News

 

Periyasamy Chandrasekaran denies all
By Santhush Fernando
Minister Periyasamy Chandrasekaran is denying that he supported an LTTE candidate at the Oslo Municipal elections and that he called for all the Tamils to unite under LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. In an interview the Minister claimed that media reports were untrue, exagerated or contradictory.


Excerpts:
There were media reports saying you had supported Yogarajah Balasingham alias Baskaran who won a Municipal seat in Oslo after running on a pro-LTTE ticket. What exactly did you say?
A: While in Oslo, I attended a cultural function organised by the Tamil Sangam. Baskaran too attended this function. I neither knew him, nor canvassed for him.
But I asked the members to support any contestant from the Tamil speaking community as I was told that a Tamil was contesting for the local government elections. I never asked them to support Baskaran.
After the function the organisers agreed that it was not right to have called him to the stage as the function was non political. Some of the reports carried in the Sinhala and English media are wrong.

So you say that you did not know Baskaran before that?
A:
I met him only on the stage. I had never spoken to him.

You reportedly made a statement, at the same function that the Tamil speaking community of the world could be united only under LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Is that correct?
A:
I have at no place said that the Tamil Nation should unite under Mr. Prabhakaran. But I did make a statement that our language is deteriorating according to a survey done, by a reputed institution, on languages. What I said was that we should preserve our language. I never said that we should achieve that under the leadership of Mr. Prabhakaran.

But did your media co-ordinating officer H.H. Wickremasinghe tell a Tamil newspaper that you spoke of all Tamils coming under Mr. Prabhakaran?
A:
I'll have to inquire from him.

You said that the Tamil language was deteriorating and your comments were based on a survey. What is this survey?
A:
This was done by a united nations organisation. Referring to this, a reputed expert on the Tamil language in Tamil Nadu had published an article. I based my statement on that.

Other media reports said you had called for the merger of the Badulla and Nuwara Eliya districts and for them to come under the north-east Provincial Council. Why did you make such a statement?
A:
I never said that. What I said was that if the north and east were given any powers, which could be federal, provincial or otherwise, we too, as a substantial group in the Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa provinces, should be given some sort of a solution. It could be provincial, federal or any other method, which affirms the survival of our community.

Some people feel you are a supporter of Mr. Prabhakaran and the LTTE?
A:
As you said, some say that I support Mr. Prabhakaran and on the other hand they contradict it when saying that he refused to meet me. But one thing I must say. That is that, since I founded the Up-country Peoples' Front in 1989, I have insisted that the problem of the minorities should be solved. Only then can we uplift the economy of the whole of Sri Lanka. We cannot succeed in competing with other countries if we have an internal problem. It is not that I support Mr. Prabhakaran.
Way back in 1989 I contested from PLOTE. Before that, when I was in the CWC people alleged that I was supporting EROS. Now they say that I support the LTTE. Even while I was in the CWC, I was speaking out for the minorities.
I Still do that. It is not that I support the LTTE. When did Prabhakaran come to the picture? He took up arms after 1983. It was India who gave them arms, money, training and all the support for the struggle. But this problem of the minorities was there long before 1983.
If Mr. Prabhakaran and the LTTE should disappear from the picture tomorrow, will the problem disappear too?

Were you refused a meeting with Mr. Prabhakaran, while you were on a tour in the north and east?
A:
Mr. Prabhakaran has never refused a meeting with me. If there is any reason for me to meet him, I could always meet him. And he has never refused a meeting with me before.

Why did you invite Mr. Prabhakaran to take the leadership of the Plantation Community, and take up their plight as well and why do you think he rejected it, saying that leadership should come from within the community itself?
A:
That is totally false. I never made such an invitation nor did Prabhakaran give such a reply. But I said that we should unite for the plight of the Tamil Community as we too undergo a similar situation. He readily accepted and agreed with me.

How do you, as a leader of the plantation community, see the change of the LTTE's demand from a separate state to a federal state?
A:
Both parties have to compromise. Earlier they asked for a separate state, then they asked for self-governance, now they have come forward with the demand for a federal state.

Even the Government is not hasty in its decisions. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is not backing out and taking the country to war even in the midst of the immense opposition from the JVP and other opposing factions. Both parties do have to make compromises.

Do you feel that if the North and East do receive federal powers, that Muslims and Indian Tamils too, should get federal powers?
A:
We do not demand nor expect a federal system for us. In 1977, only one Indian Tamil, Saumyamurthi Thondaman, was elected to Parliament. Later 10 were elected.
But at present how many are elected? Only 3 from the whole of Nuwara Eliya district. All the others were from the National List and not through the peoples' vote.
As you see only 3 are elected to Parliament at present, when there were 10 elected at one time. In future, if 2 or 3 more parties contest from Nuwara Eliya, and we too contest separately in such an election, no one will be elected.
What will then be our future? We must think about our political future.

g Do you think that it is a drawback for the peace process, if Mr. Prabhakaran is convicted, by both India and Sri Lanka?
A:
No. When Mr. Karunanidhi and other Indian political leaders asked this question from me I replied that our President is holding hands with the same JVP which allegedly assassinated her husband Vijaya Kumaratunga.

She is holding hands now to overthrow the present Government. So their political position has changed with time. I told them that it is not the time for research on who committed what. So I asked them to evaluate the present condition and take a stand on this issue.


Back to Top  Back to News  

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Contact us: | Editorial | | Webmaster|