Election 2010: What happened to the arts?

By V. Anandasangaree

(May 13, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) This is not the outburst of a defeated candidate desperately looking out for convincing reasons for his defeat, that will satisfy his disappointed voters. This is the expression of genuine feelings of a man who had been devotedly serving his country and its people for more than half a century.

This comes as an explanatory note to clear the prejudices created in the minds of the voters about me by false and malicious propaganda of the TNA in particular and some other candidates of a few Political parties and Independent Groups. Every concerned person should read it and preserve it. Without acting selfishly and foolishly, merely to get a few seats or more seats than any other political party, if the TNA leadership had been more thoughtful and cautious, the situation today would have been totally different. The TNA’s full concentration was directed towards my defeat, which they achieved to their hearts content with their malicious propaganda and disgracefully with free flow of money and liquor. In my fifty years of politics I would have faced atleast fifteen elections both local and parliamentary but money and liquor never paid a roll in any election.

It was very indecent on the part of the TNA candidates to go round unashamedly saying that the Government gave me a very large amount of money to throw in to the campaign to defeat the TNA. Even pamphlets had been issued by the TNA candidates to this effect. It is a pity that the common man could not understand that the government had its own nominees and fully backed them. Most of the candidates from the TNA were new faces from various Political parties with varying back grounds and full financial backing. But Mr. R. Sampanthan who had been for a long time a colleague of mine and served as Secretary General of the TULF of which I am the President, should have known well of my honesty and credibility. He cannot be expected to defend me because it was he and another TNA member Mr. A. Vinayagamoorthy who told the LTTE leadership that I requested the Japanees Special envoy H.E Yasushi Akashi to have the Elephant Pass Camp returned to the Sri Lankan Forces. The LTTE in turn having taken it from them carried on a malicious campaign against me for many years through their local media and those under their control all over the world and set the Tamils against me. The thoroughly brain washed Tamil People still consider it as a treacherous act of mine and are not prepaid to forget it easily. Mr. Sampanthan and others in the TNA during their close association and while acting as their proxies never took any steps to clear this with the LTTE or advice them to stop hunting for me which they were doing until they were hunted down. During the 2004 elections apart from this accusation I was also accused of running a textile business in India and liquor shop in Wellawatte. But infact I don’t have a shop even on any pavement in any part of the world.

At a time like this when our people are in a desperate position, I can’t play into the hands of our enemies. But one should realize that I too have a duty to clear my name. It is also my duty to clear the prejudice created about me in the minds of our people. Since I have no support from most of the media institution, I am compelled to bring this out in the form of a small booklet. I am not jealous about a paper promoting or projecting one as a leader. That is left to their choice but let no one trample me without just cause. Let my assurance go on record that I am independent and act independently without acting as an agent of anybody.

Statement issued by the President of the TULF Mr.V.Anandasangaree on the General Election held on 08-04-2010

The open invitation of the senior leader of the Tamil National Alliance Mr.R. Sampanthan to all Parties of the North and the East, to join hands in the name of Tamil Unity and work together, did not give me any surprise but only appeared as a good joke. Things would have been different if such interest had been taken before the elections. I am more senior to Mr. R. Sampanthan in Politics. Just before the last elections I submitted a ten point program and invited all to join hands to work it out and also offered to include any new proposals or to amend any of my proposals, if suggested by anybody. Mr. R. Sampanthan ignored my call for unity. The Tamil National Alliance at the 2004 General elections, with Mr. R.Sampanthan as its President, obtained nomination from the LTTE conceding that they are the sole representatives of the Tamils and won 22 seats by fraudulent means, unheard of in the history of the country and paved the way for the destruction of the Tamil People. It was the late Mr.S,P.Thamilselvan a leader of the LTTE who gave them nomination. The TNA members of Parliament should have resigned their seats soon after the LTTE was defeated and many front liners including Mr.V.Prabakaran and several thousand of their fighting cadre killed. If they had done so I would have appreciated them and also accepted Mr.R.Sampanthan’s invitation. Accepting responsibility for the death of several thousand LTTE cadre, the TNA members should have resigned their seats in Parliament. They did not express one word of sympathy on the death of the LTTE Leader Mr. Prabakaran who gave them responsible positions that lasted six years. They did not even condemn the manner in which they were killed, instead the very next day they changed their stand. At the last Parliamentary elections, the TNA having thrown out a few LTTE members, took in a few new hands, who did not have any dealings with their alliance partners and nominated them as candidates at the election having christened them as TNA members. The TNA’s claims that their victory at the Poll is remarkable and that they have been elected as the sole representatives of the Tamil People cannot be accepted. Living in a dream world they are inviting all the other parties to join hands with them. They are maintaining absolute silence on the split that had occurred in the Alliance. They have also not revealed as to who and who got elected from each one of their alliance partners. My position is that the TNA had not got a mandate from the Tamil People.

