Thondaman says he’ll throw his weight behind Ranil

By Saman Indrajith

CWC leader and Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Minister Jeevan Thondaman says that if President Ranil Wickremesinghe decides to run in the upcoming Presidential polls, the plantation workers would overwhelmingly vote for him. This would be a gesture of gratitude for his granting them landownership rights, which is considered the most significant advancement and acknowledgment the estate Tamils have experienced in the past 200 years.

“Not only that they know that it was under his premiership in 2003, that 300,000 estate Tamils got their citizenship. As such he will be able to clean sweep all estate Tamil votes in a presidential poll,” Thondaman said in an interview with the Sunday Island last Wednesday.

Excerpts:

Q: This year, Thaipongal celebrations concluded with social media campaigns vilifying you for bringing down four prominent South Indian actresses Aishwarya Rajesh, Aishwarya Dutta, Samyuktha Menon, and Meenakshi (Pinky) Sarkar. There were accusations of spending money on Indian actresses while estate Tamils were starving. Your comment?

A: The Thaipongal festival holds significant cultural importance in Sri Lanka, particularly for the Tamil community. It marks a celebration of the harvest season and symbolizes new beginnings. Our aim in organizing the festival was to spread joy and foster a positive mindset among the people.

The event featured the participation of four Indian actresses, known to the Tamil audience through their work in movies. One of these actresses had come from a difficult background. Upcountry youth have an interest in the film industry, so we organized four workshops on film-making, engaging around 100 young individuals. During these sessions, the actresses shared their life stories, providing inspiration and guidance.

Our decision to host the National Pongal festival in Hatton, away from Colombo, was intentional. We sought to shine a spotlight on the upcountry Tamils, acknowledging their significance beyond the tea-plucking stereotype. Despite our genuine efforts, criticism surfaced on social media in three languages, from individuals who had not attended the event. However, those present at the festival were happy.

Contrary to the criticism, the national Pongal festival received extensive media coverage not only in India but also globally. This served to showcase Sri Lanka as an inclusive country, challenging the negative narrative that often surrounds it. The event exemplified the government’s commitment to promoting inclusiveness and projecting a positive image of the nation.

Addressing concerns about celebrating during times of hardship, it is essential to note that festivals took place even in the preceding year when people faced difficulties. Harsh criticism seems to be disproportionately directed towards upcountry Tamils. Last year, the Naam 200 festival, commemorating the upcountry Tamils’ 200 years of service to the country, received significant attention and participation, including dignitaries from India.

Both the national Pongal festival and the Naam 200 event were executed with minimal state funds. Criticism arises from a perceived double standard, especially when compared to other events that receive substantial government funding without facing a similar backlash.

This charge of hosting actresses reveals a skewed perspective. Those who attended, including government officials, did not perceive any wrongdoing. The criticism seems to have come from those who were not there. It is worth noting that the actresses volunteered their participation, with their expenses covered by private sponsors, not the government.

In emphasizing the government’s commitment to addressing the housing issues of upcountry families, a cabinet paper was passed in November of the previous year, allocating significant funds for landownership rights. While acknowledging the hardships people endure, it is unfair to deny them moments of happiness.

There are apparent double standards on instances of public spending on events. The Galle Literary Festival did not face comparable criticism. The national Pongal festival utilized a mere 500,000 rupees of state funds, with the remaining 4.5 million rupees sourced from private donors and well-wishers.

It is crucial to highlight that the actresses attended as a personal favor, with no government funds utilized for their participation. Their airfare and expenses were covered by private sponsors, and they did not charge appearance fees. The festival, while facing unwarranted criticism, stands as a testament to our commitment to inclusivity and the well-being of all Sri Lankan citizens. So, I do not apologize for this.

Q: There was criticism by animal rights activists about cruelty inflicted on bulls in Jallikattu games played at this year’s Thai Pongal festival. How would you respond to this?

A: Governor Senthil Thondaman had his Pongal festival in the East. It got a lot of publicity. If you have a question relating to an event there, it should be directed to the Governor. Thai Pongal festival is amalgamation of many different cultural events within the Tamil spectrum. There were Thai Pongal festivals in Badulla and Colombo. Each of these festivals had different events.

Q: This is an election year, with political party alliances being formed regularly. Hardly a day passes without news of the creation of new alliances or new parties entering the electoral arena. What about the CWC? Is the CWC also actively participating in these talks to form alliances?”

A: The current political situation is very interesting. If you look at the current Parliament, there is no such thing as party loyalty anymore. Nobody knows which MP is supporting which party.

Despite differing stances on supporting the President, there is a consensus that he successfully guided the country out of an economic crisis, a feat deserving more recognition. This achievement is particularly noteworthy when compared to the global scenario. For example, Pakistan went into an economic crisis at the same time we did. Along with the economic crisis came a political crisis. They have still not been able to come out of it.

