Maha Rajano
issued a decree sometime back forcing a simple division in society. We
were told that there should be only two types of humans here: patriots
and non-patriots.
Accordingly a
patriot was a person who stood for the war, and those who wanted peace
and a political solution to the Tamil national problem, were
non-patriots.
On the side of
the so-called patriots were chauvinists, communalists, liberals,
democrats, rationalists, Che Guevarists, Trotskyites and Stalinists.
Quite an unbelievable combination!
The chauvinists
explained that the war was a liberation-war against terrorism which is
inhuman. Hence there cannot be human rights issues as they were
fighting ‘inhuman’ beings for the sake of humanity!
All these stories of Tamil civilians killed, may be more than 20,000 on a single day, were irrelevant as these were suspected terrorists and suspected terrorists are as bad as terrorists. Of course one does not need an intensive research using Boolean algebra to identify the idiocy in these arguments.
Arguments
Yet these
arguments are dished out everyday by men who have achieved positions in
academic circles. In fact, men, such as Prof Carlo Fonseka, Vasudeva
and many others who used to claim that they were some sort of followers
of Marx, held hands together with Wimal, Champika and Dinesh to hail
the victories of Maha Rajano.
Of course the
former was embarrassed. Nevertheless all these patriots congratulated
each other a few weeks back for the freedom won.
On the other hand, non-patriots such as myself had to face threats and the hooliganism practiced by supporters of the patriotic lot. In particular, editors and chairmen of the state media danced ‘naked’, hurling crap at us. Of course we returned the lot for their own consumption!
Now the
situation is changing. I am questioned everyday by various media about
the validity of the 13th Amendment. Apparently the earlier decree of
Maha Rajano is getting negated.
A new spirit
has moved through the cabinet and entered society to create confusion
in all organisations and institutes. This new spirit has changed the
very essence of patriotism. From the dark corner of non-patriotism, I
am getting pushed into the forefront of the ‘new patriotism’.
What is this
new patriotism? It is simpler than the first.
If you want to
go beyond the Thirteenth Amendment you become a patriot and those who
oppose it are non-patriots, while those who stick to the 13th Amendment
are imbeciles!
Is this a
mirage to cover the misery of those imprisoned in refugee camps and the
devastation of a civilisation in the North? I do not know, but the
debate is on and that has pushed all other political items off the
table.
Wimal has
raised the question
Reasonable devolution
If there was reasonable devolution and recognition of the Tamil nationality either the LTTE would have withered away or Tamil democracy would have suppressed it because the LTTE was organically linked to the Tamil national problem. It arose due to continued oppression of the Tamil people. Looking from that angle anyone could see that the war effort was an utter waste and hence quite unpatriotic.
Certainly the chauvinists will come out with the classic argument that
the LTTE was something unrelated to the Tamil national problem and that
it was an alien terrorist organisation. Even if one accepts that
argument it is obvious that if autonomy, equality and free choice was
offered to the Tamil people prior to the war and practical steps were
taken to implement it, then the war would have taken an entirely
different character.
But Maha Rajano
wants to follow the ancient pundit Maha Denamuththa. A goat had got its
head stuck in a clay pot. Maha Denamuththa’s solution was to cut the
neck of the goat first and then to crush the pot.
Thus both the goat and the pot were lost. With the advice of the three Maha Denamuththas - Champika, Wimal and Dinesh, Maha Rajano has done the same. Crush the Tamils first and then give 13 plus.