At the general elections held in 2004, of the 284026 polled, the TNA obtained 257320 votes which was 90% of the total polled. But at the election held in April this year the TNA polled 65119 votes which is only 45.85 % of the total polled. Only 18% of the total of 721359 voters had taken part in the voting which means that the TNA obtained only 9% of the total votes in the Jaffna Electoral District. It is ridiculous for any one to claim that the TNA got a mandate from the Tamil People and Mr. R. Sampanthan’s claim is far from the truth. I disputed a similar claim of Mr. Sampanthan earlier that whatever votes General Sarath Fonseka obtained at the Presidential election was due to his call to Tamils to vote for him. If Mr. Sampanthan’s claim is true how did the 113873 votes cast infavour of the General got reduced to 65119 within a period of three months .

The whole of the Jaffna electoral district knew very well as to how the pro-government and government sponsored candidates treated me,. Hiding this fact from the public, the TNA itself campaigned that the government had sent me very large sum of money for distribution among the people and to campaign against the TNA candidates. Without any hesitation they mercilessly let loose deliberate lies about me and fabricated stories about me which is available with them in abundance. Some local dailies blackout news relating to me and went to the maximum level in promoting the TNA candidates, several fold more than what they normally do, without any adverse report about anyone of them. All journalistic norms were violated favouring the TNA and to my detriment. Mr. Sampanthan thanking the papers for helping them to win the elections itself proves my claim that some papers had acted very partially with a vengeance. Some papers had been doing it systematically during the last six years and had to be held responsible for the destruction of our people. They had also prevented the TNA members from doing their duty. Without condemning the atrocious activities that took place in Vanni, all such activities were appreciated and glorified.

All my criticism, advices and very useful suggestions could not stand against their massive propaganda against me. All my explanations had been blacked out. The strong propaganda of the TNA to brand me as a traitor had been successful. I am a very senior Tamil politician of over 50 years. The TNA with the help of some papers had cheated the people and made them believe that I am an agent of the government. Action taken by some papers to take revenge on me not only turned out to be detrimental to the people but also paved the way for the distruction of the LTTE and the Tamil race. There is no justification for any paper to harbor any grievance against me. I am doing politics for over 50 years with devotion.

How did I betray the Tamil Cause?. What wrong did I do to my people. One should have visited Vanni and seen for himself without staying in Jaffna and Colombo and imagin things. People have lost their limbs, eye sights , husbands wives, children, mothers, fathers, brothers sisters, uncles, and aunts. People did not realize what and what they had lost. Only those who had not lost anything were in a mood to vote. There are people who even say that they have lost nothing to feel for the loss. Member of the TNA should ask themselves as to whether they did their duty properly during the past six years, as member of Parliament . Are they not responsible for the desperate situation in which the Vanni people are living today? What had they lost to worry about? No one can do anything to them as long as the charms like ‘nationalism’ and ‘self determination’ are there. For our people these charms will hold good to the last Tamil whatever happen to them . But it is the duty of everyone to bring out to the public the sufferings of the people. Fear for anybody will not silence me. How can one be branded of a traitor for doing his duty? If all got together and unanimously condemned some of the activities of the Tigers they would have reformed themselves and would have perhaps achieved something. How can I be called a traitor for finding fault with the government and the LTTE whenever the people are in distress, due to the government’s action or that of the LTTEs.

If only the LTTE had taken into consideration my suggestions and criticism or in the alternative the TNA had advised them to do so, the lives of several thousands of our children and the valuable properties of the people also would have been saved . How many times I pleaded with the LTTE to give up arms? Who else among us or which of our organizations asked for it? But as penalty for doing so, the honorary title bestowed on me was “traitor”. Our people spread all over the world living with all comforts and some of them who publish weekly papers had been mercilessly attacking me in very demeaning ways. It did not bother me because those who are very badly affected are people of the Killinochchi district and of the adjoining districts of Mannar, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu. I had a duty to speak and write on their behalf. I lived with them for a long time. Many of those known to me are no more. Many of them were killed un-necessarily and some died for various other reasons. There was only one thing that I could do for them and that was to bring to the notice of the others about their grievances and sufferings. I wrote to the Head’s of states, leaders of Tamil Nadu, the President, the heads of Political parties and Diplomatic Missions and many such others. No right thinking person could have found fault with me, instead would have only appreciated me. The local papers that blackout my writings released to the press, could have themselves replied me if I were wrong or these papers could have been used by anybody to reply me. Why didn’t any one do it?