Bangladesh which has given us a loan earlier, when we went into economic crisis, is facing an economic crisis right now. Even in India there is an unemployment issue though in terms of economy they are quite strong. All countries in the region are experiencing difficult times.

When I was in London recently, I had interactions with members of the House of Commons. They revealed their admiration for Sri Lanka’s ability to rebound economically. The country achieved a notable reduction in inflation, surpassing the efforts of England, which struggled to achieve similar results by attempting to halve their inflation rate.

In terms of politics, my allegiance is to this country. As such my allegiance is with the person who saved this country. So far, he has delivered on whatever he promised. He put this country on the road to recovery as he had promised. The President initiated a housing program for estate Tamils, beginning with the construction of 10,000 houses.

The most significant accomplishment for the upcountry Tamil community was the attainment of landownership rights, a promise delivered by the President. He has allocated approximately 10 billion rupees for 89 divisional secretariats for this purpose.

In 2003, Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister enabled 300,000 estate Tamils to get citizenship, and educational initiatives, including the establishment of schools and the Sri Pada National College of Education in Kotagama, to train teachers for plantation schools.

We have come this far; we still have a long way to go. We prefer to go under his leadership.

To go that long way, we must look at two things – one is the right to ownership of lands, which put an end to the plantation companies’ mentality that the workers could live on their lands only if they work for them. Today the estate workers can build their own toilets which they could not have done earlier without permission from the plantation companies.

Land ownership rights are the catalyst for change. If we see the global examples of any marginalized community of people, it is only after land ownership rights are given, that inclusivity starts working. That social inclusion factors in economic upliftment. Second is the wage issue. I am happy that the President shares my view in this regard. We must move for a system change and to see the end of this daily wage system for the estate workers.

Companies are not agreeable to wage increases though they have made profits during the past two years. We are summoning the wages board within a month. We are hopeful that there will be a solution which would be between Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,700 increase of daily wage for every estate worker. That is only a temporary solution, we are working towards a permanent solution.

Q: So, are you promising the upcountry votes to President Wickremeisnghe in case he would be contesting the upcoming presidential elections?

A: I prefer to say that I am not only able to deliver him the upcountry votes but also votes from across the country. As I am the water supply minister, we have given 100,000 new water connections to people all over the country. We came up with a water tariff formula to make the Water Board a sustainable entity. We are working on rural drinking water projects which will ensure 50 percent of the population gain access to water. Right now, we have connections to only 11 percent.

Delivering votes is not my primary concern. It is my secondary concern. My primary concern is delivering what we promised to people. We have delivered on our promises of houses, land rights, education for children with smart classrooms.

Q: It is often stated that India and Sri Lanka share an umbilical cord relationship. There are highs and lows in this relationship. Your community’s welfare has been India’s continuous concerns. Would you like to comment on status quo of India – Sri Lanka relationship in the backdrop of China and US concerns and the Maldives and India having a diplomatic row?

A: There had been a past of us Sri Lankans having an adverse mentality towards India. That was simply because of the past and the war that had Indian influence and interference. India currently under Prime Minister Modi has a neighbourhood first policy which helps our two countries to rebuild our relationships.

The relationship between our two countries goes back thousands of years, much before our relationships with the US and China. It is during the past 50 years that everything deteriorated. Now it’s time to rebuild. India is geographically and culturally our closest ally. India in the past 75 years received close to 953 billion US dollars of foreign directed investments. Out of this, nearly half has come during the last 10 years.

Sri Lanka being the closest neighbour, we can formulate our economic policies in line with geopolitical and regional strategy and we would be able to attract such FDIs. If we got even one percent of that amount, we would not have been in an economic crisis. In improving our bilateral relations, former Indian High Commissioner Gopal Bagley put in much effort to rebuild our ties. Despite the pandemic, economic crisis, and other problems we had, he was able to bring our relationship to new heights.

Right now, in the global arena, India is a superpower. If we are not going to utilize that for our benefit, we would be left behind. Incumbent High Commissioner Santosh Jha with his previous experience of working here, is well aware of dynamics here. I think he would do a phenomenal job.

Q: Is there anything further you want to tell our readers?

A: Though there are many narratives being circulated within our polity. Something that cannot be denied and must be acknowledged is the President has managed to pass difficult period. He was able to bring the country out of the mess it was in. Though we all inherited the problem, we must all understand that people are also part of this problem. In past years we reveled in populist economic policies.

We were okay with political appointments; we were okay with public money being wasted. We did not realize that we too contributed for the economic mess we are in. Now we have a chance to move forward. We have moved out of the crisis but there is a hard road ahead with many other difficulties such as taxes, high prices of goods etc. However hard we must all go forward together. We need consistency for at least the next 10 years to overcome our problems.

One of the issues I have noticed is the lack of voter awareness of realities. If we vote with our emotions and not with our logic, then we would be taking our country backward.