Dr Sudath Gunasekara President Mahanuwara Senior Citizens Movement 1.6. 2015.
I want all patriotic citizens, more particularly the Kandyan Sinhalese, to draw their serious attention to the news item below that appeared in the Daily FT of 5th May 2015 on a 10-year National Plan of Action for Plantation Infrastructure Development
The Ministry of Plantation Infrastructure Development has initiated an action to formulate a 10-year National Plan of Action 2015-2025 for social development of the plantation community with the technical assistance of the United Nations Development Progrogramme UNDP
The key objectives of the National Plan of Action (NPA) are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the plantation areas, especially in the estate sector.
The comprehensive 10-year NPA is expected to be finalized by end of July 2015.
Given the national importance of this”
The 10-year National Plan of Action for Plantation Infrastructure Development is intended for social development of the plantation community with UNDP assistance to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the plantation areas, especially in the estate sector. This is also classed as a Top Development Project of the present Government. The short period of completion stipulated, broad areas of development covered and the tight time frame and the national importance given to it clearly show the high degree of priority the present Government has assigned to the estate Tamil votes, while criminally neglecting and betraying shamefully all the Sinhala people particularly living in the Central, Sabargamuwa and Uva Provinces
Going by past experience I am more than convinced neither the present Minister of Plantation Kiriella, nor the government or any other Sinhala politician representing the Kandyan areas will take any serious notice of this news item as a discrimination or a betrayal against Kandyan peasants, as none of them cares a damn for their rights or the injustice inflicted upon them. Bagging the Tamil vote is their only concern.
Because firstly, they know that Kandyans are a dead entity (as they have been already killed) as a social group who have no leadership or organized political or civil lobbying power either at home or abroad, unlike the Estate Tamils and they will cast their vote in any case like a herd of cattle to the candidate of the pre-selected political party of their choice. Secondly, since it is not the vote of the Sinhalese but the vote of the estate Tamils that is critical in forming the Government. As such it is politically suicidal to disappoint the Tamils. If you talk against this ill treatment of the Sinhalese then you will be branded as a chauvinist Sinhala communalist who is trying to create ethnic trouble. I think Kandyans are the only social group in the whole world who are treated like this by their own politicians in their own motherland.
I have no grouse at all for improving the standards of life of the Estate Tamils or any other group of people. But my grievance is as to why the Governments of this country are giving this type of preferential treatment for a foreign labour force brought from South India in the late 19th century to work for the British planters, just to get their vote, while they betray and discard the Kandyan Sinhalese who have a millennia old birth right over this very territory from the dawn of history and paving the way to the extinction of Kandyan peasants. This was their beloved land inherited from their ancestors that was taken over by force by the British; this was the land their ancestors lost for the British and on which they died in battle in thousands; this is the only land in the world where they have to fall back and pray and get buried when they die where as the Tamils have South India to rush in as they do even for a piss. These estate Tamils have never considered this country at any time as their mother land. Even today they call themselves Indians and not Sri Lankans. Going back to India they call repatriation. That too shows that they consider India as their motherland. They came here to earn a living and work for the British. As a State officer I know all what they earned including gold and money was taken back every year and deposited in India. I don’t think there is any change in this practice even now. Those days they went by train but today they fly, that is the only difference. All these clearly conclude that they have no permanent interest or love to this country. My question is as to why the Sri Lankan Governments are so concerned with the welfare of such a pack of alien people while they ignore and betray their own men and women at home who have been living on this land since the beginning of history. Now the latest they call themselves IOTs (Tamils of Indian Origin) and they want to increase the number of seats to 14 that is double the present number. Remember this is not to serve this country but to get more political clout to earn more and repatriate more Sri Lankan wealth to India and to strengthen their claim for a separate state at the same time.
