Pax Indica: Indian elephant in Lankan room

[SrNair]

We dont have any problem with Chines -SL economic relation.We appreciate such development.But in the name of development if you allow Chinese SSN and Warships in your ports ,,,,sorry we cant allow that and will use every possible way to stop that even if you dont like.

 

[Levina]

Again all those mentioned projects exclusive to the North or to the Tamils, Which bring's me back to my main point why 88% of the rest of Sri Lankans have questions regarding India's priorities in Sri Lanka.. Lets see how the Modi administration can change that perception

88%???
Any link to prove it???

Appreciating China's success in the infrastructure projects is natural, No strings attached, No discrimination on whom they are going to benefit, And the speed and efficiency.. The only mega project that India has undertaken the Sampur power project is going on for half a decade now and still to get off the ground, While China has finished and handed over over a dozen mega infrastructures

So it should'nt be surprising that the Chinese find the local populations more appreciative.. And yes India needs to up the game if India is to beat the Chinese in influence

As i said earlier China's investment has helped their domestic market more than it helped your economy.
China's investment of $4million-$5million was mostly loan, and am not sure this was appreciated by the Sri-Lankan populace. If not anything the jan 2015 elections are a proof of what Sri-Lankans wanted...may be they vented out their frustration. what say?

It's not just Vaiko, It's the whole TN polity, Just today the TN legislature, Passed a resolution demanding the center not to recognize it's southern neighbor as a non friendly country.. So as far as Indo/Lanka bilateral relations are held at a ransom in Madras, Nothing much can go forward.. However much you try to down play it

Nobody pays any heed to them anymore, and if it was so Modi would not have extended hands to SL.

Well generally Lankans are friendly and open minded, That comes with their island vibe, But that does not mean they're not aware of realpolitik played in their backyard
Like i said some are too polite for thy're own fault, Having apprehensions about something does not mean they're anti anything.. That needs to be distinguished clearly

Prolly you're the only exception i've met.

Well. In my defense, I am closer to SL than you are. Beat that. I have more first hand info.

Are still stuck in Chennai??

 

[SarthakGanguly]

Are still stuck in Chennai??

Naah. Went back to Bangalore in a month. Now in Mumbai.

 

[Levina]

Naah. Went back to Bangalore in a month. Now in Mumbai.

Still closer to SL than America. Lol

 

[Gibbs]

Well. In my defense, I am closer to SL than you are. Beat that. I have more first hand info.

Lol.. Geographically yes, About first hand info ? You guys love your fantasies eh..

88%???
Any link to prove it???

No need for links to prove anything.. You miss the point yet again.. Northern Sri Lankan Tamils constitute to only 12% of the population even even that half of them live outside the Northern province.. Indian aid and infrastructure development is solely concentrated in the North, Pandering to the Tamil polity.. Unlike China that is concentrated island wide.. So yeah 88% of the rest of the population do have questions about it

As i said earlier China's investment has helped their domestic market more than it helped your economy.
China's investment of $4million-$5million was mostly loan, and am not sure this was appreciated by the Sri-Lankan populace. If not anything the jan 2015 elections are a proof of what Sri-Lankans wanted...may be they vented out their frustration. what say?

Lol.. It doesn't work exactly on a non sourced quote you posted.. Almost all raw materials are locally sourced and all subcontracts are given to local firms, Providing hundreds of jobs.. Chinese have the money to invest, And they have buyers.. So until India can match them it's futile to complain on non issues.. It makes you look like you have a chip on the shoulder, A massive Chinese one..

Btw.. Ousting of Rajapaksa had nothing to do with China.. Though some Indian and Indian media like to think so.. Lol.. It has to do with his authoritarian governance since his 2nd term and nepotism and unbridled corruption.. Sri Lankan democracy is one of few along with India in Asia that changes governments by popular mandate in elections every other term.. You're just belittling Sri Lankan people and their franchise if you think otherwise

Nobody pays any heed to them anymore, and if it was so Modi would not have extended hands to SL.

