Jayalalithaa’s good neighborliness

Neighbors are allowed a certain amount of license.  If the branches of your mango tree have strayed into your neighbor’s domain, some mangoes are bound to fall into his garden.  If you are not helping him sweep the fallen leaves, you can’t really tell him not to pick the fruit.  If there is good neighborliness all around, things are easy.  You could ask him whether he wants you to chop off the invading branches and he could, by way of courtesy, ask you if it’s ok to keep some of the fallen fruit.

Not all neighbors are nice.  What if one neighbor has a long history of jumping into your premises when you are not around or while you are asleep and taking off with a kehel kena or two? What if you are in the habit of tossing your garbage over the wall and into his garden?  Then every dried leaf, every twig and even the sweetest melody that is whistled are bones of contention. 

So we draw lines.  Once lines are drawn there are laws.  There are statutes that come into play.  There is of course common sense.  If the boy next door hits a rubber ball into your garden, it would be a bit much to charge him for intrusion or for trespassing if he walks in to pick up the ball.  You either toss it back or tell him to come get it. If he picks a guava on his way in or out, you can smile or scowl or impose some kind of sanctions.  On the other hand, if the boy makes a habit of walking in and stripping your trees and claim right to the fruit, that’s just not on. 

This is why it is laughable when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa says ‘repeated actions on the part of the Sri Lankan Navy in arresting Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu undermine the confidence and goodwill which was sought to be built through direct talks between fishermen of the State and Sri Lanka’.

The lady is said to have written to Indian PM Manmohan Singh in agitation after 19 fishermen from Pudukottai and Ramanathapuram districts along with their 5 mechanized fishing boats were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy recently.   Jayalalithaa said this had sent “shock waves throughout the entire fishermen community” in Tamil Nadu.  Now that statement is quite a shocker.  You cross the line, you pay.  It’s simple.  No shocks there.    

Jayalalithaa is upset, it is reported, ‘by the attitude of the Sri Lankan government’. She is even more upset about ‘the inability of the Indian government to effectively protect their interests’. What is this ‘interest’?  In a word, ‘poaching’.  She is upset that Delhi is not aiding and abetting Tamil Nadu fisherman in poaching.  Wow!

These arrests could compromise talks regarding the vexed issue of Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters, the logical thing to do is to advise the fishermen not to stray.  Giving the green light to poaching and imposing a red on arrest doesn’t really create an environment conducive to working out a solution. 

Jayalalithaa should take a break.  She should meditate on her house, her garden, and what’s licit and illicit, proper and improper for her neighbor when it comes to stepping into her premises.  She could do better.  She could try walking into a neighboring state and grabbing the harvest with a simple statement, ‘what I can take is mine’.  She might get bitten by mongrels that irate farmers set on her.  If she complains about losing a piece of her rear end, the dog-owners might just say ‘what they could bite off is theirs’. 

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Fishy business

Daya Dissanayake, bi-lingual novelist and commentator on all things he believes deserve comment, offered one of the most pertinent observations on the Indo-Lanka spat over fishing rights.  The following is a rough translation of Daya’s thoughts:  ‘I am reminded of the Aggangnga Sutta when I think about people make claims on the fish in the sea.  I cannot understand how the fish could belong to the Indians or to us.  They belong to the ocean.  They were born and they exist but not to satisfy our hunger.  There are enough things in this good earth for us to consume; we don’t have to kill fish or any other creature.’

This is the real question of tenure but one which no one bothers to address.  Instead we have Tamil Nadu politicians up in arms over the way the Sri Lankan Navy treats fishermen from that Indian state. We have Sri Lankan fishermen who have strayed and are languishing in Indian jails like their Indian counterparts do in our jails. 

It is the contradictions that fascinate.  Tamil Nadu politicians often behave as though they love Sri Lankan Tamils more than Sri Lankan Tamils love themselves.  Sri Lankan Tamil politicians behave as though Tamil Nadu politicians are their saviors.  The fishermen themselves must wonder who their leaders really love; if they can love in the first instance of course. 

Now there are some hard facts that Tamil politicians on either side of the Palk Straits simply don’t want to talk about.  First, this was a non-issue while the LTTE was THE ISSUE in this corner of the Indian Ocean.  Both groups either loved the LTTE or were forced to claim that they loved the terrorist group.  At worst they would mutter ‘de facto sole voice of the Tamil people’.   During ‘LTTE Time’, the fish had a lovely time.  The fishermen didn’t have cause to complain and the politicians didn’t have to shoot accusing arrows in both directions on account of fishing brethren being ill-treated.  They simply didn’t fish.  They simply couldn’t take to the seas.  There was a war and it was fought as much on water as it was on land. 

But all that ended in May 2009. Now what?

Well, by and by, those who lived by the sea and believed they owned the lives of fish began to claim self-granted right. They went to sea.  They strayed, knowingly or unknowingly into ‘foreign waters’.  That’s how we came to where we are on the vexed question of fishing rights and all related issues. 