Most of the violent actions of the LTTE were so provocating that they could have sparked of several communal riots. When 13 soldiers were killed in Jaffna in July 1983, the whole country burned resulting in the death of many Tamils and damage to their property. Subsequent events would have made things worse . I have heard from many friends that my statements and appeals made at the proper time had pacified the people and defused the tension created many times. In any case the purpose of such appeals and statements were made to impress on the civil society that the Tamils do not condone the actions of the LTTE and also that it is the duty of the Sinhalese people to give protection to the Tamils who live in their midst. It is a pity that even intellectuals living in the south, especially Colombo did not understand the purpose of those writings and did not read in between the lines and give the messages to the people, who had no capacity to understand the real purpose of those appeals and statements. It is very unfortunate that the Tamil public servants academics, University students teachers and parents of school going children did not understand or appreciated me for my writings.

I am a follower of Mahathma Gandhi from the year 1947 and became a devotee of his since his assassination. As far as possible I try to live up to his ideals. I hate violence and do not encourage or condone violence. I am neither a cheat nor a fraud. I do not hesitate to call a spade a spade. After the CFA was signed between the government and the LTTE I boldly said at press interview that the LTTE leader will never take up arms again. One day in Parliament I told the House that a day will soon come for Mr. Prabakaran to go round the world like Yaseer Arafath and also found fault with the Tamil Nadu government for passing a resolution, demanding from the Sri Lanka government to arrest and handover Prabakaran to the Tamil Nadu Government. I cannot tolerate People being harassed, tortured or killed. One should have lost a limb, the eye sight or a dear one to feel the pain of the loss. The feelings of the Vanni people will not be the same as that of the people of Jaffna The whole world knows of the magnitude of the loss suffered by the people of Vanni. The rich had become paupers over-night and at one stage all ADPs were in par with one another, all with begging bowls and uncertain of receiving any compensation for their losses. No one is talking about it now. Apart from that in certain families hardly one person is left alive. They still mourn the deaths of their dear ones they lost in Mathalan. The Tamils of the North and the East have many problems to worry about. Music programs are organized here and there to cause them irritation without any consideration for their mental condition. The Urban Council Vauniya and the Members of Parliament for Vanni should note that the IDPs neither need enjoyment nor in a mood for enjoyment.

The LTTE had many reasons to hate me. On one occasion when Mr. Anton Balasingam said that the members of Parliament can’t do things on their own and will have to do things as required by the LTTE, for which I had to reply that the MPs had their own individuality and are no errand boys of anybody.

The TULF also did not accept the proposal of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress to accept the LTTE as the sole representatives of the Tamils, for they were not so elected by anybody. The proposal was rejected by all of them including Mr. R. Sampanthan. It was decided that Mr. M.Sivasithamparam should be nominated as M.P on the National list. Those who refused nomination to the Jaffna Municipal Council earlier and even felt very angry for including them in the Central Committee of the TULF, wanted nomination for the 2001 elections. Two such gentlemen were backed by a sitting member of Parliament who insisted on dropping. Mr. S. Aravinthan or Mr. N. Raviraj or Mr. Muthulingam who had been a long standing member of both the Federal Party and later the Tamil United Liberation Front. Since all these three fared well at the election held in Oct 2000 and polled more votes than two members elected from two other political parties,none of them could be dropped. Due to the harassment by the sitting member,Mr. Muthulingam’s name was transferred to the National list Mr.Muthulingam was assured a place by people like Mr.Vadivetkarasan, Mr. Jeyabalasingam myself and the Secretary General of the TULF Mr. R. Sampanthan

On the demise of Mr. M. Sivasithambaram Mr. R. Sampanthan, and Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam even before the cremation was over rushed to Kilinochchi and met Mr. Tamilselvan. Shortly after, without consulting anybody, Mr. Sampanthan announced the name of Mr. Thurairatnasingam as the member to succeed Mr. Sivasithambaram in the national list. By this act Mr. Sampanthan did not himself honour the promise given to Mr. Muthulingam but also let down the party. No disciplinary action was taken against him although his conduct demanded one against him. This was a deliberately pre planned plot which laid the foundation for several others to follow.