Now let us first take a closer look at how the successive Governments have treated the sons of the soil. Although the KPC report that was the Magnum Opus on the problems of the Kandyan Peasants that included proposals for their alleviation was officially out in 1951, no government or no Sinhala politician ever took the kind of interest they are taking now to solve the problems of the Tamils. No one has shown the same enthusiasm to look at the problems of the Kandyans. Mean while last year, the previous Government closed down even the nominal KPC Department, the only organization set up in late 1980s after much agitation by few Kandyan leaders. Even then it was a lame duck that had no power, money or political will and backing to implement an effective development plan that could have covered at least 5% of recommendations in the KPC Report. Though the report had been in existence for 64 years since it was mooted in 1951 it had not done anything substantial for the Kandyans. Basil Rajapaksa did this treasonous act of closing down the KPC in 2014 to create his pet Divineguma Department and he will go down in history as the biggest betrayer of the Kandyan Peasants. Isn’t it a shame for the MPP in Parliament and politicians representing Kandyan area at Provincial and Divisional levels in Kandyan electorates at that time to have behaved like deaf, dumb and blind stooges when Basil severed the neck of the Kandyans in this manner, fearing the loss of their positions and privileges, thereby criminally betraying the people whom they are supposed to represent. Did a single Mp from these areas speak one word against that decision? What a bunch of betrayers we have sent to Parliament to represent our interest. Their attitude clearly shows what commitment they have to look after the interests of Kandyans.
The estate Tamils have Thondamens, Annamales, Puthrasigamanis, Karupaiyas Suppaiyas and now Digabambarans who were made heroes by our own treacherous politicians. But we have none among the 80 odd ‘Magodistumas’ who have snatched our votes to go to Parliament. Should the people curse these MPP or curse themselves for voting such a pack of self-seeking parasites in to Parliament.
On the other hand Look at the mighty hurry with which Minister Kiriella and our politicians act when it comes to estate Tamils who have just come here to earn a living and who have now become a veritable canker in the body politics of this country, while they have miserably failed even to set up the Development Authority proposed by the KPC in 1951 up to date. For 64 years, what have they done to Kandyan peasants. Isn’t it a first class tragedy that there is not a single Mp, Provincial Councilor or Pradesiya Sabha member to speak one word on behalf of nearly 7 million hapless Kandyans. They have failed to ‘return’ even an inch of land to the rightful owners of the motherland even after 66 years; they have failed to carry out any meaningful work to alleviate the poverty, landlessness, infrastructure problems like roads, housing, health facilities and schools of the Sinhala villagers even though 66 years have passed since Independence.
Besides not taking any interest in the Kandyan people isn’t it a big tragedy that none of these politicians including the present Minister of Plantations understand the abysmal depth of the real problems the central Hill Country pauses in a broader national context of this country. All our politicians think social development of the plantation community” is the most critical problem. Yes of course for our politicians it is the most critical because it decides their political fate. The present Government has created four Ministries Viz 1 Ministry of Plantation 2 Ministry of Plantation infra Structure Development (both Cabinet rank) 3 State Ministry of Plantations and 4. State Ministry for estate Education and has appointed four Ministers. On the other hand there is not a single Ministry today to attend to the burning problems of nearly 7 million Sinhala villagers who are called Kandyan peasants. Even the nominal Department that was there for few years with no power and money is now gone thanks to Basil Rajapaksa.
In the process of proving facilities to Estate Tamils on the other hand they also continue to dig and disturb the already fragile highlands which the British had ruined for centuries and thereby destroy the even the remaining little physical stability of the heartland of this Island nation that decides the fate of the entire life system in this country. Do our politicians think that what the British had done over the years is not enough? Either they don’t have the brain to understand the gravity and the seriousness of this national problem or they don’t want to see it either, as they are only a set of fire fighters who are looking forward only for the Tamil votes. We don’t have a Parakramabahu or a modern Chief of Seattle to protect mother Lanka.
This situation clearly shows how Sinhala politicians betray the motherland and the heritage in order to realize their mean and short term political ends. Sirima did it 1962 by appointing Thondaman as an appointed MP and in1964 by granting citizenship to 600,000 Indians and JR did it in 1978 and 1988 by giving citizenship to all the rest merely on an affidavit singed on a Rs 1 stamp violating the Nehru-Kotalawala Agreement. I think Mahinda Rajapaksa is the only present day Leader who never betrayed the Sinhalese or the country to Tamils. Not only he won the so-called unwinnable war against the LTTER but he also kept the other minorities in their due places.