Well Modi admin does'nt seem to, So far.. And that's good for bilateral relations, Well appreciated.. But you're attempt to down play it does'nt make believable either.. A state parliament of the Indian union anonymously adopted a aggressive anti Sri Lankan motion, A sovereign nation as a enemy state, Just yesterday

TN assembly passes resolution for intn'l probe into Sri Lankan war | Business Standard News

.. It's no small matter as you try to portray.. Indian politics is also very fluid, So no one can predict what holds for the future, Viz a viz foreign policy on Sri Lanka

Prolly you're the only exception i've met.

I'm not the exception.. But the norm.. Now dont brand me as a Indian hater for that.. ..

 

[Levina]

Lol.. Geographically yes, About first hand info ? You guys love your fantasies eh..

But he had a point..

No need for links to prove anything.. You miss the point yet again.. Northern Sri Lankan Tamils constitute to only 12% of the population even even that half of them live outside the Northern province.. Indian aid and infrastructure development is solely concentrated in the North, Pandering to the Tamil polity.. Unlike China that is concentrated island wide.. So yeah 88% of the rest of the population do have questions about it.

I still dont get the logic of 88%.
Fine,12% would benefit out of Indian direct investment in SL, but what about the free trade agreement, currency swap, and $2 billion committed by India which will be invested in vital sectors including transportation, telecommunications, health care, energy, banking, and tourism . why do ignore these facts??? would this not help SL as a whole??
And for more proof look at this, you export goods to us 4times more than china (as i have mentioned earlier).

Lol.. It doesn't work exactly on a non sourced quote you posted.. Almost all raw materials are locally sourced and all subcontracts are given to local firms, Providing hundreds of jobs.. Chinese have the money to invest, And they have buyers.. So until India can match them it's futile to complain on non issues.. It makes you look like you have a chip on the shoulder, A massive Chinese one..

I'm not sure why the link didnt appear.
https://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/images/publications/workshops/2013-China.pdf

Once again let me reiterate that am not anti-China, China like any other country in the world is doing what it is expected- meeting the needs of its populace.

Btw.. Ousting of Rajapaksa had nothing to do with China.. Though some Indian and Indian media like to think so.. Lol.. It has to do with his authoritarian governance since his 2nd term and nepotism and unbridled corruption.. Sri Lankan democracy is one of few along with India in Asia that changes governments by popular mandate in elections every other term.. You're just belittling Sri Lankan people and their franchise if you think otherwise

You've miscontrued my post. I clearly said Rajapaksa was outsted because his policies didnt benefit ppl, being pro-China was one of his policies co-incidentally.

Well Modi admin does'nt seem to, So far.. And that's good for bilateral relations, Well appreciated.. But you're attempt to down play it does'nt make believable either.. A state parliament of the Indian union anonymously adopted a aggressive anti Sri Lankan motion, A sovereign nation as a enemy state, Just yesterday

TN assembly passes resolution for intn'l probe into Sri Lankan war | Business Standard News

.. It's no small matter as you try to portray.. Indian politics is also very fluid, So no one can predict what holds for the future, Viz a viz foreign policy on Sri Lanka

But it didnt create a ripple in India.
They may do whatever they like, but what matters is the decisions made by our central government. You can not hold entire India responsible for the mendacious nonsense that a few TN politicos utter.

I'm not the exception.. But the norm.. Now dont brand me as a Indian hater for that.. ..

Naah...not hater or else by now you would have split and sliced me.
But yes you do not perceive India as a friend, and 're always suspicious about India's moves.

 

[Gibbs]

But he had a point..

Touche on that..

I still dont get the logic of 88%.
Fine,12% would benefit out of Indian direct investment in SL, but what about the free trade agreement, currency swap, and $2 billion committed by India which will be invested in vital sectors including transportation, telecommunications, health care, energy, banking, and tourism . why do ignore these facts??? would this not help SL as a whole??
And for more proof look at this, you export goods to us 4times more than china (as i have mentioned earlier).

No did not ignore that.. Sound economic relations with India is welcome.. Infact Sri Lanka aims to be the hub for South Asian trade and services just like Hong Kong, So indeed India would be the biggest trade partner

My point is for a ordinary Lankan what they see is India solely concentrating on Northern Tamil regions.. They dont see trade and business happening at corporate level they see infrastructure development..

