In a wide-ranging interview with News Minute journalist Padma Rao Sundarji, Jaffna MP CV Wigneswaran slammed MA Sumanthiran for his endorsement of Sajith Premadasa claiming that this was “expecting personal benefit”.
“I think he has been promised a ministership. In any case, his heart was never with the Tamil national cause. See, I was born and bred in Colombo and can yet empathise with the north and east. Sumanthiran studied in Jaffna and still can’t empathise with them” Wigneswaran stated.
Commenting on the Sinhala presidential candidates, Wigneswaran expressed his deep disillusionment stating “not a single Sinhala president has ever helped us with our political problems. No matter what they say, the same holds good even this time”.
He further detailed that incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe promises to bring about the implementation of the 13th Amendment but failure to do so.
“I thought he would do something. I supported his candidacy openly, not surreptitiously. But to date, he has done nothing. I am disillusioned, but now I know for sure, that none of the Sinhala forerunners, including Ranil, will ever shed their ethno-Buddhist-Sinhala mindset. Hence, the only way to bring out our individuality was by floating our own Tamil candidate”.
He further stressed his own dissatisfaction with the 13th Amendment which does not break from the unitary structure of the Sri Lankan state. Notably this amendment does not permit for the devolution of control over policing and land to the Tamil provinces. Commenting on the issue of militarisation he stated;
“Why are five out of seven regional headquarters of the Sri Lankan Army still stationed in the north and east? To keep us Tamils under the boot of the army. So unless these Sinhalas end their hegemony towards us, we will never have peace in this country”.
He further told Sundarji that he was committed to a non-violent struggle for Tamil liberation and saw the push for a Tamil common candidate as a step in this direction. He concluded the interview by stressing that Western governments should advocate for a referendum and that this would help incentivise investment in the island.
“They should push for a referendum in the north and east of Sri Lanka, just like the one that was held in East Timor, South Sudan, and Eritrea. That’s a democratic way of finding out what we Tamils really want. Sri Lanka has been colonising us by settling Sinhalese and even Muslims here, who are not in alignment with our cause” he told Sundarji. He added:
“They should pay attention to that too. Then, there are lots of diaspora Tamils who want to invest money here, but are reluctant, in case their assets are frozen by Colombo on one pretext or another. We would like western countries to urge Colombo to allow this, as such investments could, after all, even help improve Sri Lanka’s overall economic condition”.
Read the full interview here