And yet, the TNA which so loves the Tamil people and believes the ‘Sinhala’ (sic) Government is out to do in the Tamils, not only does not say ‘thank you’ for creating conditions that allow these people to engage in chosen livelihood, but indulges in navel-gazing when they ought to be looking 

Jayalalitha and other in Tamil Nadu in the eye.  The Global Tamil Forum and other groups who toed Prabhakaran’s line and even now spend their time practicing Eelam-Speak, don’t seem to care about the plight of their fishing brethren.  Lesser citizens of the ‘traditional homelands’, are they?

We don’t know if the fish are aware of these political realities, but if they’ve studied the political and economic commerce between the two countries and are aware of the relevant rhetoric, AND if they could utter word, one can be sure they will whisper, ‘Hypocrites All!’   

msenevira@gmail.com

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Let’s call the Tamil Nadu bluff

Poor Manmohan Singh.  It looks like nothing he does (or does not do) wins him applause from Tamil Nadu.  Whether or not the Indian Prime Minister is concerned about the growing Chinese footprint in Sri Lanka, he will be (as he as) harassed to the point of tears by the likes of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and ex-Chief Minister (and Chief Minister aspirant) respectively. 

The virulent and irrational sentiments expressed by these Tamil Nadu politicians don’t really ruffle any feathers here in Sri Lanka. In fact the aforementioned two are trustworthy suppliers for those who pen funny captions.  The latest is a cartoon doing the rounds on Facebook and Twitter where the Indian Cricket Board is urged to include a ‘tournament clause’ prohibiting Lasith Malinga from yorking Murali Vijay ‘because it might hurt Tamil sentiments’. 

Earlier, the Board submitted to pressure from this racist and xenophobic leaders by determining that Sri Lankan crickets taking part in the Indian Premier League tournament will not play in Tamil Nadu.  Sri Lanka pilgrims including both the clergy and lay persons, government officials, business persons and tourists have been targeted and attacked on numerous occasions in that state, which was also used as an operational base by the LTTE terrorists, who also enjoyed the largess of successive Indian governments by way of training, funds and weapons. 

Now, these eccentric politicians demand that India pass a resolution against Sri Lanka in the Parliament.  They urge Delhi to declare that Sri Lanka is not a friendly country.  For now, Delhi has resisted, but one cannot tell when electoral prerogatives pertaining to coalition needs make the Government do a re-think on this issue. 

The argument can be made that India has never been Sri Lanka’s friend.  There is very little left for Delhi (never mind Tamil Nadu) to do by way of affirming the fact, and we are not talking about its anti-Sri Lanka position in Geneva.  But there are things that Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi can insist that Delhi do immediately.

First of all, they can insist that Manmohan Singh issue a directive prohibiting Indians from making use of dual-citizenship facilities proposed by the Sri Lankan Government.   Not because this would allow all kinds of racketeers and terrorist-lovers from South India from setting up base here, altering ethnic composition leading to further wrecking of the reconciliation process, fermenting insurgency and robbing Sri Lankans of jobs (as is alleged in Divulapitiya where an Indian company robs groundwater and has reneged on pledges to employ over a 1000 locals in favor of Indians because ‘there’s a language problem’) and such; because Sri Lanka ‘is a bad place’ and Sri Lankans, especially Sinhalese are ‘bad people’.

Secondly, then can insist that India withdraws from bidding for oil exploration in Sri Lankan waters: ‘Sri Lanka is bad, Sri Lankans are bad and we don’t even want their oil!’  Thirdly, they must prevail upon Delhi to get its spotlessly clean hands off the dirty thing called ‘Sampur’.  Fourthly India should give up the oil tanks: ‘we shall have no truck with Sri Lanka, in whatever form, in whatever deal, whatever business’.  Fifthly, they can tell Delhi to issue a travel advisory stopping Indians from visiting Sri Lanka, whether for business or pleasure.  Sixth, they can ask Delhi to demand that Indian companies (for example Airtel) to cease operations in Sri Lanka: ‘Sri Lanka won’t see another Mahendra Jeep or Maruti Car and they will have to develop their own pharmaceutical industry but who cares?’  Sixthly, IOC can close shop: ‘Let Ceypetco run the petrol sheds!’  The oil tanks must be abandoned forthwith, they can add.

It is unlikely that Delhi will do anything of the kind and not just because of China.  On the other hand, because of China, India will want to retain at least a toe-hold in a country that already has a huge Chinese footprint.  Perhaps it is time for Sri Lanka to call the Tamil Nadu bluff, i.e. preempt Tamil Nadu and save Manmohan Singh the blushes by facilitating all of the above. 

Let’s face it.  The question is not whether or not India should consider Sri Lanka a friend but whether we should or should not calling a spade a spade and call India what it is: Sri Lanka’s No 1 Enemy.  We can of course be nice and be photo-op ‘friends’ as is customary in the doctrine of ‘maintaining appearances’, but do what is best in our interest.  After all, there’s little to lose after all that India has done to cross off the ‘friendly’ adjective in the notion ‘Indo-Lanka relations’.  Now that would really stump Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi.  Nothing trips trippers than the truth and these two have happily tripped along for far too long. 

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