Each time Thondaman (Sr) made the best out of the follies of Sinhala leaders but neither Sirima nor JR got the Estate Tamil vote at subsequent elections. Every time there is a new Government these Tamil leaders get from it what they failed to get from the previous Government. The same thing will happen to Ranil (who give lads to these people now) or any other leader that follows as well, irrespective of how much they give. In the eyes of the Sinhala people all these three leaders will go down in history as persons who have betrayed the nation in a manner unprecedented in Sri Lankan history. None of these leaders had a consistent policy or a vision either on Sri Lanka Citizenship or the future of the country and the nation except that they all were consistent to the hilt on one thing and that is the deep rooted greed to get the Estate Tamil vote to come to power and remain in power perhaps for life. Today Saumyamurthi Thondaman must be celebrating in his grave, the victory of his cherished dream.
Meanwhile it was reported (Lankadeepa 12th May 2015 P10) that the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasingha has already handed over the first set of outright ownership deeds to estate Tamils at Talawakele few days back. Under this program each family will get 7 perches of land with a house on it worth Rs1.2m. The houses will be built by the Government. According to this press report this programme will cover the districts of Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Ratnapura and Kegalla. Perhaps thereby Ranil has laid the foundation stone for the expanded boundaries of the future Malayanadu of South Indian Tamils in Sri Lanka. It was also reported that he has promised to give 12 Tamil Medium Schools with full facilities to study Advance level Science subjects for these areas. See the difference of been a Tamil of Indian origin in Sri Lanka and been born as a native Sinhalese in this country.
I can vouch for certain that as things are turning around, unless a miraculous Sinhala leader emerges from somewhere immediately to take control of this political gamble, the day Sinhalese race becoming an extinct tribe like the Red Indians in North America or the Aborigines of Australia want be that far.
As Charles Dickens said in his opening passage of Tale of Two Cities, now for the Tamils of Indian origin ( as they are very particular to state) who were brought here in the late19th Century as coolies to work on tea estates on lands belonging to native Sinhalese ( plundered by the British colonial invaders and left behind when they left in 1948), it is the best of times, it is the age of wisdom, it is the age of belief, it is the season of light, it is the spring of hope, they have everything before them, they are going direct to heaven, thanks to the unpatriotic, treacherous, selfish and power hungry Sinhala politicians who have shamelessly betrayed their own people and the motherland just to get their vote.
For the native Sinhalese on the other hand who had been here from the dawn of history, whose ancestors died in tens of thousands in battle against the invaders in defense of their motherland, ‘it is the worst of times it is the age of foolishness, it is the epoch of incredulity, it is the season of darkness, it is the winter of despair, they have nothing before them, they are directly moving towards extinction as a nation on their own land, thanks to their own politicians whom they themselves have elected after 443 years of subjugation, exploitation colonial depredation and bitter struggle to liberate their motherland in search of freedom. ‘Who owned the land then and Who own it now, above all Who sold that land to the Indians’.
Let curse be on these Sinhala leaders –rather Sinhala betrayers who are responsible for this historic and treacherous act. Thanks to the blunders of these politicians the Sinhala nation at last has already lost its 2500 year heritage, the HADABIMA of the Sinhala Nation- the central hill country- to a pack of south Indian labourers, thus paving the way for the imminent extinction of the Sinhala Nation from the surface of this planet. Now they have got the citizenship, voting rights, language rights, the land (claim for territorial rights) and over 150 years of domiciliary rights, they have got everything to start agitation for a claim acceptable to the West and India to support these Tamils for a separate State. I have no doubt the day they declare a separate State-a Malayanadu and joining hands with the North and East to declare the EELAM is not that far thanks to the follies committed by our politicians, especially since 1962. Very soon the Tamil speaking population (Tamil and Muslim) will overtake Sinhalese firstly, as their rate of natural increase is very much higher than that of Sinhalese (about 4 times (T) and 10 times (M) respectively). Secondly, they will increase it further with the newly acquired confidence on domination supported, aided and abetted by our own politicians. Thirdly with the daily landing illicit south Indian immigrants settled all over the Island; on estates, in villages, in towns and jungle in the dry Zone.
