Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

03 March 2017

Land, Culture and Soul

[The North and East The Northern and Eastern Provinces which are currently two separate provinces were part of a single province until 10 years ago.

Both provinces were merged in September 1988 after the Indo-Lanka accord. The move was highly critcised by several sections of the country who claimed that it allowed the LTTE to be in control of the major part of the region. However, the provinces were once again demerged following a Supreme Court order in 2006.

The ruling on the demerger came after a long campaign by several parties including the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). The JVP filed three separate petitions with the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka requesting a separate Provincial Council for the East………..

October 16, 2006 the Supreme Court ruled that the proclamations issued by President Jayewardene were null and void and had no legal effect.] – The Nation article - 13A and India’s U-turn

As per the system of Democracy, voting is to express our rights on the basis of ‘homeland’. The place that is considered our home is the basic unit of entitlement. This recognizes that Land has power. When we feel that a particular block of land is our ‘home’ we inherit the cumulative power of that land. It is this inherited power that is confirmed by our vote. Others with similar feelings of ownership become our co-owners. The apparent value of this ownership may or may not coincide with the real value. The greater the difference between  the two values – the greater the need for intellectual and enforced measures to maintain harmony.

We coexist when the apparent value is higher than the real value and external harmony is maintained. Cultural values promote deeper bonding which contribute towards strengthening of real common ownership.  Northern Province and Eastern Province of Sri Lanka enjoy cultural commonness. But the apparent value of ownership is low. Hence its outer structure has become the political pawn of those desiring hasty political decisions. In real terms, East joined forces with North to rebel against Central Government. The petition by Sinhalese political group JVP, to keep the two provinces separate, confirms their fear of unity amongst Tamils. But if Tamils merge their ownership through culture, with ownership through residence, the separated forms actually would be of exponential value. This is the parallel of the  value that Devolution would generate for Tamils. Let’s take  each Province as a larger legal person – capable of conducting its own affairs. If the two provinces were merged – the merged province would be equal in apparent political power to any other province in Sri Lanka. Without merger two provinces would mean 22% (2 out of 9) of total power in terms of Provinces. With merger we Tamils would show only 11% of total power.

As per the above article:

[One of the interesting turn of events which was witnessed last week was when the visiting Foreign Secretary of India met with Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran and members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

During the meeting, Jaishankar had called upon the TNA to move away from the merger of the North and East and to go easy on its demands pertaining to a durable solution. This remark by an Indian minister of its Central Government is of utmost importance, because, the merger of both Provinces is spelt out in the much discussed 13th Amendment, which came into being courtesy the Indo-Lanka accord 30 years ago.]

Colombo Tamils have made and continue to make, very strong contribution to reliable Administration in Sri Lanka. Practice of our cultural heritage is a big part of this contribution. The place/land where order is practiced is empowered and every person who is active on that land is supported by that power of good order. Many Jaffna Tamils who settled down in  Colombo for work purposes – are really like dual citizens. Every place where Good Order is practiced genuinely by a person/group of their own free will – is empowered with good-order genes. Tamils have made strong contribution to such genes in Colombo. This includes the current chief minister of Northern Province – the Hon C.V.Wigneswaran. Every Tamil who believes in such heritage would be empowered by that heritage.

Tamils do not need majority force to realize self-governance. The smaller the unit through which self-governance is realized and practiced, the closer the apparent power is to the real power. Minorities who realize self-governance are strongly connected to the roots of a Nation. If indeed we need to be big to realize self-governance – then we are as weak as majority relying on the seen looks rather than the realized soul-power.