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Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa Jokes about LTTE Leader Prabhakaran's Death

T. Arumugam

TAMIL TRIBUNE, March 2009 (ID. 2009-03-01)
This article is archived at: http://www.tamiltribune.com/10/0301.html

ABBREVIATIONS

DPI - Dalit Panthers of India (also known as VCK)

IDP - Internally Displaced Persons

LTTE - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

MP - Member of Parliament

VCK - Viduthalai Chiruththaikal Katchi (also known as DPI)

A retort to Sri Lankan President Rajapakse’s distasteful joke about LTTE leader Pirabhaharan's death.

A delegation of ten members of Indian parliament from Tamil Nadu went to Sri Lanka in October 2009 on a four-day visit to Tamil internally displaced persons camps (IDP camps) and other Tamil areas. They also met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on October 13, 2009. One of the delegates was Viduthalai Chiruththaikal Katchi (VCK) leader Thol Thirumavalavan. He held LTTE leader Prabhakaran in high regard and his party cadres often carried large photographs of Pirabhakaran in some of his party rallies in support of Sri Lankan Tamils. When Thirumavalavan was introduced to President Rajapaksa, the latter said, "Had you been with Prabhakaran during the war, you would have died too. I would not have the opportunity to meet you." [Sri Lankan army shot and killed Prabhakaran in the final days of the fourth phase of the ethnic war (Eelam War 4).]

When reporters asked about it after Thirumavalavan returned to Tamil Nadu, he answered, "Rajapaksa said that as a joke and I also took it as a joke." If it is a joke, it is in very bad taste. May be Mr. Thirumavalavan should have responded with an equally bad joke. Here is a suggestion: "Too bad Tamil Nadu does not have its own military. Otherwise, with your navy having shot and killed hundreds of Tamilnadu fishermen in the sea, your head would have been hoisted at the point of a spear at the gates of Madurai. I would not have the opportunity to meet you here." I know that it is a "joke" in very bad taste but no worse than what President Rajapaksa said. [Madurai is a city in Tamil Nadu. Historically it was the capital of Padiya Nadu, one of the three Tamil kingdoms in Tamil Nadu.]

There is a historical background to "head hoisted at the point of a spear at the gates of Madurai" reference in the preceding paragraph. During the reign of Rajathi Raja Cholan II over Chola Nadu (1163 - 1179), one of the three Tamil kingdoms, Sinhala king Parakramabahu sent an army under the command of a Sinhala General, Lankapura, at the invitation of a Pandiya prince to help him over a dispute for the throne of Pandiyan kingdom. The Sinhala army captured the coastal town of Rameshwaram and damaged the famed Hindu temple for Lord Sivan (Lord Siva), and then marched inward into Tamil Nadu looting and burning villages. Rajathi Raja Cholan II sent his army under General Pallavarayan (Pallavarayar) to confront the Sinhala army. Pallavarayan defeated Lankapura, captured him and beheaded him. The severed head was hoisted on a spear at the gates of Madurai, the Pandiyan capital. Thus ended the incursion of Sinhala army into Tamil Nadu.

You may read a more detailed discussion of the Tamil-Sinhala war about 850 years ago in References 1. You may read more about Sri L:ankan Navy shooting and killing TamilNadu fishermen in Reference 2.

[EDITORIAL NOTE: Some South Asian names are spelled differently by different people. Here are some variations of names used in this article: Cholan - Chozhan, Chozan, Pandiyan - Pandian, Prabhakaran - Pirabhakaran, Prabakaran, Pirabhaharan, Prabaharan, Rajapaksa - Rajapakse, Rajathi Raja - Rajathiraja, Rameshwaram - Rameswaram , Rameshvaram, Ramesvaram.]