The 2001 election also headed by the TULF brought in 15 member for the TNA(old). While the members were engaged in introducing new members Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam without notice proposed the name of Mr. R. Sampanthan, to be the leader of the Parliamentary group. This is not an office for the members to elect a group leader. This is a position held by the most senior Parliamentarian. In this instance Mr. M. Sivasithambaram being sick, it should have come to me. I entered parliament in 1970 and Mr. Sampanthan entered in 1977. When his name was proposed he should have honourably declined to accept it. He didn’t. I also kept quiet without objecting to it. In a similar situation when Mr. Sivasithambaram’s name was proposed he declined and proposed Mr. A.Amirthalingam to the office of leader of the opposition. I was later informed that Mr and Mrs Joseph Pararajasingam along with Mr.Sampanthan had met Mr. M.K.Shivajilingam at the hospital and the others at their respective homes. The members from the ACTC readily agreed to support Mr. Sampanthan because they have some imaginary grievances against me. It is a pity that Mr. Sampanthan who is well respected had stooped to this level more than once.

In July 2003 the LTTE which was angry with me for not accepting them as the sole representatives of the Tamil People, tried to have me removed from the office of President of the TULF. Since almost the entire membership of the Central Committee excluding the two or three plotters, were with me, they dropped the idea of a no confidence motion against me. However some members like Mr. Alponse Mary and Mr. Sinnathurai, long standing members of both the FP and the TULF moved to propose and second a confidence motion. Since I was presiding over the meeting and did not show any interest, the motion was dropped.

But in Nov 2003 another attempt was made with all C.C member pre-warned to support it. It is this incident that resulted in a group breaking away and with the blessings of the LTTE contested on the Federal Party which was virtually defunct. As a result of this move the old TNA got dissolved giving way for new TNA with the FP, TELO, EPRLF and the LTTE joining. The LTTE took six and the balance six where shared by the FP, TELO and the EPRLF of Suresh .

The two reasons attributed for the no-confidence motion were one. “That I had been violating the party policy and the other was that I had asked the Japanese special envoy His Ex Yasusi Akashi to hand over the Elephant Pass camp which had fallen into the hands of the LTTE, back to the Armed Forces”. Both these are deliberate lies on the part of both. Mr. A. Vinayagamoorthy and Mr. R. Sampanthan should have known that I am not such a fool to make such a request. Further more how can Akashi do that?. It is a silly request if I had made it. Hiding the truth the, TNA members made use of this fabricated story to make the LTTE more angry with me. The false propaganda gained momentum and made even the most sober person angry.

The truth is that at one of the meetings the TNA (old) had with H.E Akashi Mr. Vinayagamoorthy very foolishly asked H.E . Akashi to request the government to withdraw the Forces to the places where they were stationed in 1991. I promptly asked Mr. Vinayagamoorthy, “If they ask for the Elephant Pass camp are you prepared to give it to the forces”. This is what actually happened It is not late even now for both of them sware to the truthness of the statement. These are the type of leaders whom our people have elected to determine our destiny. I leave it to the good sense of the people to decide.

At this juncture I wish to refer to some incidents in which Mr R. Sampanthan had been telling me “ I too don’t accept the LTTE as the sole representatives of the people. I do not say that but why the hell are you saying that repeatedly” for which I used to say. “If I also don’t say that then who else will say that”. I am sure Mr. Sampanthan will not dare to deny it. Is it fair to brand me as a traitor, for telling the truth and nothing but the truth

There are more incidents I can refer to relating to Mr. Sampanthan. In 1986 when all the ex-Members of Parliament were staying in India the Indian government arranged a series of meetings for discussion with H.E J.R. Jeyawardena and his Cabinet of Ministers. The talks lasted several days in June and July 1986. I had attended every meeting without missing a single session. Mr. Senathiraja also came to Colombo but did not take part in the discussions. The following is an extract of a speech Mr. Sampanthan made in Parliament on the 6th of Feb 2008.

