Dr Sudath Gunasekara President and convener Udarata Sinhala Urumaya Surekime Sanvidhanaya 18.5.2016
This is exactly what will happen if the current plan of the present Government lead by Sirisena-Ranil- Chandrika Trio remains in power for another six months. Kiriella and all other MPP supposed to be ‘representing Kandyan areas’ will form the Funeral Band of the Sinhala nation. Digambaran, Vignesvaran together with Sidambaram will throw the last shovel of earth to the mass grave while Sirisena-Ranil- Chandrika Government will invite the Mahanayaka Theras of the Tun Nikaya to perform the Pansakula ritual of the Sinhala nation. I have no doubt that they will also silently participate in this crime as they fear losing the privileges lavishly conferred upon them by the Government.
Rev Sirs, though with much reluctance, I am compelled to tell you that by keeping mum and remaining deaf, dumb and blind on these treacherous betrayals of the present Government and if you don’t intervene and stop this betrayal immediately you too will be responsible for the nation for all the betrayals and sins they do. Starting from late nineteen eighties the Tamils in the north and East destroyed and vandalized most of the Buddhists archaeological monuments reaching a peak during the LTTE mayhem days. It was followed by Muslims in areas like Kuragala, Katarangala, Lankapatuna, Diigawapi and some parts in the east. The latest is the removal of the Divurum wela Bo tree in Welimanda, the last bastion of the Kandyan patriots who fought against the British murderers. Already the historic Bo tree has been cut and removed as it was reported in the media. Pl see the link for details www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fonwGoqTGc
බදුල්ල වැලිමඩ දිව්රන්ගල බෝධීන් වහන්සේ යනු ඉතා ඈත අතීතයක් දක්වා දිවයන එනම් මහින්දාගමණය දක්වා දිවයන අතීතයක් ඇති ස්ථානයකි. මෙය සිංහල බෞද්ධ ශාසනික උරුමයක් වන්නේ දේවානම් පිය තිස්ස රජු තම දොතින්ම රෝපනය කල බොධීන්වහන්සේ නමක් යන්නටත් වඩා මෙතෙක් කල් කිසිම අක්‍රමණයක් හමුවේ විනාෂ නොවී පැවති බෝදින් වහන්සේ නමක් වීමයි. එහෙත් මේ වන විට එය විනාෂ කර ඇත්තේ අපේම චීවර ධාරියෙක් වීම ඉතා කණගාටුවක කරුණකි. එම චීවරධාරීයාටි්සහ දමිල, මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදීන්ට එරෙහිව සිංහලේ ජාතික සංවිධානය සිය ජාතික මෙහෙවර ඉටු කරන්නට සුදානම්. එහි මුල් පියවර ලෙස ඉයේ (2016 මැයි මස 14) සිදුවිය.
ඒ වෙනුවෙන් සංවිධානය කළ විරෝධතාවය බදුල්ල නුවරඑළිය මාර්ගයේ ගමන් කරමින් සාප්පුකඩේ මංසන්ධියට පැමිණ පසුව නැවත හැරී නුගතලාව මංසන්ධියට ගමන් ගත්තේය. අනතුරුව නුගතලාව මංසන්ධියේ පැවැත්වූ විරෝධතාවයෙන් පසු විරෝධතාවය නිමා විය.
මහ වැසිද නොතකා විශාල පිරිසක් සහභාගී වී සිටි මෙම විරෝධතාවයේදී විරෝධතා කරුවන් ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියේ වර්ෂ සිය ගණනක් තමන් වැදුම් පිදුම් කල බෝධිය කපා කෝවිලක් සෑදීමට කටයුතු කරන විහාරාධිපති හිමියන් හට කිසිසේත් විහාරස්ථානයට නැවත පැමිණීමට ඉඩ නොතබන බවත් දිවි පරදුවට තබා හෝ තමන් මෙම සටන ගෙන යන බවත්ය. මේ අවස්ථාවට අප සිංහලේ ජාතික සංවිධානයේ සභාපති අති පූජ්‍ය යක්කලමුල්ල‍ේ පවර, අරඹේප‍ොල රතනසාර, දෙහිගස්පෙ ප්‍රේමරතන හිමිවරු සහ ජාතික සංවීධායක සාලිය ටී රණවක, ලේකම් නුවන් සෙනෙවිරත්න ඇතුලු ගිහි පැවදි පිරිසක් සහභාගී විය.
2013 වසරේදී මෙම ස්ථානයේ සීතා දේවිය වෙනුවෙන් දේවාලයක් ඉදි කරන බවට ඉන්දියාව ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබිණ. ඒ පුවත පහතින් දක්වා ඇත. එසේම මෙම විරොධතාවය සදහා උප සභාපති තැනපත් අරඹේපොළ රතනසාර හිමියන් මුල් විය.
