An open letter to Mr. R. Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance
by V. Anandasagaree
I had been patiently waiting without making any comments on a number of matters relating to you and to our people. You are very clever. There is no doubt about it. Your cleverness had helped you personally on a number of matters but brought ruin to our people in particular and to the country in general. Whom do you think, fired the first shot to destroy democracy, much cherished and promoted by the Tamil people, who enjoyed it continuously from the very inception?
It is the initiative that the TELO is now taking, to form a new party, prompted me to publicly condemn and expose your past conduct, which brought ruin to the country. Anyone thinking of a split or forming a new party should re-consider and make up their minds to join the TULF which is the only political party that has a moral right and a moral duty to function honestly, keeping in mind that the TULF was a formation of two great Tamil leaders the country was fortunate to have at that time, when people of their calibre was very much wanted.
I accuse you of not only firing the first short to destroy democracy but also for going all out to destroy the TULF as well. It may not be out of place if I refer to certain speeches made by me in Parliament in your presence while you were seated next to me. The Deputy Minister of Defence Hon. Anuruddha Ratwatta was present on the opposition side. Looking at the Minister of Defence I said, “Even if you fight for 10 years you will not recapture Palai and recapturing Elephant-pass will be a daydream”. I also said, “Don’t think that another day will not come for you to go to various countries begging for support to save the 35 thousand soldiers trapped at Elephant-pass”. Once in Parliament I said, “A day will come soon for Prabakaran to go round the world like Yasir Arafath”. I don’t deny that I was critical of some of his activities involving violence. I had been pointing out his mistakes, off and on, in his own interest. But what did you do? While being with them you encouraged them in all their activities and when the Army Chief who defeated them, contested the Presidential Election as a Party candidate, you and your team went round house to house, soliciting support for him. Mr. Sampanthan please honestly tell me now whether it was I who was a traitor or anybody else.
At the inaugural meeting held on 14.05.1972 in Trincomalee, all Members of both the Parties and those from smaller Parties were taken as Founder Members of the newly formed Tamil United Front (TUF) later renamed as Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). The Left parties and some armed groups which had political wings did not join the merger. I hope you are aware that this merger was considered by the Tamils spread all over the world, as one of the greatest political feats that brought all such Tamils also to get united.
Mr. Sampanthan, at that time you were not in politics, as far as I am aware. Furthermore you did not participate at the meeting held to elect the office bearers. At the Public Meeting held that evening I spotted you at a distance dressed in silk national ware. It was only at the 1977 general election, the first election held after formation of the TULF, you were nominated to contest the Trincomalee seat.
It is still a mystery as to why Mr. A. Thangathurai who was representing the Muthur electorate, which was a multi member constituency, was not nominated to contest Trincomalee. Everyone knew that Muthur Constituency was going to be divided to form the Muthur and Seruvila electorates. Now Muthur is a Muslim majority Seat.
This is my 60th year in politics, of which 48 years in the TULF. But you deserted the TULF at the most crucial time in 2004 and contested the 2004 General Election on the symbol of the Federal party “The House”. As far as I am aware the Federal party was virtually defunct after it got merged with the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, to form the TULF. But according to Mrs. Mangayatkarasi Amirthalingham, the secretary general of the TULF Mr. A. Amirthalingham had the registration of the Federal Party in force, to prevent anyone misusing the name and symbol of the party, which was fully committed to Non-Violence. The renowned pro LTTE Journalist Mr. Dharmaratnam Sivaram, popularly known as Taraki had very clearly said, that revival of the Federal Party was only on paper. You were trying your best to take the TULF as the political wing of the LTTE to which I disagreed and offered to nominate all our candidates from the LTTE with the view to bring them to the Democratic fold. Being dissatisfied with my suggestion, you quit the TULF without informing anyone and contested on the symbol of the Federal Party “the House”, use of which was maneuvered by Mavai Senathirajah. Due to your desertion, we had no option other than to contest as independent candidates. After handing over your nomination to the Returning Officer you made a public announcement to say that you have handed over the nomination on behalf of the LTTE.
Subsequently your team visited Vanni and with the full participation of Mr. S.P. Thamizhchelvan, the head of LTTE’s political section, you drafted the election manifesto acknowledging the LTTE as the National Leaders and also Sole Representatives of the Tamil people. Those who were accusing me from various countries that I ran away with the symbol “Rising Sun” should note that it was not I but it was Sampanthan who buried the “Rising Sun” symbol and crippled the TULF.
You know very well as to how you won the 22 seats in 2004. Is it not true that Mr. Mavai Senathirajah lost his seat in the morning and got declared elected in the evening? One candidate polled more than 115,000 votes unheard of in the history of Sri Lankan elections. Candidates from rival political parties were not allowed to get involved in any kind of canvassing including paid advertisements. With all these weak points all the 22 of you comfortably sat and voted in Parliament during the full term of six years. I need not tell you that your election was a fraudulent one and so with many others also. You have no moral right even to step into Parliament. You have already declared that you were contesting on behalf of the LTTE. As such all those elected from your list at that time were candidates from the LTTE. I like to point out that you have deliberately deprived the LTTE of returning to the democratic fold when all of them were ready to contest under one banner and one symbol “Rising Sun”. Please remember this was the decision of the LTTE also according to Tharaki “Sivaram”. It was a herculean task for those members of various organizations who toiled hard and brought all parties under one banner. Your foolish decision not allowing the team to go ahead with their program, resulted in the war extending for a period of 5 years from 2004 to 2009. Are you not aware that more than 500 people had been killed and more than 1,500 injured, without a single word of sympathy for the victims? Unfortunately it was the LTTE that had to take the blame for these killings. The total result is several thousands of valuable lives lost and several thousand disabled, for which you and Mavai. Senathirajah should share the blame for the foolish manner in which you could smuggle the fraudulently elected 22 members through the main gate of Parliament of Sri Lanka.
The TULF will be very happy to accommodate any friendly party’s request for merger.
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