Thursday, April 27, 2006
The Hindu Media Rejoices as Sreelanka Bleeds Again
With reports from Sreelanka pouring in, of the Sinhalese lead government's military attacking the civilian Tamils, one of the leading newspapers in the South is expressing its glee. The editorial says that the patience of the recently elected Prime Minister of Sreelanka is thinning out, that more may come. There were apprehensions that the hard liner Prime-Minister-elect will soon launch a extermination campaign. The crude violence that the Tamil rebels in Sreelanka have are famous for may not be justifiable. But then the Budhists in Sreelanka are not followers of Ahimsa either, it is another kind of Budhism there. With only the narrow Palk straits separating the home land of the Tamil culture in India and the Tamil population in Sreelanka the ethnic conflict in the island is of great significance to India. Big brother India is covertly or overtly involved in the conflict from the very beginning. Till now a major part of the Tamil population in the island has been wiped out. The Tamil people are claiming sovereignty and running their own territory though.
The public opinion in India, particularly Tamilnadu and south India in general, play a role in deciding India's foreign policy with regard to Sreelanka. Where the stand of widely read newspapers play a key role. The genocide in Sreelanka has to stop is what every right thinking man will want. But the case here is different. The newspaper under mention, claiming to be the flagship of Hinduism and misusing the generic name is thus doing the opposite of what it ought to have done, going by its name. When the Hindu population in Bangaladesh was affected whole of India under Indira Gandhi stood as one and the new country was carved out. But when it comes to the Hindus in Sreelanka India has a different approach. It is the role played by these newspapers that did the harm. The same newspaper had vociferously attacked the Hindu nationalist idiom in India and branded it as totally obnoxious. With the Hindu generic name on its mast head every Hindu ought to have protested, they have a right to. The question that comes up is how much Hindu are the people who run a newspaper by the name Hindu. As understood Brahmin is a holy term in Hinduism and is the epitome of divine qualities. But one wonders whether the Iyengar Brahmins, traders by profession, who run the paper deserve that title. That going by their editorial policies, which are often not very Hindu.
The Tamil issue in Sreelanka has a history with links to this deeper question. The ante-Brahmin politics of the Dravidian movement in Tamilnadu, few decades back, had questioned the claims of the caste Brahmins there. Thanthai Periyar who spear headed the movement initially had many of his arsenal borrowed from missionary spread stories, but the movement had made a point. What was to start a movement of social reform in Tamilnadu, against caste oppression and liberation from caste Brahmin imposed oppression. There were several saints who wanted the caste-Brahmin hold on Hinduism corrected. But the Dravidian movement lacked a clear vision, lacked the spiritual anchorage and direction, it soon drifted apart. That this newspaper belongs to the same group, then under attack, is no coincidence. There is no denying the fact that their policies regarding Sreelankan Tamils reflect on this past. Tamilnadu has a past history of spirituality far too ancient than the model of Brahminical Hinduism, with its casteist separation, monopolisation of knowledge and priestly arrogance, that is being paraded.
The Tamil people of Sreelanka, the island close to the home land of the Tamil culture in peninsular India, are the native people there. With a few people brought there by the British later as plantation labour. But after the island gained independence from Britian in 1948 the majority Sinhalese have managed to hunt them down. A major part of the Tamil population has perished in bloody battles so far. What started with the discriminatory state policies that the Sinhalese government brought in, like denial of citizenship rights to hill Tamils, enactment of the Sinhala only language policy, asking Tamil students to have more marks than Sinhalese students for admissions and a battery of legislations made the Tamils restive. The shrewd Sreelankan governmnment also made India take back a large population of Sreelankan Tamils who were settled in the southern states. Sreelanka also allegedly tried to get in to the US - China axis and it was then that the symathies for Sreelankan Tamils went up in India. But later the policy saw strange changes and the Indian army sent to Sreelanka was seen killing the Tamils there. The diplomatic efforts to seek a solution by India nose dived when the government of India, under young and naive Rajiv Gandhi, reportedly held a leader of the Tamils incommunicado on Indian soil. What to lead to a chain of tragedies, well known by now. One cannot justify the approaches of the radical Tamil groups, but one cannot also forget that it was the last choice they had.
As of now the economic blockades in the north and east, where the Tamils live, population transplantations in the area and general break downs have created havoc in these regions. The rebel Tamil movement here is, as reported by the international media, now recruiting young children as commandos. Perhaps because the adults have been reduced in fighting. The present onsluaght by the Sreelankan army and airforce on civilian areas of Tamils have reportedly killed many ordinary people. The small rebel force cannot face a state force is anybody's guess. India ought to have initiated a dialogue process with the two warring groups. For the island is far too close to the Indian shores and the people of the island share a common past with India, atleast south India. It is a tragedy that the Indian foreign policy with regard to Sreelanka after Indira Gandhi, who was tragically assassinated, has always been confused and unsteady. Where the crafty newspapers have played their role. Of late it is perhaps also the political scene in India, particularly Tamilnadu, where a pro-Tamil party has compromised for a few electoral seats, that triggered the fresh violence. India atleast at this late hour ought to take a pro-active role in Sreelanka, see that justice prevails. Perhaps the Indian sub-continent needs a pan-Indian collective on the lines of the European union. What alone will solve the problems of cornered groups like the Sreelankan Tamils and Bangaladeshi Hindus.
