The Rajiv Gandhi Memorial at Sriperumbudur.by.R. Jayadevan
(November,18, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) There is wide ranging opinion about Indian intervention in Sri Lanka. Unlike its failed efforts in the late 1980’s, one section of the opinion expects India to intervene to end the crisis in Sri Lanka once and for all.
For India, both the Sinhala leadership and the dominant Tamil Tigers are untrustworthy parties and the situation prevailing in Sri Lanka at present compared to its last intervention is worse to contemplate its immediate engagement.
The Sinhala leadership in the South is Tamil hating and is progressively taking into a formation that will never accommodate the Tamils as part of Sri Lanka. On the other hand, though the LTTE is a weaker body compared to twenty years ago, is considered to be a nasty unit and will do anything to preserve its identity and survival.
It is the lesson that India learnt in the 1987 intervention which is preventing it to engage in a serious way again. Both arch enemies without using the Indian intervention in 1987 for the countries betterment, decided to join hands to humiliate her resulting in the Indian withdrawal from Sri Lanka. It was matter of time when LTTE was about to be routed by the Indian forces, when the then President of Sri Lanka decided to pamper the Tigers to evict the Indian intervention. If India had been allowed to continue, there would have been total annihilation of the LTTE and peace would have been achieved avoiding failures of past fifteen years of the successive Sri Lankan governments.
Since their withdrawal, India has not moved an inch even and sitting and watching Sri Lanka progressing to an era of anarchy. The Tamil Tigers too are trying their best to harness India with the help of its maverick and opportunistic contacts in Tamil Nadu. These contacts keep on changing their uniforms. In the early eighties they screamed for Indian intervention. When India intervened, they screamed that India should back off from Sri Lanka. They are now back again on the swing asking India to intervene.
For India, these LTTE elements are minor irritation, which it could tollerate. It cannot be envisaged Tamil Nadu will rise again to the scale it did in the 1980’s. For India, it is ‘once bitten twice shy’ situation.
(November,18, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) There is wide ranging opinion about Indian intervention in Sri Lanka. Unlike its failed efforts in the late 1980’s, one section of the opinion expects India to intervene to end the crisis in Sri Lanka once and for all.
For India, both the Sinhala leadership and the dominant Tamil Tigers are untrustworthy parties and the situation prevailing in Sri Lanka at present compared to its last intervention is worse to contemplate its immediate engagement.
The Sinhala leadership in the South is Tamil hating and is progressively taking into a formation that will never accommodate the Tamils as part of Sri Lanka. On the other hand, though the LTTE is a weaker body compared to twenty years ago, is considered to be a nasty unit and will do anything to preserve its identity and survival.
It is the lesson that India learnt in the 1987 intervention which is preventing it to engage in a serious way again. Both arch enemies without using the Indian intervention in 1987 for the countries betterment, decided to join hands to humiliate her resulting in the Indian withdrawal from Sri Lanka. It was matter of time when LTTE was about to be routed by the Indian forces, when the then President of Sri Lanka decided to pamper the Tigers to evict the Indian intervention. If India had been allowed to continue, there would have been total annihilation of the LTTE and peace would have been achieved avoiding failures of past fifteen years of the successive Sri Lankan governments.
Since their withdrawal, India has not moved an inch even and sitting and watching Sri Lanka progressing to an era of anarchy. The Tamil Tigers too are trying their best to harness India with the help of its maverick and opportunistic contacts in Tamil Nadu. These contacts keep on changing their uniforms. In the early eighties they screamed for Indian intervention. When India intervened, they screamed that India should back off from Sri Lanka. They are now back again on the swing asking India to intervene.
For India, these LTTE elements are minor irritation, which it could tollerate. It cannot be envisaged Tamil Nadu will rise again to the scale it did in the 1980’s. For India, it is ‘once bitten twice shy’ situation.
With Sonia Gandhi playing a pivotal role in Indian government, no one can expect India to take proactive role in Sri Lanka. India having burnt its fingers is determined to play cool even if it is provoked.Question is asked when India would become receptive. The present political leadership in Delhi is not going to change its track. The political formation that will take shape in two years time at the next Lok Sabah election could pave the way for some change of direction. Or alternatively, change in leadership in the LTTE following sudden demise of Pirabkaran and Pottu will give room for some manoeuvring by India.
Without India, Sri Lanka will find it hard to solve its problems. See what is happening to the economy of Sri Lanka. At the time when India is experiencing unprecedented economic growth, a shadow of that growth is not felt in Sri Lanka.
The nationalists of Sri Lanka are living like frogs in the well. The Sinhala nationalists for instance, do not realise they are only thriving on the antics of their pride to be Sinhalese. Their extremist nationalism does not transform into real nationalism achieve socio-economic progress to advance the country, instead take form of minority hate nationalism. Majority of the national industries in the country are in the hands of the foreigners and the county’s survival is in the hands of the donor countries and the IMF. Sixty years since independence has not moved Sri Lanka even a scrap to enjoy the economic and political freedom that the country badly need.
The politicians are preoccupied with playing the politics of cultivating hate and violence in the country. The present political experience in Sri Lanka confirms how people are unable to wake up to the reality that the country is sinking in a fast progressing way.
The presentation of the budget in the parliament some days ago is real testimony to indifference of the nation to recognise the cancer progressively throttling the country.
The President is constitutionally the head of the arm forces. Whatever the pros and cons of this status, let us accept the status quo as a visionary arrangement found by the father of the constitution late President J R Jayawardene. For the first time the present President had gone further and had taken on the position as the Finance Minister of the country and has allocated large sums of money for his military machinery.
When a budget is prepared, various ministries and department send their proposals to the Finance Minster who has an arduous task of considering all the factors including growth of the economy and funding from the international agencies to make a balanced decision. How could the President being the Finance Minister reach a balanced decision? His role as the President of the country itself is enough for him to have sleepless nights. How on earth he is able to perform his Finance Minister role is unimaginable rocket science one could contemplate. He allocated funds for his presidency and as the head of armed forces to the defence sector without any independence in decision making.
Sri Lanka is not taking the forward steps but progressing backward to reach the medieval age. The armchair extremist will blame India, the IMF and the imperialists over the fast progressing decay. The extremism and prejudices are the root causes of the decay. Sri Lankans politicians are still still to understand what modern day governance requires.
The way Sri Lanka is progressing with Buddhist monks entering the parliament without confining to their monasteries and extremist playing extreme politics will only help Sri Lanka sink further into anarchy and become an irritant nation in the subcontinent and for the whole world.
The way things are progressing, at some point, it will have no other alternative other than to give up its sovereignty to India and become part of the Indian state structure. India may wait and can wait until then.
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