මෙම ජාතික කර්තව්‍ය වෙනුවෙන් සහ එහි වෙසෙන සිංහලයන් වෙනුවෙන් ජාතික සංවිධනය නොබියව පෙරට එන බව කිව යුතුමය.
The difference between vandalism by the Tamils in the North and East and by Muslim gehadists in other parts of the Island and this incident is that it is done by the Estate Tamils and their agents to not only consolidate their position in the central Sri Lanka but also claim the presence of historical evidence of presence of Hindutva traditions, in Sri Lanka. Thereafter they might even say the history of this area goes even beyond as the biggest river in the area is also named as Uma oya after the wife of Vishnu Uma. Thus they might even argue for the presence of prehistoric evidence in support of Indian claim on this Island. As such allowing Madya Pradesh Chief Minister (an extremist espouser of Hindutva RSS man) to built a Sita temple with Indian money and to be maintained by India in central Sri Lanka area is far more dangerous than the claim of the Tamils in the north and the east as it extends even beyond historical times.
Even with late Thondaman running the hill country nearly for half century, thanks to our political eunuchs, this type of demolition of Buddhist monuments never took place in the past. This is the first time that such a thing has happened right at the centre of the country. We are informed that this historic Bo tree which is supposed to be a historical and archeological monument of the Kandyan kingdom that was used as a swearing spot during the Kandyan period. Now the Government has given permission to build a Hindu monument on this Buddhist archaeological site. I wonder as to what the Archaeological Commissioner is doing about this. It is to be converted to a Sita Shrine by the Madhya Pradesh Government of India.
While the Government is going all out to support the cause of Indian estate laboures who were brought here by the British in late 19th century to work on their states and who are conspiring to create a Malayanadu on the hill country and who never consider this country as their Motherland and dream to live as Indian Tamils in this country in this manner, I ask as to what has been done or being done for the rehabilitation of the sons of the soil-Kandyan Sinhala peasants who has sacrificed so much and lost everything on earth they had to the British and tens of thousands have died in battle against the invaders to protect their motherland, where their ancestors had lived for millennia.
It is your historic and bounden responsibility and sacred duty to get out of your cloisters, open your closed eyes and save the Sinhala nation as ‘Jatiye Muradevatavo’ as you have always done throughout history of this Island nation. The Sambuddha Sasana is yours more than ours. It is your onus duty to protect it as its disappearance will result in the disappearance of all monks including you all. Because the Sinhala Buddhist Dayakas who feed you all and keep the entire dispensation sustained want be there to look after you people, if this betrayal by the present Government is no stopped forthwith. Moreover I will vouch for certain that the Mahanayayaka posts will also become extinct and whoever is lucky to survive will end up as Pusaris in Hindu temple on the hills if they opt to take you.
It is a tragedy and a grievous pity that these idiotic Sinhala politicians including Presidents, Prime Ministers and Ministers, who don’t have any feeling for the people or their country but for power and privileges only, don’t realize that they too want be there to enjoy the luxuries of life at the expense of foolish Sinhala Buddhists voters if the Sinhala nation is destroyed. Look at what happened after the fall of Polonnaruwa Kingdom that was destroyed by Kalinga Magha invaders. Isn’t it that destruction and devastation we as a nation are still struggling to overcome?
So at least now please rise from this deep slumber and hibernation and come forward to save this nation lest these selfish, idiotic and power crazy mad politicians completely ruin all what we have inherited from the past including our beloved Motherland” the only place on this earth where we and our posterity have to live.
Awake, arise and lead the masses for liberation lest all of us, together with you all, are extinct and gone forever as a Nation?
We are making this appeal to you Rev Sirs as the last resort as we haven’t got a single patriotic national Leader in this country on whom we could have any trust to do this job. Look at the way how these people have ruined the most prosperous country in Asia when we got independence in 1948. Look at the wonders countries like India, Singapore, Korea and even Japan that were far behind us then have done now. Look at Singapore today who sent a delegation in 1957 to see the wonder that was Sri Lanka then as Li quan yu wanted to emulate us and openly declared that he wanted to make Singapore a Sri Lanka. Where are we today compared to them. Who is responsible for this mess, if not the politicians of the day? Have they being able to get at least the correct historical name of the country restored for 68 years and get rid of the Indian labour force brought by the British to work on their estates and restore the ownership of the motherland to its original owners So what bullshit are our politicians talking. What the hell they have done to make this our own land and our own country. Has anyone being able to put the minority groups, in their correct places. Instead of doing that what have they done other than running after minority votes and thereby betraying the country. What are they doing today. Isn’t it the same betrayal they are alternatively continuing while dancing to the tune of the same western colonial exploiters.
This is why I call upon a group of selfless, patriotic and intellectual national leaders guided and advised by erudite Buddhist monks to come forward to save this nation before the match is over.