I quote below what Thondaman has said to T. Sabaratnam in 1988 (Out of Bondage) when asked as to what made him to join JR Jayawardena’s Government because at least it will be an eye opener to the sleeping Sinhalese and treacherous Sinhala politicians to realize as to what is taking place around and seriously ponder about the uncertain future of their posterity.
President Jayawardene was anxious to solve the citizenship problem and he was the only Sinhala leader with the political strength and moral courage needed to solve the citizenship problem. He also knows the political importance of the Indian Tamil vote. If he happens to be in the opposition he will never permit the SLFP to grant citizenship and win over the Indian block vote. And another thing he said smiling mischievously, it is the UNP which derived us of our citizenship and voting rights. We must make the same UNP give them back to us”
Don’t these few words speak volumes on the far sightedness and political cunningness of Thondaman as against the stupidity, short sightedness and treacherousness of our present day Sinhala leaders, all of whom should be squarely held responsible for the mess we are entangled in today, obviously with much more to come in the near future.
None of our present day politicians has eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to feel and a nose to smell the imminent dangers of Tamilizing the Central Hill Country in this manner. For example as John Still, the planter and antiquarian predicted in 1930 the plantations as an economic activity will disappear from the Hill Country very soon. The reasons could be natural and human. There will be a terrific dearth of Estate Tamils labour in future as they have already begun to migrate to urban centers. Even those remaining behind will claim higher wages that may be unbearable for the industry. Already the cost of production in Sri Lanka compared with Africa and India is very high and our tea is becoming less competitive in the world market due to that and other reasons like low quality. It is very unlikely that Sinhalese people will replace the Tamils for obvious natural and cultural reasons. Mechanization of plucking tea leaves may provide a temporary solution to the labor problem. But the eventual collapse of tea plantation industry in the hill country is inevitable due to natural reasons like land degradation and economic factors like competition and high cost of production. The left over Tamils in upcountry areas will move over to other agricultural pursuits like potato, vegetable farming and cattle rearing and sprawl all over the hill country as permanent South Indian settlements with a distinct culture and with little or no control to the Government as they will be always manipulated by India. Their new activities are bound to tax the land at unprecedented levels causing soil erosion and depletion of water and forests even to levels unheard and unseen before, on these hills. This process will get accelerated as the Prime Minister Wickramasingha has already promised to start separate villages for Tamils and Muslims in the near future. I have no doubt that it will also accelerate communal tension and finally lead to total disintegration of the Sri Lankan State.
This is why I have been repeatedly saying that the destiny of this country should never be left only in the hands of selfish politicians. Do these vote hunters know that all the rivers that keep the entire life system of this Island have their sources on these hills? Do they know that if these rivers run dry due to the wanton destruction taking place on the hill country and if the hill country gets degraded this country will end up as a desert sans any form of life? Do they know that if we don’t restore the physical stability of the Central Hill Country early, including its forest cover, rivers, mountains and the soil cover all development in this country will come to an end? Do they know that if we fail to arrest this destruction immediately, in few decades from now, the curtain will fall not only on the entire life system of this country but it will also wipe out the very civilization from the face of this Island?
Therefore I strongly suggest that the Government should immediately declare the Central Hill Country above 5000 ft Msl as a strictly reserved forest and a protected area. Even on land below 5000ft all new development activities that disturb the forests, rivers and the land and soil on these fragile hills has to be strictly controlled. It is better to confine tea to mid and low country in future. Even here an aggressive programme need to be adhered to arrest further soil erosion and degradation of natural resources and restore the physical stability before they embark on any haphazard vote catching development focused on one community which activities that are definitely going to bring disaster to this Island nation in the not so distant future. Weaning out settlement from the hill country should be another strategy we may have to seriously think about as increasing human settlements in any case will adversely affect the physical stability of the land and environment.
