Mr.Wijepala,

I am amazed at your knowledge of history and enjoyed your writings(comments/replies), thanks.

Thanks for the info on Rajaji and Anna, I learned quite a bit and slightly revised my impression of Annadurai.

I don’t think that DBSJ believed that Rajaji was casteist either, but the name of the plan was poorly thought-out and I think you agree that this mistake caused his downfall. Regardless of his intentions (he wanted to improve employment), Rajaji should have been aware that his primary opponents operated on a platform of anti-Brahminism and were waiting for such an opportunity. He may have been Gandhi’s soul, but he was no politician!

Not to worry, plenty of Sri Lankans have made similar if not worse mistakes (Catholic leaders antagonizing Buddhists, Tamil leaders antagonizing Sinhala etc)!

“Yes, that’s because DMK is a state party and Congress is National party. It is easy for state parties and their leaders to be divisive and still get away with that.”

I suppose my point was not so much to denigrate Annadurai than to elevate Kamaraj, who fought the elections at the state level and won without resorting to these things. Congress doesn’t have this sort of leader now which is why it is so weak at the state level. India may not get this kind of leader until it faces a truly national challenge on the scale of the independence struggle.

“Karunanidhi, Vaiko, Vijayakanth are all Teluguites and they are heading three of the top 5 parties in TN now. Indian Tamils are such dumbos (or very tolerant) that any non-Tamil can misuse them by dividing them by using race/language. Teluguites are true smart burgers in this regard.”

I don’t see the Indian Tamils as being dumbos, it’s simply that the Andhra folk are intelligent enough to represent their interests. SWRD Bandaranaike could not read/write Sinhala yet he came to power on Sinhala-Only. He was by all accounts a failure as a leader, but the fact is that no other leader for the previous 8 years had shifted the official language away from English.

The Sri Lankan Tamils could have done the same thing as the Andhras and come to power by being more Sinhala than the Sinhalese, but they were too proud and more importantly too ignorant of the Sinhalese to pull that off. There is this Tamil fellow Premakumar Gunaratnam who became the leader of a Sinhala JVP faction because he had this knowledge of the Sinhalese without the ethnic chauvinism.

More on Telugu folk: I’m sure you have heard about Thanjavur and Madurai Nayakkars? Not only did they rule over Tamils, they came to Kandy and ruled over Sinhalese as well! Also, Tamil civilisation in Sri Lanka was more or less established by Magha who may have been from Andhra Pradesh and was a Virasaiva.

Dear Wijayapala,

Sorry it took so long to respond. Here are my observations:

Kamaraj was not a divisive leader and did not have to scapegoat any communities to make progress.

Yes, that’s because DMK is a state party and Congress is National party. It is easy for state parties and their leaders to be divisive and still get away with that. Leaders like Anna did that precisely. Despite his divisiveness I personally like

Anna for certain things. He failed in English in 10th grade (or standard). 6 years later, he finished M.A (English) with honors and was the ranked first in Madras state. When he came to power, he openly admitted his lack of governing experience and let almost all bureaucrats, collectors, administrators from previous Government (Bakthavasalam of Congress) to continue in power. Karunanidhi wanted to dimiss and remove from jobs all policemen, who invoked violence on anti-Hindi protestors in the mid-sixties and Annadurai refused to do so. Despite his severe anti-Brahminism, he was never personally opposed to Brahmins the way DMK under Karunanidhi turned out to be. And when DMK broke away from DK (due differences with Periyar), Anna had an empty chair on the podium for Periyar as a mark of respect. Even in dissension, he was sincere and respectful.