And given the relationship they had in the past regarding the conflict it's not surprising that majority of Lankans still harbor apprehensions about India, It's motives.. Whether those worries are valid or not..

And suspicions wont diminish as long as India seem to be only concentrating in the North.. So Modi govt has begun on a good platform, So hopefully that will in time change the mindset of ordinary Lankans as well

Once again let me reiterate that am not anti-China, China like any other country in the world is doing what it is expected- meeting the needs of its populace

So no arguments there then..

You've miscontrued my post. I clearly said Rajapaksa was outsted because his policies didnt benefit ppl, being pro-China was one of his policies co-incidentally.

Fair dinkum

But it didnt create a ripple in India.
They may do whatever they like, but what matters is the decisions made by our central government. You can not hold entire India responsible for the mendacious nonsense that a few TN politicos utter.

Like i said so far so good with the new NDA govt that does not have to depend on the southern polity, Let's hope that stays that way for better Indo/Lanka relations

Naah...not hater or else by now you would have split and sliced me.
But yes you do not perceive India as a friend, and 're always suspicious about India's moves.

I appreciate the good about India towards it's policies and condemn whats bad about it.. That does'nt make me anti Indian i think..

This coming from a person that have traveled to India 6 time in the last decade, Have been through length and breath of the country owing to the nature of work in my last job.. I have seen the best and worse about India, Have many wonderful friends from there.. It's a remarkable place unlike any other in the world.. So i know what i'm talking about to a certain extent..

 

[Levina]

Touche on that..
No did not ignore that.. Sound economic relations with India is welcome.. Infact Sri Lanka aims to be the hub for South Asian trade and services just like Hong Kong, So indeed India would be the biggest trade partner


My point is for a ordinary Lankan what they see is India solely concentrating on Northern Tamil regions.. They dont see trade and business happening at corporate level they see infrastructure development..

And given the relationship they had in the past regarding the conflict it's not surprising that majority of Lankans still harbor apprehensions about India, It's motives.. Whether those worries are valid or not..

And suspicions wont diminish as long as India seem to be only concentrating in the North.. So Modi govt has begun on a good platform, So hopefully that will in time change the mindset of ordinary Lankans as well

You do know that Indian ports benefit indirectly from SL ports, we've a limitation of depth and dearth of large cranes. Cooperation in Indian ocean is the key to success, we've healthy trade relationship and 're socially similar so we must cooperate to progress.
But I do not understand why India is repeatedly asked to justify its actions by those few who're suspicious of India's activities in SL while are comfortable warming up to China? I smell rats...and fishes too.

I appreciate the good about India towards it's policies and condemn whats bad about it.. That does'nt make me anti Indian i think..

This coming from a person that have traveled to India 6 time in the last decade, Have been through length and breath of the country owing to the nature of work in my last job.. I have seen the best and worse about India, Have many wonderful friends from there.. It's a remarkable place unlike any other in the world.. So i know what i'm talking about to a certain extent..

Tell me about it...

Let me tell you sir that I have lived in 8 Indian states, i can speak 4 Indian languages and understand some more, spent about 22years of my life in india and I still think that i do not understand India. So I will say you're a lil over-confident that your 6 visits to India taught you everything there was about my country. You dont know us! Accept it!!!
Btw when did I call you anti-India? hmm bad memory!

 

[Gibbs]

You do know that Indian ports benefit indirectly from SL ports, we've a limitation of depth and dearth of large cranes. Cooperation in Indian ocean is the key to success, we've healthy trade relationship and 're socially similar so we must cooperate to progress.
But I do not understand why India is repeatedly asked to justify its actions by those few who're suspicious of India's activities in SL while are comfortable warming up to China? I smell rats...and fishes too.

