MALAYAGATH THAMIZHARGAL : 2011 REPORT TO BJP

2011 : MY OPINION ON ISSUES OF TAMIL PEOPLE SOUGHT : LIKE THE LEGEND THAT RAMA SOUGHT RAVANA;'s ASTROLOGICAL PREDICTION TO LAUNCH RAMAYANA WAR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO KNOW TAMILS ISSUES I NEVER HESITATED TO PLACE MY OPINION ... N.Nandhivarman

STATELESS PEOPLE:ANNA ON MALAYAGA THAMIZHARGAL

[Aringnar Anna spoke in Indian Parliament in December 1964]

Mr. Vice Chairman, the Minister of External Affairs has given us a fairly full picture of the present international situation. I have the fullest sympathy towards the Minister for External Affairs when he is called upon to solve the problems bristling with difficulties and confounding the best brains of the present day world. Though the field is very alluring, I do not propose, due to the embarrassing time factor, to enter into the very alluring grounds covered by the Minister of External Affairs.

I propose to be nearer home and deal with only one problem, the so called Indo-Ceylon Pact. In dealing with that problem I may request the Minister of External Affairs to take my speech to convey the feeling of remorse and agony by millions of people over the Indo-Ceylon pact. The Minister has been telling us how politicians and statesmen all over the world are trying to enthrone justice and equality, are trying to find out how best human dignity can be safeguarded. I am going to measure the Indo-Ceylon Pact only by that yardstick of human dignity, international justice and common sense. Measuring it with such a yardstick, I find this pact means a gross betrayal of millions of people whose one sin has been looking towards this country and this government for solace.

The Indo-Ceylon pact, the very name I would say Mr. Vice Chairman, the very name is a misnomer. There is no problem at all between two sovereign countries like India and Ceylon. The main problem is between millions of people settled for generations together in Ceylon and the Ceylonese government in the matter of treatment meted out to them. The only part that we could have played and the legitimate part that we should have played is by stressing the human aspect of the problem. All along, it has been stated that we are not going to look at this problem as other than a problem of human interest. The persistent, the consistent and the logical policy being followed by previous government, to be more correct, by the lamented Prime Minister of this country has given a go-by, without an iota of remorse. He has been stressing that the problem of millions of people who have been unfortunately termed as stateless is a problem that has to be tackled mainly and solely by the Ceylonese Government. The Indian government enters the picture only to guide the Ceylonese government when it needs guidance. A point has been raised in this house, whether the sovereignty of one country can be abridged by the actions and consultations of another country. Various views on sovereignty there have been, and the present trend is that sovereignty is to come under the aegis and under the guidance of eternal principles of justice and fair play. If it is merely the sovereign right of the Ceylon government, Mr.Kottewala, Mr. Dudley Senanaike, after that Mr. Bandaranaike and now Srimavo Bandaranaike need not have, and would not have, and could not have come to this country for consultations.

The very fact that successive Prime Ministers of Ceylon have come to this country for consultations on this problem means that this is not purely a problem wherein the sovereignty of a country is at issue. This is a problem wherein the whole world has an interest. The fact of the matter is that millions of people who are called people of Indian origin are settled in Ceylon, not for a decade or two decades, but for centuries together. It has been stated that only the Indians there are people of Indian origin. May I ask the Minister of External Affairs to delve deep into the annals of Ceylon? It may give him an insight into the fact that the so called Sinhalese are people of Indian origin who went to Ceylon during the reign of King Vijaya, and the millions of people who are now dubbed as people of Indian origin, have gone there later. Therefore to call the people of Indian origin aliens to Ceylon is a travesty of fact. This government ought not to have countenanced such barefaced injustice. The main burden ought to have been on the Ceylon government to come to this country or before the Bar of the world and they ought to have stated in what they are treating, they have been treating and they are going to treat people who are settled there permanently.

Most of the people today, who are called men of Indian origin, have no connection, no hovels, no homes, no relations in that unfortunate part of our country, Tamilnadu. The only affinity between those people and the people of Tamilnadu is the affinity of language. If the Ceylon government turns round and says that this is your problem, what prompted the Government of India to accept that version of the Ceylon government? Is it to temptation? Is it to pressure? Is it to various other extraneous considerations? Why they have surrendered to the temptation of taking this problem as their problem? Even after taking that false stand, did the Government of India or the present ministry follow the best tenets of democratic principles? What did those Prime Ministers of Ceylon do?

