If the TNA’s manifesto with its not-so-subtle separatist
posturing dismays those who believe that the TNA has to be part of any
discussion on post-conflict resolution, the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate
C.V. Wigneswaran must leave them in tears.
First, because his inconsistency plays into the hands of
those who harbor apprehensions about the TNA’s political will with respect to
reconciliation. He was, ab initio, a ‘problem’ for the
hardliners in the TNA. He was a living
contradiction of the discrimination gripe. He was ‘Colombo’, an eminent symbol of
the city’s cosmopolitan brag.
He also walked into, precipitated and is a symbol of party
disunity. The TNA’s constituent parties
are not exactly ‘friendly’ to begin with, and Wigneswaran’s arrival, given his
professional and public stature, has not exactly elicited cheer from the
‘lesser’ parties of the coalition. He
may have been cheered by section of the Sinhala politic for snubbing Tamil Nadu
politicians revered by Tamil politicians, but this has clearly irked his
detractors within the TNA. Such division
stumps the emergence of an authentic and united political voice that can
articulate grievance and extract ‘solution’.
The second reason for dismay, clearly evident for example in
the long lament of seasoned and well-informed commentator on Tamil politics,
D.B.S. Jeyaraj where he refers to the how and why of Wigneswaran praising
Prabhakaran. Jeyaraj details a pandering
to hawkishness which many believe detracts from rather than further the cause
of reconciliation.
While a landslide win for the TNA would save some blushes,
at least to enable the hawks to claim it won an overwhelming mandate to be
‘Eelamish’, a result which shows even the most marginal of gains for the ruling
party would draw many pooh-poohs from many quarters. Even a landslide win on a hardline platform
promising the undeliverable will only harden counterpart hawks and ensure that
the country as a whole remains at an impasse on the vexed issue of inter-communal
harmony. The shameless resurrection of
Tigerish rhetoric shows that lessons have not only not been learned, but are
being deliberately ignored for petty political gain.
When someone of Wigneswaran’s stature and reputation begins
to mimic someone like Suresh Premachandran it only indicates the poverty of
Tamil politics, a poverty which forces party and candidate to pander to the
most chauvinistic of sentiments.
While all this can be brushed aside as ‘part and parcel of
electoral politics,’ Wigneswaran’s flip-flopping on Velupillai Prabhakaran must
upset those who believed he had the credentials to ‘bridge’ the so-called
ethnic divide and that he was a man who the Sinhalese (for example) would be
willing to listen to. In politics, track
record matters, but given the terrible blows to reconciliation dealt by the
LTTE, no one who glorifies that terrorist organization can expect anything but
derision by the majority community.
What is increasingly apparent is that Wigneswaran is just
another Siva Pasupathy or worse, a closet Tiger. That’s nothing new to those who distrust the
TNA and have not forgotten that party’s shameless genuflection before terrorism
and terrorists. More disturbing to those
who championed Wigneswaran or believed that the TNA was a credible outfit to
discuss anything with, is Wigneswaran’s turn-around with respect to the LTTE
and in particular its ruthless leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Wigneswaran stated in Prabhakaran’s home town,
Velvettithurai, that the terrorist was ‘a great hero’ and one ‘who fought for
the freedom of the Tamil people’.
Wigneswaran cannot pretend to be unaware of the horrors unleashed on the
Tamil people in the name of liberation.
There were no caveats, no subtlety and no apology in his words. He effectively downgraded himself to the
level of Daya Master at the time the LTTE was a politico-military factor.
Snubbing the likes of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi is one
thing, but thumbing nose at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi
Pillay is certainly not going to draw any cheers. Pillay, a mass of contradiction herself and
afflicted with partial myopia to boot, nevertheless stated, ‘those in the
diaspora who continue to revere the memory of the LTTE must recognize that
there should be no place for the glorification of such a ruthless
organization’.
Perhaps Wigneswaran took refuge in the ‘Diaspora Clause’ and
believes he will be spared a knuckle-rap, but he has clearly embarrassed the
lady, who many in the ‘cause’ see as ally.
The next time she talks about reconciliation, negotiation and such, she
could be asked, ‘with whom?’ She won’t
be able to say ‘TNA’ because her statement could be thrown in her face, viz,
‘you mean with people who glorify a ruthless organization, who, in your book,
“should have no place”?’
Indeed, given her special interest in Sri Lankan affairs,
Pillay may want to say something about or to Wigneswaran. As for Sri Lankans sick and tired of
communalism and chauvinism, it would be hard for them to see Wigneswaran as
anything but ‘obstacle’ and read whatever he says as ‘stuff out of
Prabhakaran’s old hat’.
C.V. Wigneswaran has bid adieu not just to the institutions
of justice, but decency, civilization, reconciliation and potential
statesmanship. The Tamil community is
poorer. Sri Lanka as a whole is
poorer.
[You can reach Malinda Seneviratne at msenevira@gmail.com]
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