“I want to also say, Madam that the Thirteenth Amendment did not drop from the sky. It emerged as a result of very lengthy discussion that look place between the J.R.Jeyawardene Government in July and August, 1986 and the TULF. The Government was represented by President J.R.Jeyawardene, Mr. Gamini Dissanayake, Mr. Lalith Athulath Mudali, Mr. Roni De Mel, Mr. A.C.S. Hameed, Mr. K.W.Devanayagam, Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe and on the TULF side, there were Mr. Amirthalingam, Mr. Sivasithamparam, Dr. Neelan Thiruselvam, Mr. Yogeswaran, Mr. Anandasangaree off and on and myself. I was there regularly at every sitting. We had several discussions over several days, from 9 o’clock in the morning to 6 o’clock in the evening, for about 10 to 15 days in July and 10 to 15 days in August, 1986. That is how the Thirteenth Amendment emerged”

I repeat that we all came together and attended all meetings together. I had not missed a single meeting. I leave it to the readers to judge for themselves whether his usage of the words “Hon. Anandasangaree off and on” is relevant and even if true is this not a sign of incapacity on the part of a leader, who claims to be the leader of a group that claims the LTTE as the Sole representative of the Tamil people.

The party of which Mr Sampanthan is now president, is the Federal Party fraudulently revived by Mr. Mavai Senathiraja and not the TNA. Acting against the founder’s will and without the concurrence of the party’s important personalities, if Mr Sampanthan and Mr. Senathiraja think that they can cheat the people and the International Community by misusing its name, it will be a day-dream. Mr. Sampanthan is acting without clear thinking. Some papers give the TNA full support. I would not say that some papers by violating all journalistic norms, I have not lost anything, because it is very true that I lost both the 2004 election and the last election because of the unfair and un-balanced propaganda of some papers focusing to boost Mr. Sampanthan’s group. Papers have a sacred duty to the people and if they act without realising their duty, it amounts to betrayal of the people. The papers can’t boost one and trample the other unjustifiably. That also amounts to betrayal of the people.

It is the responsibility of the people to choose their leaders and not the paper or the state. The most decent thing for the papers to do is to take a neutral stand. It is very selfish on the part of the papers to prevent the emergence of decent leaders or to destroy those who are in existence. That also amounts to treachery. The first duty of a paper is to cater to the needs of the people.

I was awarded the UNESCO’s Madanjeet Singh prize for the promotion of tolerance and non violence with a cash prize of 100 thousand dollars. The country and the Tamil people should have taken it as an honour for the country and the Tamil people in particular I received the award at the UNESCO Head quarters in Paris attended by over one thousand people. English and Sinhalese papers published special articles about me and some even wrote editorials. It is very unfortunate that not even 20 Tamils got together to honour me. No Tamil paper had one good word for me. One paper wrote an article condemning the award and went to the extent of alleging favoritism. The award was not given to me in appreciation of the abductions, torture and killings I was involved in, It was for the promotion of tolerance and non violence and the award was founded on the 125th birth anniversary of Mahathma Gandhi . The owner of the paper, its editor and the writer of the article did not realize that they had insulted Mahathma and not me in anyway

Everyone knows how the 2004 election was conducted and by whom. The LTTE by preventing the normal process, themselves conducted the election by giving orders to the officers and helped the TNA to win 22 of the 23 Tamil majority seats. All five election monitoring teams gave very adverse reports and the two local teams the PAFFERAL and the CMEV had demanded that the election to the North and East should be annulled and fresh election held. It was not done because there was no provision in the Law to annual the election of a district. In spite of the publicity given to the reports, a local paper in an article published in it claimed that a foreign country spent very large sums of money on me and failed to get me elected. Most of my election expenses had been met by the voters, I am one who had been doing politics decently and it is regrettable that an armed group could oust me from politics. It is a pity to see that a person who is being groomed to be the leader of the Tamil People is still crowing about their victory at the election in 2004 and the recent one.

The founder of the Federal Party virtually wound up his party and formed the Tamil United Front to enable all Tamil Political parties to come under one banner. I was a Member of Parliament in 1972 from the All Ceylon Tamil Congress and joined the new party enblock. Many people have now forgotten that I was a founder member of the Tamil United Front which changed it’s name as TULF in 1976. No one seems to have asked the gentleman who revived the Federal Party as to why he did it contrary to the will of the founder and without consulting any of the leader’s devoted supporters. The people who attended the funeral of Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayagam, Mr.G.G.Ponnambalam, Mr.M.Thruchelvam, Mr. A.Amirthalingam, Mr. M.Sivasithambaram, Mrs. Sarojini Yogeswarn, Mr.V.Yogeswaran and many others would not have failed to see that the remains of all our leaders were taken for cremation wrapped with the flag of the TULF, the Rising Sun. I am sure that if the history of the party, the TULF is known, no devoted followers of Chelvanayagam will accept the House as an alternative to the Rising Sun. When the Late Mr. A. Amirthalingam’s seat in the National list fell vacant, Mr. Mavai Senathiraja was nominated in his place, not because he is the heir to Mr. A.Amirthalingam and not for any reason other than to maintain the unity of the party.