When Mr.Dudley Senanaike came here, when Mr.Kottewala came here and when Mrs.Bandaranaike came here, they took into their confidence, they consulted, the important leaders of opposition in their own country? I remember when Mr.Dudley Senanaike, as Prime Minister came to this country, he brought along with him as one of the members of the delegation, the late lamented Mr.Bandaranaike. Why is it that when a small country like Ceylon maintains and works along the best democratic tenets, you have not taken cares to consult the opinion of any opposition parties? Why is it that when the Ceylon government came here, came fully armed with the unanimity of opinion of all political parties functioning in Ceylon and even of the Communist Party , which is called Lanka Navasamaja party. Why are you presenting to this House and to this country, a fait accompli. Why has the minister stated in the other House, that he was constantly in consultation with the leaders of opinion in Tamilnadu? May I ask the Minister of External Affairs to inform this house if he has taken care to consult any one of the leaders of major political parties in Tamilnadu? No. He can turn round and say that the Chief Minister of Madras has given his blessings or consent and another Minister who was deputed by the Chief Minister here-Hon. Mr.Ramiah – had given the consent. What else they can do? Can they expose the Government of India? They cannot. Their loyalty to the party and government stands in the way of opening their hearts to say what they feel. Even after accepting the Indo-Ceylon pact, speaking if I remember correctly at Baroda, Chief Minister of Madras stated, that he would have been happier if a smaller number of people had been asked to come. What does that mean? It means there is a volcanic eruption though in mild form, in the mind of the Chief Minister of Madras. He is not happy over this pact, though he cannot as a loyal congressman, as a loyal state Chief Minister, question the propriety of the Central government. Therefore to cite the support given by the Chief Minister of Madras or his deputy, is merely burking the issue. Why you have deviated from the path followed by the late lamented Prime Minister ? What did he say on the floor of this House, on the floor of the other House and on many occasions ?  He had very correctly stated

BJP , we urge must take up the cause of Malayaga Thamizhargal, who did not demand separate State in Srilanka but who demanded citizenship and Congress Governments went for a pact and created Stateless people, thereby failing the Tamil people.

Between 1871-1881 when coffee, tea plantations came up in large numbers in Ceylon, lots of Tamils from India went there seeking work. They constituted nearly 10 % of the then population of Ceylon. Donoughmore Commission constituted before independence said out of these roughly 50 percent labour were permanently residing in Ceylon. Jackson Report of 1928 said they were around 60 percent. The Soulbury Commission of 1946 stated 80 percent of these labour were permanent residents of Ceylon.Donoughmore Commission had recommended that for all those who had lived for 5 years and above citizenship rights must be conferred. Ceylonese Government did not accept that recommendation, thus the crisis started. In 1940 both India and Ceylon discussed this issue. Again in 1941 September there was a bi party conference between India and Ceylon. They agreed joint declaration which emanated in this meeting was not implemented. The irony is in 1942 Ceylonese Government itself written to Indian Government requesting India to permit labour to come and work in its rubber plantations. In the first General Elections of 1947 plantation labour had voting rights. They backed the Ceylon Indian Congress and elected 7 members to Parliament. They were the deciding factor in another 20 parliamentary constituencies. D.S.Senanayaka, first Prime Minister of Ceylon amended the 8 th article of the Citizenship Act and disenfranchised plantation Tamils called as Malayaga Tamils. He passed in Parliament the amendment by 1949 and removed people of Indian origin from the voters list. That is how the voting rights of plantation Tamils who chose 7 Members to Parliament were deprived from them. Then Indian origin people were asked to apply for citizenship. 8, 25,000 people applied for citizenship. Only to 1, 00,000 people Ceylonese citizenship was granted. To resolve this deadlock at London both Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Ceylon Prime Minister Dudley Senanaiyaka talked but could not resolve. In 1954 a pact was signed between Jawaharlal Nehru and Sir John Kotewala, Ceylon Premier. It was never implemented. By 1964, Srilankan Prime Minster Srimavo Bandaranaike and Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri signed a pact, wherein Srilanka agreed to give citizenship to 3, 00,000 persons. India admitted to take back 5, 25,000 persons.

Comrade George Fernandes is the only national leader who cared for these people, and as proof I am recalling the Samata Party National Executive held in Vijayawada, in which I also participated as associate party and Special invitee.