The Vadukkodai Declaration

It would be easy to understand this issue clearly by considering the origin and the evolution of the idea for a separate state.

It was not after careful thoughts and analyses that the traditional Tamil leadership had reached a decision to fight for a separate Tamil state. It was a sentimental and foolish decision taken in a hurry based on superficial considerations. The Tamil leaders were highly amused by the developments in Bangladesh. They believed that if India supports the cause, as was witnessed in Bangladesh, they too could establish a separate state in the North. Even if it does not happen, they thought that by developing a political slogan for a separate state it would be possible for them to keep the agitated Tamil youths on their side.

The demand for a separate Tamil state was adopted by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) on 14 May 1976 at a conference held in Pannakkam .The TULF made a declaration claiming that a Tamil kingdom existed in the distant past and an extent of land that came under the said kingdom. From the early years of history and for a long period of time the Sinhalese and Tamils lived in the Southern and inner Western areas of the country that extend from the River Walawe up to Chilaw while the Northern and Eastern regions were owned by the Tamil people. The TULF further stated that, the country was divided between the two communities, and the Tamil Eelam will be established on the land traditionally owned by the Tamils.

I am not venturing at this stage to refute this historical myth about the so-called Tamil kingdom said to have been in existence since the beginning of the Christian era and the extent of the land that came under the said kingdom which the TULF had included in the Vadukkodai Declaration as well as in the 1977 TULF election manifesto. This had adequately been proved a myth by Professor K.M.de Silva and Professor G.H.Peiris in two theses written on this subject. But it is important to remind ourselves that the idea of a separate state was defeated at the 1977 general election.

During the campaign for 1977 general election the TULF asked for a mandate for a separate state from the people of the North and the East. They asked for a unanimous decision of the Tamil people for their demand. But from the Northern Province the TULF was able to obtain only 278, 293 of 406, 257 or 68.5% of the votes polled. From the Eastern province they were able to obtain only 92,163 out of 335,401 votes polled which was only 27.5% of the total votes polled. The combined results of both provinces indicate that out of the total of 741,658 votes polled the TULF had obtained only 370, 456 or 49.94%..

Silent Revolution

While at the 1977 general election the traditional Tamil leaders instead of seeking solutions for the real problems of the Tamil people had adopted an extremist policy demanding for a separate state which included not only the Northern Province where a vast majority of Tamil people live, but also the Eastern Province where the Tamils are not the majority; the Sinhalese leaders of the South who had hitherto remained indifferent to the demands of the Tamil people had changed their stance and were ready to accept the reasonable demands of the Tamil people.

I am not a supporter of the ’78 constitution of JR .The political system created under this constitution plunged the country into chaos. Yet, in deference to him I must admit that through this constitution which he designed to secure absolute power for himself, he had made a genuine effort to find solutions for the problems of the Tamil people. The status that he had conferred to the minority groups through this constitution could be described as a Silent Revolution.

One of the burning issues the Tamil youths had faced by that time was the issue of university admissions - the standardization policy introduced by the previous United Front government. JR, soon after assuming power, abolished this policy and set up the University Grants Commission and the administration of all matters pertaining to university admissions were assigned to the commission.

Then when drafting the ’78 constitution, he made it an opportunity to find solutions to the problems of the Tamil people.

When the new constitution was drafted there was a category of permanent residents among the upcountry Tamil estate workers who were not considered as citizens. Also there were two distinct categories of citizenship as citizens by birth and citizens by registration. The estate workers without a country were granted the fundamental rights under the clause 14(1) of the constitution. The two categories of citizenship were abolished and all citizens were treated as equal under the clause 26 of the constitution.

While Sinhalese remains the official language, both Sinhalese and Tamil languages were recognized as the national languages. (Clause 19) Tamil language was made the language of administration in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces. (Clause 22 (i)) Both Sinhalese and Tamil languages were made the language of courts throughout the country. Tamil was made the language of administration of the courts in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces.(24 (i) ) Any person living in any part of Sri Lanka was given the right to correspond with any government officer in any one of the two national languages of his/her preference (Clause 21 (2)) The right to have education in any one of the national languages that he/she prefers was granted (Clause 21 (i)) The responsibility of providing facilities for the practice of national languages was made the responsibility of the government. (Clause 25) A citizen should not be discriminated on account of religion, caste, sex; political views held and place of birth (Clause 12 (2))

The fundamental rights enshrined in clause 14 (i) and the provisions made for redress in the event such rights are violated (clause 17) provided a strong legal base for the minorities to safeguard their rights.