May 17, 2016
Updated: May 17, 2016 01:42 IST
A house for every hill-country Tamil
The problems of hill-country Tamils have not received much attention in Sri Lanka and India, especially when compared to the Sri Lankan Tamils.
A housing project for hill-country Tamils of Sri Lanka, launched recently, has come not a day too soon. Envisaging the construction of 4,000 houses, the project was cleared by the Indian government over four years ago. It is a component of the larger housing programme funded by New Delhi in the Northern and Eastern provinces, hit hard by the civil war that went on for over 25 years.
Of the planned 46,000 houses in the north and the east, 45,000 have come up. Even as thousands of houses were being built in the two provinces in the last four or five years, not a brick was laid in the Central and Uva provinces, where the hill-country Tamils live in large numbers. A number of reasons — political and administrative — were cited, but the project’s slow progress symbolises the plight of hill-country Tamils in the overall scheme of things in Sri Lanka. This, despite the community remaining the labour backbone of the tea industry, which records export earnings of around $1.5 billion annually, about 15 per cent of the country’s total export earnings.
A marginalised community
Called by different names — Estate Tamils or upcountry Tamils or Tamils of recent Indian origin — the community traces its roots to Tamil Nadu, from where people of southern districts, largely Dalits, were brought in as indentured labour during the 19th and early 20th centuries to work in coffee plantations and later tea and rubber. As per the 2012 Census, the population of Indian Tamils”, which is how the official records call them, is about 8,40,000, around 4 per cent of the total population, even though this figure is contested. The community is concentrated in the districts of Nuwara Eliya, Kandy (both in Central Province) and Badulla (Uva Province) while it is thinly spread in Matale (Central Province), Ratnapura, Kegalle (both in Sabaragamuwa) and Galle (Southern Province).
Immediately after Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948, the hill-country Tamils were placed in political isolation” and disenfranchised through the Ceylon Citizenship Act. Only in the late 1980s was the issue of statelessness” resolved, with the government agreeing to provide citizenship. Denied access to State programmes and schemes for long, the community’s needs and problems are manifold — beginning with something as elementary as housing, epitomised by the 200-sq.-ft. line rooms”, and access to water and sanitation. Other markers such as a high poverty headcount ratio of 10.9 per cent as against the national average of 6.7 per cent, lower literacy rate of 86.1 per cent compared to the national rate of 95.7 per cent, high infant mortality rate of 29 per 1,000 live births while Sri Lanka’s overall figure is 9.7 per 1,000 live births combine to make the community one of the country’s most backward ones.
Yet, the problems of this category of Tamils have not received much attention both in Sri Lanka and India, especially when compared to the Sri Lankan Tamils who were at the centre stage of the Lankan civil war. Rarely do self-appointed leaders of the world Tamil community or political leaders of Tamils in the Northern and Eastern provinces champion the cause of the other Tamils” of Sri Lanka.
Slow winds of change
There is a school of thought that the resolution of the problem of housing is a prerequisite to addressing other issues, given the social stigma still attached to line rooms”. Recognising this, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, within a few months of coming to power in January 2015, decided to allot seven perches of land (equivalent to 1,925 sq. ft.) to each plantation family. The Indian government has, on cue, revived its proposal for a housing project costing 4.2 billion Sri Lankan rupees (LKR) in the Central and Uva provinces. New Delhi will give LKR 9.5 lakh to each beneficiary, with the Sri Lankan government pitching in for amenities such as water and power supply, land-filling and building of approach roads.
Four thousand houses, however, are just a fraction of what is required: at least 1.6 million houses. In March, the Hill Country New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development Ministry, headed by Palani Thigambaram of Nuwara Eliya, announced an action plan for investment of around $690 million in various sectors over the next five years. Housing alone accounts for about $575 million, with the ministry fixing a target of constructing 56,500 houses by 2020.
Despite their overall backwardness, the hill-country Tamils have in recent times experienced improvement on various economic and social indicators. The younger generation, no longer interested in working in the plantations where their parents and grandparents toiled, are increasingly leaving the estates despite facing, as stated by the World Bank, stigmatisation and discrimination due to their Indian Tamil ethnicity and estate worker identity”. Empirical evidence points to the falling share of the youth population in the estates and the increasing number of senior citizens.
The plantation industry of Sri Lanka is also in the midst of a multiplicity of challenges due to widening gap between the cost of production and revenue, declining profitability, falling prices of tea and rubber, growing labour shortage and stiff competition from tea-growing countries such as Kenya and India.
The country, as a whole, is also at a crossroads, after a regime widely perceived as repressive got voted out and the new government adopts a more inclusive approach to end the political isolation” Sri Lanka suffered at the international level in the wake of charges of human rights violations during the civil war. Reaching out to the hill-country Tamils is perhaps an apt starting point.
Keywords: Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Tamils, Sri Lankan civil war