REFERENCES

1. Nine Hundred Year Historical Perspective of how Tamil Nadu Lost its Sovereignty and How Selfish Politicians are Selling out Tamil National Rights Today: Part I (by Thanjai Nalankilli), TAMIL TRIBUNE, December 2001 (30 KB)

2. India, Sri Lankan Navy and Tamil Nadu Fishermen: Is Tamil Blood Cheap in the Eyes of Indian Government? (by Usha Ramanathan), TAMIL TRIBUNE, April 2007 (6 KB)

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Hindi Enforcement and Attacks on North Indians in Mumbai

Thirumalai

TAMIL TRIBUNE, March 2010 (ID. 2010-03-02)
This article is archived at: http://www.tamiltribune.com/10/0302.html

DEFINITIONS

Hindian: People whose mother tongue is Hindi (similar to Tamil speakers are sometimes referred as Tamilans or Tamilians).

Indian government's enforcement of Hindi as the official language of India is the main reason behind the Mumbai attacks on North Indians. This article analyzes the root cause behind these attacks.

The "Anti-North Indian" sentiment is not because of North Indians settling in Mumbai. The problem arose because of the attitude of the north Indian Hindians towards the concept of India. If Hindians realize that "India is not a Hindi Nation" and that "India is a country of linguistic and cultural diversity", the problem would not have come at all. Hindians settling in Mumbai do not learn and use Marathi, instead they have changed the demography of the place and attempt to make Hindi the default language of the place

Hindians should learn to accept the diversity of India. They are not embracing the language and culture of the states where they settle down. Rather they force down their own language and culture in an aristocratic way. It is unfortunate that no media dares to discuss about this attitude problem of Hindians and the need to educate the concept of diversity to them.

Even South Indians who have not traveled to north India might have watched a Hindi movie or read about the Hindi poet Kabir. But we would seldom, if ever, see a North Indian seeing a South Indian movie or reading about Thirukkural. Even after 63 years of forming India, North Indians have not absorbed anything from South India.

Indian government is responsible for this one-way integration. All these years, it has been pushing Hindi to non-Hindi States through central government offices, schools, radio, television, Hindi Prachar Sabhas etc. By promoting Hindi aggressively to non-Hindi masses, Indian government has indirectly promoted all products that come with a Hindi tag and thus helped Hindi people benefit. With the enforced reach of Hindi, a Hindi movie can now be easily sold to South Indian masses and Hindi artists and producers can earn more money. It is easier for North Indians to move about freely anywhere in India with out the need to integrate with their counterparts as the Indian Government has spread their language, culture, food habits, etc. into every nooks and corners of India.

It is high time that the Indian government amends the official language provisions of the constitution that is resulting in inequality to non-Hindi Indians. Why should employees of telecommunications company BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited), post offices, banks etc. use Hindi while working in non-Hindi states? Non-Hindi languages are promoted by the respective state governments. Why not leave Hindi language promotion to Hindi state governments? Why should the Indian central government use our taxes to promote Hindi?

Integration of the various Indian states existed in a natural way even before independence. Telugu people settled in Tamil Nadu learned Tamil. Tamils who settled in Bangalore (Karnataka) learned Kannada. As such diversity of the states were protected and still people were naturally united. Post independence, the Indian government created a need for Hindi in non-Hindi states also. Why create a need for Hindi in Andhra, Karnataka or Maharashtra? Now, if anyone from TamilNadu had to settle in Hyderabad, there is no need for him or her to learn Telugu, he/she could mostly live with knowledge of Hindi. As such Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, has lost its Telugu identity. Bangalore has lost it's Kannada identity and Mumbai has lost it's Marathi identity. The only major city in India that still has it's identity is Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, thanks to the two-language policy of Tamil Nadu government. If all Tamils had learnt Hindi, Chennai would also have become like Mumbai, Hydrabad and Bangalore, losing the Tamil identity. Thankfully, Tamil Nadu's two-language formula has protected and saved the Tamil identity of Chennai.

Other Indian states should follow the Tamil Nadu model and protect their identities.

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