Hmmm.. Maybe you need to follow mt posts around a bit.. There are couple of threads on that very subject of Colombo ports and how Hambantota has become the transshipment hub for Indian exports.. Search for them quite reveling discussions

Well simple.. China does not have any baggage, And India has huge.. And one that it was responsible for just ended 6 years ago after 30 years of utter destruction.. You cant expect people to forget that over a short period of time.. It's simple.. I cant fathom why it's such an insecure issue for you.. I think it'pretty clear from this very post you do have a chip on the shoulder when it comes to China

And again It's not a few.. It's the majority.. Just because some Lankans domiciled in the UAE known to you may not express thier apprehensions openly due to politeness, does'nt make them the norm.. India has to work on to alleviate those suspicions

Again the OP rightfully explains why, And as i said to the other poster the authors commentary are more nuanced and indepth with the general perception of Sri Lankans, than a random poster in a online forum

Tell me about it...

Let me tell you sir that I have lived in 8 Indian states, i can speak 4 Indian languages and understand some more, spent about 22years of my life in india and I still think that i do not understand India. So I will say you're a lil over-confident that your 6 visits to India taught you everything there was about my country. You dont know us! Accept it!!!

Lol.. I never said i know every thing about India.. Thats you putting the words in for me.. What i said is i know what i'm talking about to a certain extent.. Because unlike many wanna be experts here i dont try to pretend i know every thing about internal affairs of other countries.. And i dunno if you ever notice, I refrain from commenting on subjects i have little knowledge on, Be it of India or any others

 

[Levina]

China does not have any baggage, And India has huge.. And one that it was responsible for just ended 6 years ago after 30 years of utter destruction.. You cant expect people to forget that over a short period of time.. It's simple.. I cant fathom why it's such an insecure issue for you..

Do not put the entire blame on India, your governments too had a part to play in it.

ust because some Lankans domiciled in the UAE may not express thier apprehensions openly due to politeness, does'nt make them the norm.. India has to work on to alleviate suspicions that comes normal

Lol
Even on this forum you're the only member who is so vociferous about India's role in SL.
Lankans are pretty cool otherwise...or so I think.

Lol.. I never said i know every thing about India.. Thats you putting the words in for me.. What i said is i know what i'm talking about to a certain extent.. Because unlike many wanna be experts here i dont try to pretend i know every thing about internal affairs of other countries.. And i dunno if you ever notice, I refrain from commenting on subjects i have little knowledge on, Be it of India or any others

Gotcha!

 

[Gibbs]

Do not put the entire blame on India, your governments too had a part to play in it.

Lol.. That is not the crux of the argument there, Not who played which part but why Lankans in general still have apprehensions about India is.. Lets not get out of context here shall we ?

Lol
Even on this forum you're the only member who is so vociferous about India's role in SL.
Lankans are pretty cool otherwise...or so I think

Hmmm.. So lets get them on board shall we ? .. @Azizam @HeinzG @Saradiel @NGV-H .. Only person i see over enthusiastic is @Godman but lets get his views on as well.. I dont think you would want to know the view point of another particular poster, He usually posts large less flattering pics of India which i'm sure you wont appreciate..

Oh btw non of this changes the fact we're still cool.. So thats one thing we both agree on..

 

[Levina]

Lol.. That is not the crux of the argument there, Not who played which part but why Lankans in general still have apprehensions about India is.. Lets not get out of context here shall we ?

There 're no permanent allies, no permanent enemies...only interests!!!

Hmmm.. So lets get them on board shall we ? .. @Azizam @HeinzG @Saradiel @NGV-H .. Only person i see over enthusiastic is @Godman but lets get his views on as well.. I dont think you would want to know the view point of another particular poster, He usually posts large less flattering pics of India which i'm sure you wont appreciate..

Oh btw non of this changes the fact we're still cool.. So thats one thing we both agree on..

For sure I can't tag any of my real life Sri-Lankan friends here.

 

[surya kiran]

@Gibbs

First disclaimer. I am half Tam.

The SL episode has to be viewed from 2 perspectives. One, the US has good ties with SL during that period an two, we did not have very good ties with US, in that period. The episode of the US carrier was only a decade old. The last thing, India wanted was to have the US in its backyard. The backing of the LTTE needs to be seen from this perspective. To put it further in perspective, we backed the LTTE like the Pakistanis backed the Mujahideen in Afghanistan.

