Sri Lankans have fought for their freedom, rights and equal opportunities as citizens of a single nation since the time the country lost its independence in 1815. After the ruthless crushing of the 1818 rebellion by the British rulers, educated Sinhala and Tamil leaders commenced a movement to demand a share of power peacefully. In 1833, the Colonial Office agreed to set up a Legislative Council comprising ten official members and six unofficial members. However, the strategy was to give representation to the British planters to appease their demands for increased power.
The protest against this injustice of appointing only British planters as unofficial representatives was headed by Ponnambalam Arunachalam. In 1911, Ponnambalam Ramanathan—whose leadership was unhesitatingly acknowledged by the Sinhala leaders of that time—contested the legislative council election as a candidate for the Educated Ceylonese seat and was elected to the Legislative Council, defeating eminent physician Marcus Fernando. Ramanathan was supported by Sinhala leaders D S Senanayake, E W Jayewardene and many others, who rightly believed Ramanathan was better suited than Marcus Fernando.
Former Chief Minister of Sri Lanka Northern Province, C V Vigneswaran, described it as “the best of times as there was a cordial relationship between the two communities”.
Last Friday, during Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s visit to Jaffna, Tamil leaders hailing from the north engaged in cordial discussions on the ways and means of solving the problems in the province and accelerating the development of school and university education to provide employment opportunities for youths. The district development coordination meeting saw the attendance of Tamil MPs C.V Vigneswaran, M.A. Sumanthiran, Dharmalingam Siddharthan, Angajan Ramanathan, and Minister Douglas Devananda. Their discussions with the prime minister brought hope of reviving the spirit of bonhomie that existed in their fathers’ generation.
PM Gunawardena, who donated a consignment of valuable books to the Jaffna Library, emphasized the need to enhance educational facilities in northern schools. His visit served as a reminder of the longstanding camaraderie that once existed between the two communities, particularly during the era when leftists spearheaded the fight for people’s rights, including workers’ rights.
It was Jaffna’s leftist leaders and their committed cadres who defied the colonial rulers and helped socialist leaders N.M. Perera, Philip Gunawardena, Colvin R. de Silva, and others escape from prison to take shelter in the north. They then crossed over to India, where they worked for the Indian freedom struggle.
The leaders who fought for workers’ rights include A. E. Gunasinghe, N. Shanmuganathan, Edmond Samarakkody, Robers, Philip Gunawardena, and Bala Thampo. The Government Service Clerical Services Union was headed by Alva Pillai, who was later succeeded by T. B. Illangarathne, who became a minister in Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike’s government together with Philip Gunawardena and William Silva.
Prime Minister Gunawardena recalled that Minister Devananda’s father was also an activist fighting for workers’ rights. Similar sentiments were expressed by all the leaders who desired communal amity.
In this newly revived spirit of amity, the prime minister travelled from Jaffna to Kilinochchi by road. There were no protests, and he was received warmly and cordially at both venues. “We are totally committed to developing the north. New allocation is made for development by the President, taking on the responsibility of allocating provincial funds and special funds for development to every district, every province and, every AG division is to be covered,” he said.
“I thank all the officials and the members of parliament who contributed to that, taking on issues of development. We empower all of you, especially the MPs and the District Secretaries, to work along with the Governor and the district leaders in order to achieve this,” he further said.
All the Tamil parliamentarians and the minister assured the prime minister of their unstinted support to speedily implement the development program, thus opening a new hope to keep the spirit of commonality alive.
Sugeeswara Senadhira is an Advisor to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.