The measures incorporated in JR’s constitution to safeguard the rights of the minorities could be considered an extremely progressive and revolutionary approach. It is important to note that all these relief and safeguards were granted when the TULF had boycotted the Constituent Assembly avoiding participating in the process of framing the news constitution.

If the Tamil leaders were intelligent and honest enough, what they should have done was to work closely with the government and push this line towards translating the rights enshrined in the constitution into practical reality rather than carrying the Eelam flag and clamoring for a separate state. Yet, may be due to arrogance, dishonesty or stupidity, they refused to make use of this historic opportunity and resorted to separatism plunging the Tamil people in to an abyss of destruction. If the Tamil leaders had the courage to take one step backward at that moment, perhaps in addition to promoting and safeguarding the rights of the Tamil people, they would have been able to restore their public image and support which had begun to decline in favor of the militant youths who had been rising up for an armed struggle for a Tamil Eelam. If that happened, even the Black July of ‘83 could have been avoided.

It is a fallacy to say that the Sinhala Governments gave a hearing to the grievances of the Tamil people because of the guns of the LTTE. Kumar David had used this argument to support his point of view while Gamini Viyangoda had exaggerated it beyond due proportions .

The wrong and unjust policies which originated from the language policy of the Bandaranaike Government of 1956 and were continued up to the time of the United Front government of 1970 caused a great injustice to the Tamil community. Consequently, in dealing with government institutions, seeking government jobs and admission to universities, invariably the Tamils had to face unjust and unreasonable treatment. However, by 1977, the leaders of the south learning from the past mistakes were prepared to rectify those errors and redress the grievances. I am of the view that the Sinhalese people too, by this time had undergone an attitudinal change in respect to this problem. That is why the drastic changes effected by JR to the Sinhala national language policy in 1977 did not meet with strong opposition from the majority Sinhalese. Unfortunately the traditional leaders of Tamil people failed to make use of this golden opportunity and reap its benefits effectively. By that they not only dig their own grave but also plunged the struggle of Tamil people for their rights into a self destructive path.

The pride (esteem) and the emotions

I must state a few words about the pride that Prabahakaran is said to have infused into the Tamil people. Both Kumar David and Gamini Viyangoda hold a similar view in this connection. All pride is not equal. The so-called pride inculcated by Hitler in German people, Bin Laden in Muslims and Prabhakaran in Tamil people cannot be compared to the pride inculcated by Mahatma Gandhi among Indians, Martin Luther King among Black Americans and Mandela among the black people of South Africa. While Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Mandela inculcated a respectable pride in the people whom they represented, the same cannot be said in respect of the other names quoted above including Prabhakaran.

Lastly, I would like to touch on the LTTE’s defeat in the battle field and the consequential emotional impact it may have on the Tamil people. Kumar David holds that they will encounter emotions of defeat, despair and disillusionment. Gamini Viyangoda’s analysis is more emotional than that of David’s. He says that "they may get hondumandu, become confused. They will become distressed with the collective feeling of being defeated as a race". Emotions of this nature are common to any defeat. Not only in war, the defeat encountered in sports such as cricket and soccer may lead to similar emotional responses. When the second insurrection of the JVP was crushed, the society they represented might have gone through a similar emotional stress. But such emotions are temporary and not strong enough to jeopardize the existence of a nation forever.

Germany and Japan after being defeated during the Second World War may have gone through a similar stress. But their defeat did not endanger their existence forever. After the defeat both countries were able to rise as more effective and stronger nations. According to the World Development Report of 2008, in term of the Gross Domestic Product both Japan and Germany are ranked second only to the USA. After the defeat Germany was able to reject Fascism and rise as an advanced democratic nation. Similarly, the defeat of the LTTE will provide an opportunity to the Tamil people to give up terrorism and enter the mainstream of politics as a democratic community. Though the defeat of the LTTE may lead to a shock in the psyche of the Tamil people temporarily, the happiness that they experience by ending the life that they led under the shadow of death will no doubt compensate for the initial shock of defeat.