The decision of RG, to get out of the situation and back the SL government was probably the second best decision he took. Second, only to his economic decision of the Long Term Fiscal Policy document. Looking back, we probably got out better than the Pakistanis got out of Afghanistan. But, our intervention caused to a smaller scale a problem in TN. This is not going to go for a generation. Though sounding harsh, the current generation of LTTE backing politician has to die in TN for things to evolve to the next level.

Having seen the stupid waste of time and talent, that it did to a couple of my friends, I have only utter contempt for the LTTE and what it stood for. How I rejoiced and smiled, when the news broke that the SLA had killed him.

Coming to the next thing, the current GoI and policy is no longer aligned to parties like the Vaiko faction, amply evident by the distancing of the NDA from it. No small measure being Dr Swamy's lobbying, that, Vaika was acting against national interests by backing the militant sections of the LTTE.

Indian policy towards SL is changing. To the Sri Lankans, this is less to do with Pakistan. A little to do with China. Believe me, China has only sped up the process, not made India change directions. For India, to prosper, we need stable boundaries and co-operative partners. Without this we cannot develop at the pace we wish to. The need from India, which by the way is already happening is to push for closer relationships with Bangladesh, Nepal and SL. How is this possible?

a. Visa free entry for Sri Lankans for a period of 10 days.
b. Working permit allowance for Sri Lankans wanting to work in India, renewable every 5 years.
c. Allowing SL students to apply to premier Indian institutes, by having a specific quota for them. Provided they meet the minimum cut off criteria. These students should be encouraged with scholarships.
d. Implementing a ferry service to the south of Sri Lanka from Kerala, for the time being.
e. Increasing co-operation with the SAARC in the area of disaster management. Build a unified command to respond to natural disasters with Bangladesh and SL. If we had the resources, build a LPD which acts as a humanitarian hospital ship, supported by cutters and personnel trained specifically for the same. The ship will be manned by personnel from all 3 countries.

If India, wants to be a major power in the IOR, good and happy relations with both Bangladesh and SL will have to be a cornerstone of Indian foreign policy.

 

[Gibbs]

@Gibbs

First disclaimer. I am half Tam.

The SL episode has to be viewed from 2 perspectives. One, the US has good ties with SL during that period an two, we did not have very good ties with US, in that period. The episode of the US carrier was only a decade old. The last thing, India wanted was to have the US in its backyard. The backing of the LTTE needs to be seen from this perspective. To put it further in perspective, we backed the LTTE like the Pakistanis backed the Mujahideen in Afghanistan.

The decision of RG, to get out of the situation and back the SL government was probably the second best decision he took. Second, only to his economic decision of the Long Term Fiscal Policy document. Looking back, we probably got out better than the Pakistanis got out of Afghanistan. But, our intervention caused to a smaller scale a problem in TN. This is not going to go for a generation. Though sounding harsh, the current generation of LTTE backing politician has to die in TN for things to evolve to the next level.

Having seen the stupid waste of time and talent, that it did to a couple of my friends, I have only utter contempt for the LTTE and what it stood for. How I rejoiced and smiled, when the news broke that the SLA had killed him.

Coming to the next thing, the current GoI and policy is no longer aligned to parties like the Vaiko faction, amply evident by the distancing of the NDA from it. No small measure being Dr Swamy's lobbying, that, Vaika was acting against national interests by backing the militant sections of the LTTE.

Indian policy towards SL is changing. To the Sri Lankans, this is less to do with Pakistan. A little to do with China. Believe me, China has only sped up the process, not made India change directions. For India, to prosper, we need stable boundaries and co-operative partners. Without this we cannot develop at the pace we wish to. The need from India, which by the way is already happening is to push for closer relationships with Bangladesh, Nepal and SL. How is this possible?

a. Visa free entry for Sri Lankans for a period of 10 days.
b. Working permit allowance for Sri Lankans wanting to work in India, renewable every 5 years.
c. Allowing SL students to apply to premier Indian institutes, by having a specific quota for them. Provided they meet the minimum cut off criteria. These students should be encouraged with scholarships.
d. Implementing a ferry service to the south of Sri Lanka from Kerala, for the time being.
e. Increasing co-operation with the SAARC in the area of disaster management. Build a unified command to respond to natural disasters with Bangladesh and SL. If we had the resources, build a LPD which acts as a humanitarian hospital ship, supported by cutters and personnel trained specifically for the same. The ship will be manned by personnel from all 3 countries.

