Kumar David, courtesy of Eurasia Review, 9 May 2011
S. Thondaman
Mano Ganesan
Though unnoticed, commentaries on the Upcountry Tamils (UcT) or Mallai-naatu Thamilar, also referred to as Indian Tamils or Tamils of recent Indian origin, have been sparse in both media and scholarly periodicals in the recent decades. Focus on the war has hogged headlines and pushed everything else out of view; but this is not the only reason. Changes in the socio-economic fabric and the political landscape have contributed to the eclipse of the UcTs from the limelight. This essay will explore how an introversion of the Sinhalese political psyche induced by war and war victory, demographic changes, the very fact of some economic advancement in the 1980s and 1990s, and declining Indian interest, have worked to relegate the upcountry Tamils to the sidelines.
The nadir was the decade and a half following the Sirima-Shastri pact whereinIndiabartered away their birthright for foreign policy gains.India’s northern borders were then seen as hostile and the appalling defeat in the mountains to the Chinese bred fear. PreviouslyIndiahad statesmen of stature who declined this trade in human flesh and stood by the UcT cry for full Ceylonese citizenship. Latter day leaders were more tinsel (now they are of an even baser 2G silicon material) so the Indian state foisted upon the UCTs, without consultation, an exodus into Babylonian captivity. And for what; for false stability, more honoured in the breach than observance under Jayewardene and Rajapakse.
Though unnoticed, commentaries on the Upcountry Tamils (UcT) or Mallai-naatu Thamilar, also referred to as Indian Tamils or Tamils of recent Indian origin, have been sparse in both media and scholarly periodicals in the recent decades. Focus on the war has hogged headlines and pushed everything else out of view; but this is not the only reason. Changes in the socio-economic fabric and the political landscape have contributed to the eclipse of the UcTs from the limelight. This essay will explore how an introversion of the Sinhalese political psyche induced by war and war victory, demographic changes, the very fact of some economic advancement in the 1980s and 1990s, and declining Indian interest, have worked to relegate the upcountry Tamils to the sidelines.
The nadir was the decade and a half following the Sirima-Shastri pact whereinIndiabartered away their birthright for foreign policy gains.India’s northern borders were then seen as hostile and the appalling defeat in the mountains to the Chinese bred fear. PreviouslyIndiahad statesmen of stature who declined this trade in human flesh and stood by the UcT cry for full Ceylonese citizenship. Latter day leaders were more tinsel (now they are of an even baser 2G silicon material) so the Indian state foisted upon the UCTs, without consultation, an exodus into Babylonian captivity. And for what; for false stability, more honoured in the breach than observance under Jayewardene and Rajapakse.
