By Kassapa
Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) perished in a watery grave at Nanthikadal on May 19, 2019. Last week marked his 70th birth anniversary. It is also around the same time that the LTTE commemorates ‘Maaveerar Naal’ or ‘Great heroes Day’ on November 27, a day after Prabhakaran’s birthday, as it marks the day the very first LTTE fighter died.
There was a huge furore over the celebration of ‘Maaveerar Naal’ in the North and East. Prior to this, governments in Colombo had clamped down on these commemorations stating that they amounted to an endorsement of the LTTE, a banned terrorist organisation in the country.
This year, the scenario was different. The new Jathika Jana Balavegaya (JJB) government adopted an entirely different stance. Commemoration of those who died in the North and East during the three-decade long war against terror was allowed, it said, subject to the caveat that it should not publicise or endorse the LTTE in any way such as by displaying LTTE symbols and flags. This, after the JJB became the only national party to win elections in the North and East for the first time in Sri Lanka’s post-independent history.
There were indeed many commemorations in the North and East. Of more than two hundred such events, ten used LTTE insignia and will be dealt with in court, Police said. The JJB’s stalwart in the North, Fisheries Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar acknowledged that the people in those regions “had the right to remember their dead”.
The government’s hope was that this would the set the tone for reconciliation. That was hardly the case though. The usual suspects, in hiding after the bashing they got from voters, first at the presidential election and then beaten even more severely at the general election, were quick to come out of the woodwork, crying ‘Tiger’!
Take Wimal Weerawansa, for instance. He is now a political orphan. The man who was the most attractive speaker on the platforms of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is now not wanted by anyone. The public have had a bellyful of his conspiracy theories. Though officially a part of Dilith Jayaweera’s presidential campaign, he was hardly at its forefront. Knowing what was in store, he did not even contest the general election and wasn’t seen or heard of much since the presidential election.
Yet after November 27, there he was at a television talks show, waxing eloquent about how the JJB government, by sanctioning the November 27 remembrances, was allowing the LTTE to regroup. Listening to him, the clever scaremonger that he always is, one would have thought that an LTTE attacks was imminent.
It was no different on social media platforms. In what seemed like an organised effort, the government was being castigated for its decision. The difference however was that there were photos which implied that the recent commemorations included the display of Tiger signs and symbols. In fact, they were from such events held either in previous years or overseas and as such, designed to mislead and convey the impression that LTTE was resurgent.
The government quickly clamped down on those who posted the offending posts on social media, as they should do. This was in keeping with President Anura Kumara’s Dissanayake’s assertion that there will be no room for racism whatsoever.
However, in doing so, they have acted in a ham-handed manner, invoking the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). This is a piece of legislation that the JJB has consistently and vehemently opposed when they were in the opposition only a few months ago. To use it now, when there are other laws under which suspects can be detained, only provides more ammunition to its detractors.
Cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa did say that the government is still committed to repealing the PTA but had to use existing legislation in this instance. That was too little, too late. The damage had already been done and the opposition had gone to town about the JJB’s volte face on the PTA.
Before all this erupted, Namal Rajapaksa, the dethroned Crown Prince of the Rajapaksa clan was also engaging in some sabre rattling. What caused him to raise his voice was the opening of several roads in the North and the release of a private land to its rightful owners after thirty years during which it housed an army camp. Be careful, cautioned Namal, and remember that we ended a thirty-year war. That was, of course, fifteen years ago.
What Weerawansa, Rajapaksa, and their band of social media keyboard warriors have not realised is that voters overwhelmingly rejected their brand of blatantly racist politics. This, apart from the corruption that was the hallmark of their regime, was the reason Rajapaksa was reduced to three percent at the general election and not even that at the presidential election. Blinded by this ignorance, they believe that evoking Prabhakaran’s ghost will get them back on the road to political salvation.
They may have found their perfect partner in Ramanathan Archchuna. The newly elected Jaffna district parliamentarian caused a stir on the first day of the new Parliament by sitting on the Leader of the Opposition’s chair and refusing to budge. A medical doctor, many question whether he is of sound mind, for he has been in an altercation this week as well. Nevertheless, he goes around calling Prabhakaran his ‘God’. That is his chosen way of keeping his name in the news.
In the final analysis, there is little difference between Namal Rajapaksa, Wimal Weerawansa, Ramanathan Archuna and their respective followers. They all share one belief: that resurrecting Vellupillai Prabhakaran’s ghost is their ticket to power. They are all hoping that the Sri Lankan voter will be gullible enough to fall prey to communal slogans again, provided they are concocted in a convincing manner.
We hope not. Velupillai Prabhakaran died an inglorious death. The same fate- not literally but politically speaking, of course- may well await Wimal Weerawansa, Namal Rajapaksa and Ramanathan Archchuna at the next election.