Protecting the physical stability of the Hill Country therefore should be the priority number one of all development in this country as it forms the bedrock on which rest the survival of the entire life system and the civilization in this country. In my opinion this should be adopted by Parliament as a State policy in this country, at least now.
Finally I also strongly reiterate the need to address the following three issues as a national priority before one resort to any ill-conceived, haphazard and politically motivated action like giving title deeds to estate labour and creating mono-Tamil settlements on the hills.
First and foremost is the need to solve the problems of the Kandyan peasants, the true sons of the soil, taking the recommendations of the KPC Report as the basis. Re-establishing the Kandyan Peasantry Development Authority as recommended by the KPC in 1951 should be the first logical step under this programme. It should also come directly under the Head of the State with sweeping powers and resources (of course with additional power and new mandate to enable it to resolve the current situation). Their problems that need to be addressed include areas like landlessness, roads, poverty, education, health and socio-economic as listed in more detail by the KPC.
Second, once and for all finalize the citizenship status of all Estate labour of Indian origin according to the Nehru-Kotalawala Agreement of 1954 (under which learning Sinhala is mandatory) so that at the end of 10 years all of them will be permanently integrated to the Sri Lankan native society and cease to be IOTs (Tamils of Indian Origin) anymore. Of course those who are not prepared to do so will definitely have to renounce Sri Lanka citizenship they have got as a political windfall and go back to India. I must mention it clearly here that all those who have got citizenship without satisfying the conditions stipulated in 1954 agreement need to once again go through the process laid down in that document and satisfy the conditions laid down therein before they become full citizens of this country. And no Estate Tamil should be given outright ownership of any land in this country until and unless he/she satisfies the conditions stipulated under the N/K Agreement of 1954.
And Third, Formulate an Estate Village Integration programme through a mixed settlement system where Sinhalese and Tamils who get citizenship under the above criteria will live together thus paving the way for permanent social integration as one nation and put an end to Sinhala Tamil dichotomy forever in central Sri Lanka. And in the long run they will cease to be Indian anymore and be an integral part of the Sri Lankan society like the Karave and Halagama people.
The estate Tamil labourers encouraged by the anti Sinhala and pro-Tamil policies of this Government have already declared war against Sinhala people by openly demonstrating in Hatton demanding for 20 perches for residential and 20 acres for agriculture this Government should take the full responsibility for the mess it has created. I have no doubt Ranil and his Government will definitely concede to this request as he knows pretty well that he cannot get the Tamil votes without that.
Since none of the politicians representing the Kandyan areas dare to speak a single word against this betrayal by Ranil, Kiriella and Sirisena, they all should resign from their seats forthwith. If they don’t resign voluntarily all of them should be physically dragged out by their legs and dumped them in deep seas so that such betrayers will never return to politics in this country.
In this scenario all Sinhalese should immediately protest against the present programme of handing over of ownership of lands to estate Tamils and demand the Government immediately to stop it until the above steps are completed.
Today this country badly needs a modern Dutugemunu or Parakramabahu supported by a team of Patriotic Statesmen of unblemished character with far reaching vision and strength who put the country before self and dedicate their life to protect the wholly Trinity of Rata, Deya and Samaya and who are prepared to implement the above programme with regard to the Central Hill Country and who will solemnly declare and affirm to govern this Island nation according to the age old Buddhist principles of state craft.
‘Kalo ayan te Bhante Mahasanga, the protecting deities of this nation who have protected it for the past 2500 years , to rise against this ‘Great Betrayal’ by these treacherous bunch of politicians to save this country and the Sinahala Buddhist nation from its imminent disappearance form the surface of this planet. Wake up from the deep slumber and rise up like the phoenix in tens of thousands of Theraputthabhayas, Kadahapolas and Wariyapola Sumangalas as defenders and protectors of this Country, the Nation and the Sasana. I humbly plead you to do it today as the dawn of tomorrow is very unlikely.