Rekindling the past
The tumultuous reception
accorded to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by the people of Jaffna
is indeed unprecedented for a leader of the South in recent
memory. Those that come closest to any comparison is the warm
welcomes that greeted Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike and
that accorded to Presidential candidate Hector Kobbekaduwa in
1982.
There was a reason for this. The Jaffna farmers immensely
benefitted by the agriculture policies of the United Front
Government which ensured good prices for their crops such as
chilies and onions. Fittingly Kobbekaduwa was presented with a
garland made of chilies during his visit to the North during his
election campaign.
By extension the people of the North in general always
favoured the SLFP over the more cosmopolitan UNP which was
deemed to be more minority friendly. As a result of the policies
of the SLFP that redounded to the benefit of the Jaffna farmer,
though branded as a hardline Sinhala Buddhist entity, the party
always did well at the hustings in the North as seen by the
victories notched by Kobbekaduwa in 1982 even outstripping Tamil
Congress candidate Kumar Ponnambalam in many Northern
constituencies.
Needless to say that with the exit of the SLFP Government in
1977 and the introduction of the free market policies by the UNP
that replaced it one of the worst hit segments was the Jaffna
farmer which was reflected in the 1982 Presidential vote. Also
with the demand for separatism gathering momentum in the late
seventies and the emergence of Tamil militancy culminating in
the shameless episode of Black July the entire climate underwent
a transformation changing the equation that earlier prevailed.
The people of the North became estranged not only with the
Government of the day but also against the entire Sinhala polity
in general obscuring the special relationship they had with the
left of centre SLFP Governments. The outbreak of war further
distanced the Tamil community from the national mainstream until
the North became a de-facto separate State.
It is in this context that the visit by President Mahinda
Rajapaksa to celebrate the Thai Pongal festival in the North
assumes special significance. The tumultuous ovation he received
and the general enthusiasm displayed by the Jaffna populous no
doubt would have rekindled the past in the mind of the President
who was a member of that Government who won the hearts and minds
of the Northern Community by catering to their special needs.
It is through this means that they could be won back again
and no one can deny that the Government is presently catering to
all the needs of the people of the North through special
projects and programs to provide all the necessary wherewithal
and sustenance to these people after their harrowing ordeal for
over three decades not only with a view to create the conditions
for rapprochement but also to make them live as a dignified
people.
Naturally it would be the President's desire to set about
building bridges into the hearts and minds of the people of the
North as he is currently doing in a physical sense to emulate
his leader in that distant era and rekindle the spirit of
friendship and trust that marked that special relationship, now
that the main obstacle that prevented this from happening is no
more. President Rajapaksa no doubt has reinvented the wheel in
picking up the pieces of the past and forging them into a
lasting relationship based on trust and understanding as did his
leader four decades ago.
His tone was conciliatory and filled with promise and
expectation that signalled a redefining of the relationship
between the two communities. He asked the people to be united as
one to win over the challenges, promising them that the
nightmare of terrorism would no more revisit to haunt them. He
also called on all politicians to work together for a united and
prosperous future without promoting ethnic and religious
divisions - the bugbear that exacerbated the conflict. The
President no doubt is aware what damage this could do to the
cohesion of the social fabric and would not leave room for the
mistakes of the past to mar and destroy the unity he is striving
to build among all communities.
This is not the first high profile visit of the President to
the North. His endeavour is to make these visits frequent and
carry his message of unity to the people of the North as seen
from the underlining themes of his speeches. His call to all to
protect and nurture the diverse culture and traditions of this
land also speaks of his commitment to pluralism and a break down
of the barriers of segregation. |