India's paradigm of Virtue

by Charles.S.Perera

(October 30, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) L.Ganesan, the President of the Tamil Nadu State BJP Unit, says that India has a moral right and responsibility to intervene in Sri Lanka Tamils issue and should not be a silent spectator to the sufferings ,of the civilian Tamils in the Island.

Those are very generous words, but coming from India it is our duty to ask Mr. Ganesan whether he thinks , that India has a greater moral right and responsibility to intervene in an issue that is an internal matter of a neighbouring sovereign state, than looking after its own responsibilities towards those who are suffering in its own midst. India is not a repository of high virtue.

Before, specifying the neglect of India's moral right and responsibilities towards certain categories of people entrenched in its own society, let us see more clearly the situation in Sri Lanka. If Mr. Ganesan thinks that India has a moral right and responsibility to intervene in Sri Lanka Tamils issue, India has an equal moral right and responsibility to intervene in Sri Lanka with regard to the Sinhala, and Muslim issue as well. Because, the Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim communities have been dragged into fear and suffering, through a group of terrorists who were lodged and trained in Indian soil, and whose roots are in the Tamil Community.

In Sri Lanka, Tamils, Muslims and Sinhala make up the Sri Lankan Nation. The Tamils are not treated differently from the Muslims or the Sinhala. Sri Lanka has its own problems with regard to its "family" of the three main Communities; but the government will attend to those problems in an order of priority. Just now the priority is to end terrorism in all its facets, and after that the government will attend to other matters, in a more calm and a peaceful atmosphere.

In a recent interview to Mr.N.Ram of Hindu, appearing in the Sri Lanka Guardian Website on 29 October, 2008, The President of Sri Lanka explains clearly the position with regard to the terrorist issue in Sri Lanka. It would educate Mr. Ganeshan, on the situation of Sri Lanka , of which Mr.Ganesan seems to have only a distorted view. He should remove his glasses of prejudice and read that interview.

In Sri Lanka there is no caste problem, as in India, and no community in Sri Lanka suffer from an inhuman rejection pathology. There are not many inter marriages among the three main communities , but still there are mixed marriages between the Sinhala and Tamil, and Sinhala and Muslims. There is no great taboo between the communities in their social interaction.
Sri Lanka has unfortunately the terrorist menace that has more or less damaged the social fabric. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka is quite capable of sorting out things, and take necessary steps to improve relations between Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala. Main problem the government is faced with just now is on an " ethnic problem", which has still not been defined. Different people have different definitions of it. Once the principle problem with the terrorists is overcome, the government will be able to come to an understanding to solve these problems without leaving any after effects.

For that Sri Lanka needs a little time, and rid itself of those who have a habit of interfering more for their own benefit, without even understanding the real problem at issue in Sri Lanka. This has caused the government difficulties in getting rid of the main problem in hand , without undue delay, to give its full attention to those secondary issues.

Now Mr. Ganeshan, should see for himself the problems India has in its midst., to which the Government of India (along with the Tamil Nadu political leaders) has a greater moral right and responsibility to attend to, without wasting its time interfering into the affairs of Sri Lanka, which has a government which is quite mature and able to settle its problems on its own.

In English Jurisprudence there are a number of maxims of equity. One of them is that "He Who Comes into Equity must come with Clean Hands". It is easy to denounce others for their actions, errors and omissions, but in doing so one fails to look around to see whether one is "morally clean and responsible" where one's own moral rights and responsibilities towards others are concerned. If one is guilty of wrong doings, errors and omission towards one's own people, then in "equity" those persons have no right to make accusations against others for their lapses.

India falls into the category of one coming to equity with "unclean hands". Because India has number of unsolved problems, in addition to the problems created by Tamil Nadu, which the Indian central government may not have expect. There is the pending Kashmir problem, and in addition to that nothing is still settled with the Akali Dal. India does not want to cultivate good neighbourly relations with the countries in its proximity. We see it with Pakistand, and Sri Lanka in its neighbourhood. The problems India is creating to Sri Lanka is part of this un-neighbourly attitude of India. India also has problems with the Tribal Communities in the areas bordering Assam .

But the worst of all is that which stinks to high heavens. It is India's inability to solve the problem of the untouchables. India's emergence into being a modern state, which has even advanced into the conquest of space, shamelessly carries with it the stigma of caste prejudice against the dalit population.

India has a moral right and a responsibility to intervene on the untouchable issue which is still a great problem in the rural India, where the untouchables are treated inhumanly for the reason of having been born into that caste. Tamil Nadu which threaten the Central Government of India with drastic measures if it does not intervene to save the terrorists in Sri Lanka, does nothing to demand that the dalit population be treated as any other Indian. India has a moral right and responsibility to intervene to stop the harassment meted out to the dalits.

Following is an extract from an article,

"India's "Untouchables Face Violence,Discrimination"

By Hillary Mayell, for National Geographic News

";;More than 160 million people in India are considered "Untouchable"—people tainted by their birth into a caste system that deems them impure, less than human.

Human rights abuses against these people, known as Dalits, are legion. A random sampling of headlines in mainstream Indian newspapers tells their story: "Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers"; "Dalit tortured by cops for three days"; "Dalit 'witch' paraded naked in Bihar";
"Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool"; "7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash"; "5 Dalits lynched in Haryana"; "Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked"; "Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits". ….." (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0602_030602_untouchables.html)
India intervenes to save a handful of ruthless terrorists, in Sri Lanka, leaving aside its own innocent Dalit population, who are being subjected to utmost cruelty and made to live in subhuman conditions.

India is sadly mixing up its priorities - Sri Lanka Guardian