The public opinion in India, particularly Tamilnadu and south India in general, play a role in deciding India's foreign policy with regard to Sreelanka. Where the stand of widely read newspapers play a key role. The genocide in Sreelanka has to stop is what every right thinking man will want. But the case here is different. The newspaper under mention, claiming to be the flagship of Hinduism and misusing the generic name is thus doing the opposite of what it ought to have done, going by its name. When the Hindu population in Bangaladesh was affected whole of India under Indira Gandhi stood as one and the new country was carved out. But when it comes to the Hindus in Sreelanka India has a different approach. It is the role played by these newspapers that did the harm. The same newspaper had vociferously attacked the Hindu nationalist idiom in India and branded it as totally obnoxious. With the Hindu generic name on its mast head every Hindu ought to have protested, they have a right to. The question that comes up is how much Hindu are the people who run a newspaper by the name Hindu. As understood Brahmin is a holy term in Hinduism and is the epitome of divine qualities. But one wonders whether the Iyengar Brahmins, traders by profession, who run the paper deserve that title. That going by their editorial policies, which are often not very Hindu.
The Tamil issue in Sreelanka has a history with links to this deeper question. The ante-Brahmin politics of the Dravidian movement in Tamilnadu, few decades back, had questioned the claims of the caste Brahmins there. Thanthai Periyar who spear headed the movement initially had many of his arsenal borrowed from missionary spread stories, but the movement had made a point. What was to start a movement of social reform in Tamilnadu, against caste oppression and liberation from caste Brahmin imposed oppression. There were several saints who wanted the caste-Brahmin hold on Hinduism corrected. But the Dravidian movement lacked a clear vision, lacked the spiritual anchorage and direction, it soon drifted apart. That this newspaper belongs to the same group, then under attack, is no coincidence. There is no denying the fact that their policies regarding Sreelankan Tamils reflect on this past. Tamilnadu has a past history of spirituality far too ancient than the model of Brahminical Hinduism, with its casteist separation, monopolisation of knowledge and priestly arrogance, that is being paraded.
The Tamil people of Sreelanka, the island close to the home land of the Tamil culture in peninsular India, are the native people there. With a few people brought there by the British later as plantation labour. But after the island gained independence from Britian in 1948 the majority Sinhalese have managed to hunt them down. A major part of the Tamil population has perished in bloody battles so far. What started with the discriminatory state policies that the Sinhalese government brought in, like denial of citizenship rights to hill Tamils, enactment of the Sinhala only language policy, asking Tamil students to have more marks than Sinhalese students for admissions and a battery of legislations made the Tamils restive. The shrewd Sreelankan governmnment also made India take back a large population of Sreelankan Tamils who were settled in the southern states. Sreelanka also allegedly tried to get in to the US - China axis and it was then that the symathies for Sreelankan Tamils went up in India. But later the policy saw strange changes and the Indian army sent to Sreelanka was seen killing the Tamils there. The diplomatic efforts to seek a solution by India nose dived when the government of India, under young and naive Rajiv Gandhi, reportedly held a leader of the Tamils incommunicado on Indian soil. What to lead to a chain of tragedies, well known by now. One cannot justify the approaches of the radical Tamil groups, but one cannot also forget that it was the last choice they had.
As of now the economic blockades in the north and east, where the Tamils live, population transplantations in the area and general break downs have created havoc in these regions. The rebel Tamil movement here is, as reported by the international media, now recruiting young children as commandos. Perhaps because the adults have been reduced in fighting. The present onsluaght by the Sreelankan army and airforce on civilian areas of Tamils have reportedly killed many ordinary people. The small rebel force cannot face a state force is anybody's guess. India ought to have initiated a dialogue process with the two warring groups. For the island is far too close to the Indian shores and the people of the island share a common past with India, atleast south India. It is a tragedy that the Indian foreign policy with regard to Sreelanka after Indira Gandhi, who was tragically assassinated, has always been confused and unsteady. Where the crafty newspapers have played their role. Of late it is perhaps also the political scene in India, particularly Tamilnadu, where a pro-Tamil party has compromised for a few electoral seats, that triggered the fresh violence. India atleast at this late hour ought to take a pro-active role in Sreelanka, see that justice prevails. Perhaps the Indian sub-continent needs a pan-Indian collective on the lines of the European union. What alone will solve the problems of cornered groups like the Sreelankan Tamils and Bangaladeshi Hindus.
