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TULF: Indian model will work

V. Anandasangaree

CHENNAI: The weakening of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the eastern part of Sri Lanka should make the government find a solution to the ethnic question by coming out with a proposal based on the Indian model, according to V. Anandasangaree, president, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF).

Describing the LTTE reverses in the east as “good in one way,” he, however, said it would not be that easy to eliminate the outfit in the north, an area with a large number of landmines.

Using the present situation, the government should try to win over people of the north, presenting a package that envisaged maximum devolution of powers to provinces, Mr. Anandasangaree, who is in Chennai on a week-long visit, told The Hindu on Thursday.

Emphasising that the Indian model would work in the island nation, the 74-year-old TULF president, who won the UNESCO’s Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Non-violence last year, said the best thing about the Indian system was that it could be called neither a complete federal set-up nor a total unitary system.

In Sri Lanka, sections of people were allergic to the terms “federal” and “unitary.” So, the Indian model would be relevant.

Expressing scepticism of consensus among all parties over constitutional reforms, he said it would be better if the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) took along with it the United National Party (UNP) and the Leftists.

The two principal parties, the SLFP and the UNP, openly acknowledged federalism as the option to solve the problem and the Leftists always supported it.

In the last Presidential election, the UNP’s Ranil Wickremesinghe, who campaigned on the plank of federalism, polled 49.7 per cent of the votes, he noted.

On his visit to the east six weeks ago, Mr. Anandasangaree said though the people had been liberated from LTTE control, they were going through enormous hardship. Some sections of farmers would have to start from scratch.

He had interacted with civil society organisations and bodies representing fisherfolk and farmers.

He passed on their representations to the government.

He was not for immediate local body polls there, as it would take some more time for normality to return.

Mr. Anandasangaree urged leaders and people of Tamil Nadu to pressure the Union government to advise the Sri Lankan government to go in for greater devolution of powers.

“This should be the cry of Tamil Nadu, not trying to send food to where people do not need it.”

If leaders such as Vaiko and P. Nedumaran were genuinely interested in the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils, they should get in touch with moderate leaders like him and work for the resolution of the problem.

They should not do anything that would disrupt the peace process, the TULF leader said.

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