I read your article from DBSJ. A few observations though Wijayapala:

1. Brilliant observation on Justice party CMs being non-Tamils. BTW, Karunanidhi, Vaiko, Vijayakanth are all Teluguites and they are heading three of the top 5 parties in TN now. Indian Tamils are such dumbos (or very tolerant) that any non-Tamil can misuse them by dividing them by using race/language. Teluguites are true smart burgers in this regard. 🙂

2. Regarding “Kulakkalvi Thittam of Rajaji”, I am not sure if anyone knows the truth about it (including DBSJ. Quite likely, the Dravidian propoganda has completely overshadowed the truth on that. Rajaji was the first Tamil leader who introduced temple-entry for Dalits in TN and did it several times. And for a highly educated man like him to close 6000 rural schools when the state literacy level was 20% is unbelievable. He had his own flaws but on “Kulakkalvi Thittam”, Rajaji has been made villian in my view. I am a Tamil Brahmin and might be sub-consciously defending Rajaji but someone whom Mohandas Gandhi calls his “soul” likely didn’t intend it be “hereditary” from a casteist standpoint.

3. C Subramanian saved India during it’s worst times. He (along with MS Swaminathan, who is also some kind of advisor to Rajapakse) introduced high-yielding rice crops in India thereby saving plenty of lives that might have been lost to famine and mal-nutrition. C Subramaniam is not that popular in India like say Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. 🙂

Dear Nithyananthan – Very nice to see your response and apologies for responding back after a long while! Your points are well appreciated. Yes, I agree with you about the rational people that you mentioned. Although I have not interacted with every one of them, I can say that they are all good, nice hearted folks who care about their country in general and don’t take sides.

Dear Burning_Issue – Nice observations about Sinhala folks. I completely agree that all Sinhala folks aren’t bad or chauvinistic, although a few Tamil folks try to generalize it a bit. Dr. Rajasingham Narendran went on to say that in some instances some Sinhala folks lost their lives protecting Tamil lives during riots. Even from a historical standpoint, Sinhalese and Tamil folks were a lot closer and cordial to each other than is normally known. While these 2 communities (or race/groups) probably started drifting apart during and after colonial times, their ancestors were wiser, tolerant and knowledgeable. Or atleast that is the impression that I get when I try to learn the basics of SL history.

Dear wjayapaa;

Your recent comments indicate to me that you are becoming a “Quantum Physicist”. Only the people who have a clear understanding of the queer nature of Quantum Physics gain the ability to express in such a fine way.

You know about Schrödinger’s Cat, who can be both alive or dead at the same time?

Please watch.

Schrödinger’s Cat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrxqTtiWxs4&feature=channel

Thanks!

Dear yapa

“ok, then say “after Aryachakrawarthi came to Sri Lanka”, then what is your answer?”

There may have been a distinct Tamil “civilisation” but that is not the same as “nation.” “Nation” implies a sense of exclusivity whereas “civilisation” implies the influence of other civilisations. The Jaffna kingdom most certainly had Sinhala influence just as the older Rajarata civilisation had Tamil influence.

Dear wjayapaa;

Your answers now to me are like “Epa vaheta hodi bedanava vaage” (show a massive reluctance), dear wijayapala, why is that?

Ha! Ha!!

Thanks!

Dear wijayapala;

ok, then say “after Aryachakrawarthi came to Sri Lanka”, then what is your answer?

(You seems to be stingy with your words lately dear wijayapala, why is that dear wijayapala?)

Thanks!

“My opinion is Tamils civilization began to establish here after the 13th century with the invasion of Aryachakravarthi.”

Aryachakravarthi did not invade Sri Lanka.

Dear wijayapala;

Why dear wijayapala you have been advocating the theory in Prof. Indrpaa’s latest book “The Evolution of an Ethnic Identity”, throughout the discussions in this blog?

Ok!, tell me what you meant at least in the following statement.

“You are correct. The ancient Sinhalese and Tamils were bilingual, unlike their descendants. The collapse of Rajarata isolated Jaffna from the rest of the island, hence the Tamil monolingualism there until independence.”

http://groundviews.org/2012/03/17/martyrology-martyrdom-rebellion-terrorism/#comment-42782

Please clearly mention your view whether there has been two parallel civilizations prevailing in Sri Lanka from the very beginning. Otherwise tell me your opinion when were the Sinhalese civilization and Tamil civilization began in Sri Lanka. My opinion is Tamils civilization began to establish here after the 13th century with the invasion of Aryachakravarthi.

Thanks!