I did clean politics all these years and have now reached 77. Some selfish persons with selfish intentions are throwing mud on me and that hurts me much. Some people of Amparai and Batticaloa do not know me well. New leaders and some candidates had been campaigning against me saying that the government sent me with large sums of money for distribution among the people to buy their votes. They had been speaking at meetings and have leaflets also printed. I can’t imagine one, standing for a right cause come out with deliberate lies about a person whose hands are clean. It equally looks ugly for anyone to keep quite listening to such lies. Let God pardon them for their false accusation about me. I wish to tell my brothers and sisters in Amparai and Batticaloa that lies and cheating are not in my blood. Years back I gave an undertaking to the Central Committee members of Amparai and fulfilled it to a great surprise of all my party members. I got Mr. Mavai Senathiraja appointed as a member on the National list to fill the place of Dr.Neelan Thiruselvam. It should be noted by those who blindly follow him and trust his word that on both occasion he was nominated on the National list, I was also not in Parliament and that I could have claimed that seat for me or for anybody else in the party I have proved in several ways that I am a fit and proper person to hold the office of President of the TULF. Unfortunately the younger generation is not aware of these and of many others.

Even now it is not late. Those who revived the Federal Party and split the people into various factions can prepare a list of mistakes I made in my office as President of the TULF. This is what people like Mr. Sampanthan and others should have done. If found guilty I will not hesitate to quit the party. Instead of making use of the missed opportunities to their advantage they confused the people and showed the world that they have achieved something great. The TNA got only 9% of the votes and that cannot be considered as a mandate given to them by the people. Some papers may come to the defence of the TNA. I humbly plead with them not to penalize the people because of the displeasure they may have with me. The people must be left to choose their leaders. That is journalistic ethics too.

The TNA could not think or act on their own and ignoring others advice, danced to the tune of the LTTE. The TNA has lost its moral right to represent the Tamil people. Not only that once again they have come back with their old slogans such as ‘nationalism’ and right of ‘self determination’. One cannot describe in words as to what and what the people had lost. When the LTTE lost Killinochchi I pleaded with them to stop fighting and come to some terms with the government. I made a similar request to the Govt and told the government that it had now won the war and from now onwards not a single innocent life should be lost in vain. I also told the TNA that all countries in the world and various organizations within had pleaded for the release of all those held as human shield and that up to now the TNA was the only organization that had not made that request. I told them to ask for the release or to quit Parliament. No one listened to me. If the TNA had made the request under the threat of quitting Parliament they might have agreed. But they did not do it. If they had done that several thousand Vanni people could have been saved along with their properties worth several billions.

During the last stages of the war many thousands of untrained, cadre were sent to the battle front to prolong the war till the Indian election results were out. Many of them and the injured cadre also had been killed. Of the 11000 surrendered cadre there are many without one leg, both legs one hand both hands and some have lost their eye sights. One can very well guess as to how many such people would have been killed. When people are suffering like this what is there in Parliament membership. During my election campaign I swore that I will not have any regrets if I lose and that I am contesting the election only as a duty to the people. I pleaded with the people to give me and my team a chance for just six months, since the nine who won from one party in 1994 and the 22 won from another party in 2004 did nothing for the people.

I am not opposed to any unity. The TNA had wasted six years with a full team of 22 members. They got only 9% of the total votes in the Jaffna electoral district and with that they can’t assume that they had been given a mandate by the people which I can’t accept. People want to know why the Federal Party had been revived. Further more it is ridicules for them to ask the other parties to join hands, having broken the Tamil United Liberation Front, a party formed by many parties to come under one banner and also having broken the people in to several factions, what moral right have they to ask the people to be re-united.

I offered my service to the people which they had rejected or in other words the people with their sentiments roused and with an offer of removal of their poverty and solve their problems, had been bought over. This is not my defeat. The people had sold their poverty for money. I can only weep in silence sympathizing with the suffering people. I have no other way. Having led our people towards destruction they have come back once again to take them towards further destruction which act is the most treacherous of all. What can anyone say about me?. They can keep on lying that I act as a paid-agent of the Government. I can only say that I cannot be bought over with money or position and that I will remain so till I breath my last.