ORGANIC MILITARY & ORGANIC FARMING

Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa, when he was President is reported to have claimed that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was from the jungles of North and that he was from the jungles of South. MSM Ayub through his article ‘The Solheim claim: ‘Mahinda planned to offer the North to Prabhakaran’ shared with us as follows:

[The undiplomatic nature of some of the comments made by the former Norwegian minister,whether they were true or not, must be the result of his somewhat bitter last encounters with the former president. To mention a case in point, during an interview former “The Hindu” Editor N. Ram had with Mahinda Rajapaksa in July 2009 the latter’s secretary Lalith Weeratunge had intervened to say:  “It was about March 2006 when Mr. Solheim came to see H.E. after he became president and had also said, in the midst of other things: ‘Prabhakaran is a military genius. I have seen him in action etc., etc. to which the President had responded: ‘He is from the jungles of the North. I am from the jungles of the South. Let’s see who will win!’ It was very prophetic. Later the President met Minister Solheim in New York and reminded him of their conversation on the ‘military geniuses,’ of the jungles of the North and South, and who would win. The East had by that time, in 2007, been cleared and the President had said: ‘Now see what’s going to happen in the North,[ it will be ]the same.”] at https://www.dailymirror.lk/94225/the-solheim-claim-mahinda-planned-to-offer-the-north-to-prabhakaran

To the above, I add my conversation with a Rajapaksa voter(RV) – based on my article headed ‘IS MAHINDA CONVERTING TO UNP?’

RV: The Rajapaksha family is closely knit.  A brother will not go against a brother.  There is a deeper meaning to what MR said because of the riots and what is happening at present.  MR is not the type to join the UNP.  Mahinda's greatest weakness is that he tries to please everyone and that is taken as an advantage by some.  We must wait patiently.  Many surprises are yet to come Gaja.  Be patient with your comments

Gaja: If that is how you read it – I accept that also. To me, if I interpret on the basis of my true feelings for Sri Lanka, that would reach the mind of anyone needing such support. This is also a kind of support for GR who lacks MR’s maturity in Politics, but is committed to the security of Sri Lanka. Those who call for him to step down must ensure that they maintain the protection that came with GR as a ruthless leader of the Armed Forces. Whether he is so is secondary. It is how he is perceived by those who would cause harm is what matters. The fact that he apologised for the chemical fertilizer ban is in his favour – including from me. I believe that every form of truth to help Sri Lanka will be healthy. Beyond that I am not concerned about whether my comments are proven correct or false.

 

The Guardian reports about the mindset of Sinhalese as follows: ‘It will be hard to find a farmer left’ -  Sri Lanka reels from rash fertiliser ban’:

‘…. for many of those who have farmed this land since the 1960s, mainly with rice and banana crops, the past year has been the toughest of their lives.

“If things go on like this, in the future it will be hard to find a farmer left in Sri Lanka,” said Niluka Dilrukshi, 34, a rice paddy farmer.’

As per my parallel experience in Northern Sri Lanka, those farmers depend heavily on the rain. They do get disturbed by unusual patterns of rain but they continue to be farmers. To the extent Northern Sri Lankans lacked natural resources – they pursued the intellectual pathway to earn a living. Even now – there are students who travel every week from Jaffna to Colombo towards getting the ‘grades’ at National level. But this was seriously damaged by the armed rebellion.

The LTTE made the farming area of Kilinochchi its capital. Left to them Northerners would have faced the economic meltdown that Southerners are complaining about now. The Land responds to those who respect it. The LTTE did not value the farmer as the leader in social hierarchy. The gun was mightier than the plough.

When the Rajapaksa government sought to bring the untrained soldier to combat the Tamil soldier from the ‘jungles’ that was also  ‘organic’ fighting – Asura against Asura. This has not been cured which leads one to conclude that that is the easier way for those in government.

When the current President withdrew from the commitment to address this to satisfy the UN in this regard, he was in effect withdrawing from the artificial / chemical  process that UN was to his government. Why did the current protestors not protest then?

In my family culture those within a family are prevented from paying money for internal ‘services’. The responsibilities of a senior are considered ‘duties’ to provide and the responsibilities of a junior are considered to be ‘duties’ to respect. This is extended to social hierarchy where also the senior had the duty to provide and the junior the duty to respect. A junior who respects is entitled to the heritage developed by the senior.

Where this structure is followed, economic ups and downs would not disturb us. By protesting at this level – the Southerners are confirming that they are driven more by money and less by each other’s mind.