Sri Lanka. Have you ever noticed
that the island of Sri Lanka resembles a water drop? You can even say that it
look like a land being dropped off into the ocean. The history of relationship
whether it is good or bad between India the mainland and Sri Lanka the island
dates back to a few millenniums. There are even theories that the island was
part of a bigger mainland called Lemuria which went under the water. I often
wonder what is with islands and tourist destinations. The islands are always a
lot sought after tourist destinations as compared to those in main lands. And
Sri Lanka has for long been a very popular tourist destination. But, I am not
sure how many would like to visit this island now though.
I often feel that when it comes
to islands, the mainland always want to act as a big brother. That may be the
reason behind the strained relations between Britain and France that went for
centuries. There are several other examples like Australia & New Zealand or
even China & Taiwan/Japan for that matter.
Hindu epics say that Lord Rama crossed
over to Lanka and won over the Lankan king Ravana. Buddhism after originating
in India sailed over into the island and has prospered there ever since. And
history could say how many times the Tamil kings took turns and invaded the island
several centuries back. I have a feeling that even after independence, India probably
wanted to act as a big brother. An Indian can say ”After all, it is a small island
in an ocean named after my country”.
Soon after their independence,
Sri Lanka started having a lot of problems in handling their minorities – the
Tamils. In my opinion, they might have wanted to get rid of all those Tamils
back to the mainland. What transpired was a huge revolt led by Prabhakaran and
some other leaders which went for decades. The Indian government supported his
cause initially and eventually ended up fixing a price for his head. Finally their
struggle was supressed by the Lankan government a few years ago and once again
India had a role to play by supplying arms support.
Over a decade ago, I was in the
headquarters of the DK party and I overheard two people talking to each other
about the Lankan issue. One of them said, “after all… it is our people who are
suffering there and it is our responsibility to do something”. I was a bit
bemused then. I was not completely aware of the actual problem in Lanka then
but the stand I had then has not changed much even after all these.
I was actually wondering how
people in a different country were considered as their ‘own people’. With so
many protests happening in Tamil Nadu, the attitude is pretty much the same
even now. But is it because of the old Tamil saying which means, ‘the entire
world is my locale and all humans are my friends’? I am pretty confident that
it’s not. It is pretty obvious that they talk the same language and there is a
high possibility that most of them migrated from here several centuries ago. It
is more of an established brotherhood and I would beg people to understand
& respect it.
Till now, the Indian Government
has not recognised this brotherhood and I know that many Tamils are angry that
their brotherhood is disrespected not just by the Government and also by their
fellow compatriots in other states.
But there are some disturbing
factors. There is a political faction that wants Tamil Nadu to be separated
from the Indian union and get it merged with Eelam. At least this is the
impression that has been created by the local political parties to the central
government over the past few decades. This is definitely against the
sovereignty of India and has to be nipped in the bud. India waged a huge battle
to free Bangladesh without worrying if West Bengal would get separated to join
them. But on the other hand, the killings that happened in Sri Lanka were
arguably worse than that in Bangladesh and still India did not do anything to
help the Lankan Tamils. This hurt the feelings of the Tamils even more creating
a vicious circle.
But from a different perspective,
does this brotherhood really have to be honoured? On humanitarian grounds, the
Tamils never worried about any international issues like Palestine or
Afghanistan or Tibet. They were normally not concerned about the national
issues prevalent in other states like the north-eastern states. Well. You can
even ignore this apathy as they are happening in distant locations. But, there
are so many crimes/atrocities still being practised against some Tamil
communities. The same people who protest for the well-being of the Lankan Tamils
are not ready to consider the Tamils in their own backyard as their brothers.
How will they expect others to acknowledge their feelings then? Can they say
that they have always considered the Dalits as their brothers?
With this in mind, I doubt the
sincerity of the brotherhood that is being discussed here. Suppose if you somehow
prove that all those Lankan Tamils came from the Dalit community, will the same
brotherhood apply then? We as the Tamil community including me have not proven
our brotherhood internally or even given a feeling that we have humanity. How
will we substantiate our feelings for our Lankan brothers across the border?
I personally don’t think that creating
a separate country as Tamil Eelam will be the right solution and it is a lot
better if the Lankan Government give equal rights to the Tamils there and allow
them to live peacefully. If this does not happen, then the UNO has to intervene.
But, creating a new country should be the very last step in this process.
I once again want to reiterate
that I condemn all those atrocities that happened against those Tamils but just
not because they are Tamils and because of the humanity that is inside me. We as
a community have to do a lot more to get our voices considered.