If India, wants to be a major power in the IOR, good and happy relations with both Bangladesh and SL will have to be a cornerstone of Indian foreign policy.

Thanks for that mate.. Actually no disclaimer needed.. Your ethnicity does not matter but your very pertinent views does

And i dont think there is much that i would disagree with your post, But most importantly you made a few very important point's which i'm afraid few other Indian posters here pretending to be "Experts" on Sri Lanka sadly seem to be ignorant about

1. You're completely correct the birth of the LTTE had to do more with Cold war alliances than perceived Lankan help to Pakistan during the Bangladeshi war as many Indians falsely tend to believe

For one the Sirimavo Bandaranaike govt in 1970 was Socialist to the core and was pro Indian and was very close to the Ghandi's especially Indira.. That was one reason Indira found it a double blow to her hegemonic interests when pro US capitalist J.R Jayawardena won the election with a massive majority in 1977.. There was a lot of animosity between them, So for Indira it was even more personal, JR's often public humiliations of her did'nt help either, Along with his ambitions of getting the US to station in Trincomalee as you rightly mentioned.. A good source on insights to this can be found in J N Dixit's memoir's, He was the hawkish highly anti Lankan high commissioner posted in Colombo.. Instrumental architect of the Tamil insurgency.. He saw a ripe situation in the North to exploit

2. People who are not very familiar with Tamil Nadu politics tend to dismiss lightly the highly volatile anti Sri Lankan agenda in politics there.. But as you said it's not as simple, Till a new generation of pro pan Indian political generation comes up as oppose to Tamil nationalist ones the problem will remain.. Even in the traditional mass parties DMK and to a lesser extend MDMK tend to survive on this.. Both were born out of Tamil supremacist ideals of Periar, for DMK through Annadurai and MDMK M G Ramachandran.. Even though there are no outwardly anti Indian posturing these day except from the likes of Vaiko, Seeman and other smaller parties, The ideals of Dravida nationalism survives though the separatist agenda in Sri Lanka

Note: That i'm talking about the Tamil Nadu polity here not the general population

And i'm a strong advocate for good bilateral and economic relations with India, It's the biggest trading partner, A lot of cultural links and the closest neighbor in a highly strategic geographical area, which neither country can dismiss.. The Modi administration is making all the right moves so far.. Lets just hope they wont get caught to domestic political compulsions that previous govts had to suffer from at the cost of wider Indian interests.. Because mutual respect for sovereignity is vital as far as Sri Lanka is concerned.. IT's people will never compromise that especially after 30 years of bloodshed and sacrifices to safegourd thier territorial integrity and sovereignity

 

[Gibbs]

A Sri Lankan perspective..

Tamil Eelam is not the solution » The Nation

A response to Tamil Nadu Politicians

Unwarranted Indian meddling in internal affairs of Sri Lanka is not something novel. Election manifestos of the Southernmost Indian State of Tamil Nadu never forget to include something about the sovereign state of Sri Lanka. Perhaps it is utter ignorance of reality, that Sri Lanka is a sovereign independent nation and not another State of India or perhaps it is sheer pluck that Tamil Nadu politicians think that they can alter Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. Whatever the case maybe, this meddlesome interventionist bullying by our big brother need to stop.

In December 1938, the Justice Party Convention passed a resolution stressing Tamil people’s right to a separate sovereign state which was termed Dravida Nadu. Originally, the demand of Dravida Nadu was limited to Tamil-speaking region, but later, it was expanded to include other Indian states such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka

During an interview with the BBC in 1985 then President of Sri Lanka JR Jayewardene said “I think we can deal with them (LTTE) but we need the sympathy of the world, we need the support of India because there are training camps in India, they (LTTE) are being trained in India and they are operating from India and they move about freely in India and I don’t think we should allow to do that; to use violence against a friendly state”.

