TNA kinship

 

TNA kinship

Last week’s developments continue to reinforce my earlier gripings that TNA leadership never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. To advance the Tamil cause in an inspiring direction.    

First, TNA leadership mis judged the Diaspora and Tamil Nadu strength and took up contradicting viewpoints on CHOGM.

Second, despite prior knowledge of world leader and the press traveling to Jaffna, it took limited leadership on the agenda.

TamilEelam - Diaspora- TamilNadu: Transnational Kinship

Even the ad nauseam repetition of the fact that Tamil strength relies on this “transnational ethnic kinship” (1) does not seem to have sinked in with the TNA leadership.  On the contrary, TNA seem to operate with the assumption that this kinship is a liability. NPC Chief minister drew criticism before for asking TamilNadu to keep away. He again repeated the same sentiment yesterday to the same newspaper.  This time in Tamil as if to drive the point home.  As I mentioned before, he takes a much more troublesome view, propagating an ethical falsehood, that Tamilnadu’s support to their kin in Eelam begets Sinhala violence.  

TamilNadu has shown repeatedly that it will standby the People of Eelam even if their leaders are corrupt. Wounds of 2009 run deep and the political repercussions are still being felt by Congress and DMK.  2014 elections will make TamilNadu a kingmaker and with greater influence on foreign policy.  Even deeply divisive TamilNadu political parties came together and passed a unanimous resolution asking for a total CHOGM boycott. While TNA leadership sent out mixed messages on its position on CHOGM.  NPC Chief minister asked not to boycott and invited the Indian PM to Jaffna, Mr.Sampanthan said they respected the Tamilnadu sentiments without explicitly calling for a boycott. And Mr.Sumanthiran said they in fact supported a boycott.  Anyone who watched the Indian TV debates on Indian PM’s participation of CHOGM can testify how devastating those chief minister’s comments had been.  This indian press article sums up the growing strength of Tamilnadu. United pride of Tamil roar silences Centre.  

“With virtually every party in the state speaking in the same voice, and as many as four ministers from Tamil Nadu in his government voicing their reservations, a cornered PM had little choice in the matter.”

How could TNA have misjudged this?

Ahead of CHOGM, TNA delegation met with the new Indian foreign secretary in Delhi. What was discussed and why the delegation did not find time to debrief TamilNadu leaders ahead of the meeting is still a mystery. More importantly, what strategic purpose is to be achieved by avoiding Tamilnadu? TNA should be more transparent and forthcoming with whatever it is they hope to achieve bypassing Tamilnadu.   

Similar sentiments are felt by Tamil diaspora in other commonwealth countries as well.  After recovering from the 2009 let down, Tamil diaspora has, commendably, reorganized itself into a cohesive and active electoral force in many countries.  Canadian PM’s early stand that triggered the debate, British PM meeting the Tamil delegation and writing on Tamilgurdian explaining his position, and the Mauritius PM’s decision to not only boycott but to forgo the 2015 chairmanship, and the backlash the Australian PM is facing for his mute participation are all testimonials for this strength.  This is how responsive governments behave. These western initiatives, not Delhi’s, are the ones that “shone the light” on Tamil plight.  Delhi’s agenda of uncritical engagement with Colombo, with the tactic support of TNA, was preempted as a result of a unified, Tamil kinship.   Despite the innuendo, this article sums up the need to take diaspora into confidence.  Srilanka: Engaging the diaspora. 

Ability to own the agenda

Thank fully, this time TNA met with with British PM in Jaffna. Unlike the previous meetings (like the one with Navi Pillay), held in Colombo.  Aananthi Sasitharan, who got the 2nd highest preferential votes and is a direct victim of the Sri Lankan state, is not usually included in the TNA meetings with foreign delegations. It is bad even as a tactical step, leave alone strategy.  It shuts out a platform for the relatives to air their grievances in a much more personal way, to the visiting delegations. And at worst, it creates an impression that TNA is not concerned about one of the most pressing issue. That of the disappeared. The relatives of the disappeared organized an ad hoc protest that was widely covered by the visiting media. Their desperate pleas, holding the pictures of the missing, made for moving visuals. Unfortunately the British Prime Minister could not meet with the protestors. Mr.Sumanthiran’s interview explaining the concerns of the PM’s security detail for such a meeting is valid and understandable. But TNA could have included Ms.Aananthi in their delegation or could have asked for a private meeting with the British PM after their meeting is finished.  Or at a minimum, the TNA delegation should have joined the protesters in solidarity and addressed the crowd. It is a mistake not to have anticipated the protest and to find ways to accommodate it.  Many ( @DushiYanthini  @Mari_deSilva) tweeting from the protest highlighted the anger of the people against the politicians. and the groundviews article on the incident is here .

And in the meeting between TNA leaders and the British PM, if this account is accurate,  six points were discussed.  All the points raised are important and valid.  But it is also important to note what was not discussed. Given the historic nature of the visit, an opportunity to articulate the larger structural issues seems to have been missed. One could argue that Mr.Wigneswaran limited his articulation only to his role as a chief minister.  But having had the chance to speak directly to the British PM in Jaffna, a more broader articulation, including the insistence on International, Independent, Investigations would have gone a long way.  

TNA’s reluctance to openly and forcefully embrace the transnational kinship and its inability to frame the struggle in broader terms and to build coalitions should be a concern to the leadership. As highlighted by many before, TNA should not reframe the Tamil struggle as a struggle only to fully implement the 13A. Asking the Tamils to patiently wait, without transparently articulating the timelines and steps beyond 13A, until the intransigence of the Sri Lankan state is proven to the international community is shortsighted.  The short time window to expand the electoral legitimacy will run out soon.

(1) http://mailer.fsu.edu/~whmoore/garnet-whmoore/research/moore&davis98.pdf