old J R Prasad, deputy principal of
Belgravia Tamil Vidyalaya in Talawakelle. “We don’t think like that.”
Mano Ganesan, the only Indian origin Tamil to address the gathering,
also emphasised the ties his community now had to Sri Lanka. “The people
assembled are the most recent segment that arrived here since 1800s,”
he said. “It is why we are considered as the most recent Indian Origins
who even identify their root villages in India. But, today, our loyalty
to our motherland Sri Lanka is not a divided loyalty.”
But there were broad expectations of further Indian assistance towards
their community. “They give our children scholarships,” said one elderly
man sweating in the sweltering mid-morning heat. “Could they not help
set up a university for our children in these parts? Then they don’t
have to undergo difficulties in Jaffna or in Peradeniya.”
After Prime Minister Modi, his Sri Lankan counterpart Mr Wickremesinghe
and President Sirisena left the grounds, the vast crowds once again made
their way out. They left the grounds strewn with plastic water bottles
and crumpled green, orange and white paper hats. And then they walked
more than five kilometres to their respective buses which had been
barred from parking anywhere nearby.
“We are a bridge between our two nations” – Mano GaneshanIn
his speech welcoming the Indian Prime Minister, Minister of National
Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Languages, Mano Ganeshan stated that
the people assembled to hear him speak were the most recent segment of
people to arrive from India in the 1800s.
“But our loyalty to our Motherland Sri Lanka, is not a divided loyalty,”
he insisted. “We are in a position of being a bridge between our two
nations, and also, we make the relationship between our countries more
meaningful,” the Minister opined.
He noted that while most Sri Lankans of recent Indian origin speak
Tamil, there were small segments who spoke Malayalam, Telugu, Guajarati
and Hindi. A large number also spoke Sinhala.
Alluding to the religious and historical bonds between the two
countries, Mr. Ganeshan observed that Buddhists from Sri Lanka go on
pilgrimage to Buddha Gaya in India, while Hindus from India visited Sri
Lanka on the Rama trail looking for Sita Vanam and the Rama Temple.
He stated that never in the country’s history had Tamils of Indian
origin felt as confident, assured and recognised as they did at present.
This was because under the National Unity Government of President
Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, “this
country looks beyond politics and beyond generations.”
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