Statements such as this conclusively prove beyond any fraction of a doubt the hand India had played in elevating a ragtag band of bandits into one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations in the world banned in 32 countries worldwide. There is a reason why Prabhakaran addressed Indira Gandhi as “Amma” (Mother).

Indian interventionism went beyond mere aiding and abetting a terrorist organization. In 1987 Sri Lankan military carried out a military offensive dubbed “Operation Liberation”. Vadamarachchi Operation as it was known by the military is by far the second most successful counter-terrorist operation in the annals of Sri Lankan history. While the so called liberators were on their last legs the foolhardy incautious Indian administration of Rajiv Gandhi decided to throw a lifeline to the terrorists. After having thwarted an attempt by the Indian Navy to enter Sri Lankan waters, then Indian Aircraft dropped Dhal to the Jaffna fort violating Sri Lankan Airspace. This was followed by the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord coupled with the arrival of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). Perhaps if Rajiv Gandhi opted not to play a part in the internal Sri Lankan affairs LTTE would have been done with by the end of 1989. And as fate would have it he would very well be alive and well today had it not been for his empty-headed interventionist policy regarding Sri Lanka.

India’s interventionist policy regarding Sri Lanka grew milder following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, however it continued to persist as the central government chose to entertain the fables of Tamil Nadu. During the final stage of the war against the terrorist in 2009 we had to give certain assurances to the government of India. Hilarity of these assumptions is the simple notion that government of India is more concerned about the wellbeing of Sri Lankan citizens than the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL). If the government of India had any regard about Sri Lankan civilians, they would have not effectively saved the Tiger Terrorists from certain extinction. Furthermore, if one is to believe those terrorist sympathizers who cry “Genocide”, then the question arises how did 300,000 Tamil civilians survive? If the Sri Lankan military actually targeted the Tamil civilian populace could such a large number of civilians actually survive?

In an interview with The Hindu, PMK leader Dr. Ramadoss has stated that Tamil Eelam is the solution. He further goes on to say that the UN should hold a referendum among the Sri Lankan Tamils across the world for the creation of a separate Tamil Eelam. So does this mean that the Sinhalese, Muslims and other communities have no say whatsoever regarding matters relating to their own country? In other words, Dr. Ramadoss has refused to acknowledge the existence of 84.73% of the Sri Lankan populous. It is befuddling to say the least that Ramadoss as an Indian who knows really well of the massacres that took place following the partition of India on both sides of the border calling for partition of another country. Recalling Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s statement that he would consult Buddhist monks before taking any decision, Dr. Ramadoss stated “His statement is clear proof to the fact that the administration in Sri Lanka is controlled by religious leaders”. This demonstrates utter and complete ignorance on the part of Dr.Ramadoss. As an Indian it has escaped his grasp that Buddhism was in fact gift from India, additionally the Buddhist monks mentioned in this statement are not the monks of BBS (Bodu Bala Sena) monks, but the Buddhist prelates who to this day hold a pragmatic view concerning all Sri Lankans.

In December 1938, the Justice Party Convention passed a resolution stressing Tamil people’s right to a separate sovereign state which was termed Dravida Nadu. Originally, the demand of Dravida Nadu was limited to Tamil-speaking region, but later, it was expanded to include other Indian states such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. Some of the more ambitious proponents also included parts of Sri Lanka, Orissa and Maharashtra. In 1963, on the recommendation of the Committee on National Integration and Regionalism of the National Integration Council, the Indian parliament unanimously passed the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which sought to “prevent the fissiparous, secessionist tendency in the country engendered by regional and linguistic loyalties and to preserve the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity” of India. This was primarily in response to separatist demand of Dravida Nadu. If a separatist state of Tamil Eelam is in fact established in a country which has 3 million Tamils, is there any guarantee that the 70 million Tamils residing in India (the actual Tamil Homeland) would not want to demand the same brand of independence? Can India be certain that it will not be further divided?