Gleanings - K.S. Sivakumaran:
A book in English you may like to read
There are a lot of books being published in English too in the
country. Most books are fiction and a few on interesting subjects. I
chose at random a book that caught my fancy. Please read it if you can.
I give below a few notes on it.
The book is titled Senator Tiruchelvam's Legacy (Selected Speeches of
and tributes to Senator Murueysen Tiruchelvam QC). I am a apolitical
animal and not so interested in politics. One may say that by saying
that I am not interested in politics is in fact a political stance. Be
that as it may.
However I find some biographies, auto biographies and speeches by
great people in the world illuminating and fascinating. For instance I
was extremely absorbed in the subject and the language usage by the late
Jawaharlal Nehru when I read glimpses of world history.
The book under review is edited by Ram Balasubramaniyam and published
by Vijitha Yapa Publications with a sketch in the cover by political
cartoonist S.C. Opatha. The book has 330 pages with more than 30 pages
of photographs which also relate the political history of the subject as
well as the country at large.
To those readers who have not heard of the late M.Tiruchelvam, let me
say that he was a former Minister of Local Government in the late R.
Premadasa's Government.
He was also the Solicitor-General of the then Ceylon, besides having
been a member of the then Senate. But most would remember that he was
the father of the late Neelan Tiruchelvam, an intellectual who was the
founder of the ICES. He belonged to the then Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi.
We must know something about Ram (alingam) Balasubramaniyam who was
the Private Secretary to the Late M. Tiruchelvam QC. He is also a
qualified Solicitor in England and Wales and an Attorney-at-Law in Sri
Lanka.
The book is divided into two sections: Tributes and selected
speeches. The following have contributed their estimation of the late
M.Tiruchelvam: J.R.Jayewardene, S.J.V. Chelvanayagam, Dr Colvin R de
Silva, Gamini Dissanayake, Abdul Aziz, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ronnie de
Mel, A.J. Wilson and Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam.
What the compiler or editor of the book has done is to select a few
selected speeches made by the subject. And that includes: Towards
Bilingualism in Ceylon, Introducing Poya as a national Holiday,
Uplifting the Status of Tamil, Reforming Ceylon's Universities, Is there
a Right to Strike?, Federalism-the Key to a Multi-Ethnic Ceylon, The
need for a University for Jaffna, Saluting Dr Zakir Hussain -Great
Indian Patriot, Why I Resigned from Dudley Senanayake's Cabinet?, Merits
of the Mahaweli Project, The Looming Dangers of the United Front
Government, Constituent Assembly will pave the way for dictatorship.
The Editor informs that the Speeches were delivered in the Ceylon
Senate from 1965 to 1971. Senior citizens of the country would recall
that the Senate was abolished in 1971 when there was the JVP insurgency.
When one looks at the photographs of the Senior Tiruchelvam, one
would find that he was westernized in some ways, at least in his attire.
Born in then Malaya, he was a student at S. Thomas', Galkissa. He
died in 1976 at the age of 69.
I think all politicians irrespective of their respective party
affiliations who could read in English should make it a point to read
books of this nature to understand the Tamilian mind.
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