September 05, 2012 02:45 IST
If the
political parties in Tamil Nadu do not conduct themselves with a sense of
balance and responsibility and indulge in competitive exploitation of the
discontent in certain sections of the population over Sri Lanka-related issues,
they may end up by creating passions beyond control in both countries, notes B
Raman.
All
right-thinking Tamils should be concerned over the acts of anger directed
against two football teams of Sri Lanka [ Images ]n students in Chennai and
against Sri Lankan Christian pilgrims in southern Tamil Nadu in recent days.
This resulted in the football teams having to go back to Sri Lanka and in
anxieties over physical security among the pilgrims.
There is a reason to suspect
that some of these incidents were more politically-orchestrated than
spontaneous expression of anger by the local people against the Sri Lankans.
There is
a genuine anger among sections of the people of Tamil Nadu against the Sri
Lankan government over the following aspects of its policies towards the Sri
Lankan Tamils:
- The lack of progress in finding a political solution to the aspirations of the Tamils.
- The lack of a sincere enquiry into the death of a disproportionate number of Tamils during the last hours of the Sri Lankan army's assault to kill Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and capture the LTTE [ Images ] headquarters thereby defeating the LTTE's insurgency.
- The perceived use of disproportionate force by the Sri Lankan navy against Indian Tamil fishermen who mistakenly fish in Sri Lankan waters, leading to frequent deaths of our fishermen.
This
anger has been turned by the local political parties against the government of
India [ Images ] also for the following
reasons:
- The perceived reluctance of New Delhi [ Images ] to exercise adequate pressure on President Mahinda Rajapaksa [ Images ] to make him fulfil his commitments to the Tamils and the government of India on their political future and protect our fishermen.
- The unwillingness of the government of India to take any punitive action against the Sri Lankan government by way of suspending the military-military relationship between the armed forces of the two countries. Under this relationship, officers of the Sri Lankan armed forces are permitted to join training courses in different training institutions of our armed forces.
In view
of the forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabha in 2014, there has been a
competitive exploitation of all these issues by many of the political parties
including the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam [ Images ] and the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the
hope of winning poll dividends.
The
anger, which was initially against the Sri Lankan government, has been turned
into anger against the Sri Lankan people, mainly Sinhalese, coming to Tamil Nadu
for private reasons such as pilgrimage, tourism, sports, etc.
Fortunately,
till now, the exploited anger has not led to any untoward incident of violence
against the Sinhalese. If the temptation to politically exploit this anger by
different parties is not resisted, there is a danger of a backlash by the
Sinhalese against the Indian nationals (not necessarily only against the Sri
Lankan Tamils) working in Sri Lanka.
In recent
years, India's economic relations with Sri Lanka have considerably improved and
a number of Indian companies have established their branches in Sri Lanka.
There has also been an increase in the number of Indian Tamil tourists visiting
Sri Lanka.
If there
is a backlash against them, we might be faced with a vicious circle of ethnic
violence in the two countries.
There
never was much popular support for the LTTE in Tamil Nadu. Nor were there
strong feelings of solidarity between the people of Tamil Nadu and the Sri
Lankan Tamils living in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. When the LTTE was defeated
by the Sri Lankan army and Prabhakaran killed in May, 2009, the reactions among
the people of Tamil Nadu were fortunately low.
If a
politically-motivated attempt is made now to rouse the feelings of the people
of Tamil Nadu over the attitude of the Sri Lankan government towards the Sri
Lankan Tamils, the resulting passions may take unpredictable shape.
The
government of India finds itself in a dilemma. The protection of the people of
Sri Lanka visiting Tamil Nadu is the responsibility of the government of Tamil
Nadu. The government of India cannot act unilaterally in the matter.
In view
of the 2014 elections, no party is prepared to adopt a reasonable attitude.
Even the DMK, which supports the Manmohan Singh [ Images ] government at the Centre, has joined the anti-Sri
Lanka campaign in Tamil Nadu unmindful of the difficulties of New Delhi.
The
government of India is not in a position to exercise adequate pressure on the
Rajapaksa government either on the issue of the political future of the Sri
Lankan Tamils or for the protection of our fishermen.
Nor is it
in a position to force the government of Sri Lanka to hold an enquiry into the
violation of the human rights of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
In view
of the strong political and economic support for Sri Lanka from China and Sri
Lanka's developing relations with Pakistan, we do not have much of a card for
coercive diplomacy against Colombo. The government of India has to do the best
of a bad bargain.
The
dilemma faced by the government of India is partly the result of its failure to
foresee and pre-empt the politically caused emotions with an eye on the 2014
elections. Unless it persuades the ruling AIADMK to tone down any
politicisation of the problem, the DMK, its ally, is unlikely to co-operate
with it.
It would
not like to be projected by the AIADMK as not being supportive enough of the
Sri Lankan Tamils and our fishermen.
The only
way of dealing with this issue is through a possible quid pro quo by conceding
the demands of the Tamil Nadu government in other matters not having an impact
on our foreign policy in return for its giving up its present policies relating
to Sri Lankans.
To
address the sensitivities of the Tamil Nadu government, the government of India
could also modify its policy in relation to the training of Sri Lankan armed
forces officers in our training institutions. In future, training slots could
be offered to the Sri Lankan armed forces only in respect of those courses
where the training is imparted in institutions outside Tamil Nadu.
This is a tricky political matter to which a solution
based on an all-party consensus with the political parties of Tamil Nadu has to
be found by our prime minister asserting his authority and taking the necessary
initiative.
His
reluctance or inability to exercise authority could make the situation messier.
