News
Wigneswaran forms Tamil Makkal Kootani (TMK)
With the five-year mandate of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) lapsing this week, the council joined six other Provincial Councils (PCs) whose five-year mandates lapsed and were brought under Governor’s rule until fresh polls are called.
The expiry of the five-year mandate of the NPC on Wednesday, also saw the birth of new political parties targeting the vote base of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
After nearly three decades of absence of political administration in north, elections to the much-delayed NPC was finally called in 2013, during the regime of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The TNA swept the polls. It fielded Colombo-based retired Supreme Court Justice C.V. Wigneswaran who secured the highest number of preference votes.
On his last day as Chief Minister, Wigneswaran, who contested under TNA’s Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) in 2013 and secured an overwhelming mandate with more than 80,000 votes announced his decision to break away from the party which brought him to power and into Tamil politics.
Addressing a political gathering organized at the Parameswari Wedding Reception Hall in Jaffna, the one- time Supreme Court Judge slammed the TNA for betraying the Tamil cause it sought to protect via its party manifesto, indirectly supporting the government and working closely with it to formulate a new Constitution, agreeing to devolve powers under a unitary state and the acceptance of the primacy of Buddhism, without a Tamil mandate.
Laying out his future political plans to a packed audience, the former Chief Minister announced he would form a new political party named ‘Tamiz Makkal Kootani’ or Tamil Peoples’ Front to take forward the Tamil cause along with other like-minded Tamil national groups by bringing all of them under a common umbrella.
The decision by Wigneswaran to break away from the TNA, came over disagreements he had had with the TNA leadership led by R. Sampanthan.
He publicly criticised the TNA leadership for giving unconditional support to the Government Good Governance at the expense of unresolved key Tamil demands such as the release of private lands from the armed forces, the release of Tamil political prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and alleged state-assisted Sinhala colonisation initiatives in the Northern Province.
The announcement of new political party by the former Chief Minister came after careful preparation through a non-political organization -the Tamil Peoples’ Council (TPC) which he co-chaired until recently.
Prominent Tamil parties -the Tamil National Peoples’ Alliance (TNPF)- led by Gejendrakumar Ponnambalam and the Peoples’ Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) led by D. Siddarthan who earlier participated in TPC activities, boycotted Wednesday’s event.
The NPC, led by Mr. Wigneswaran has been critisised by the general public and civil society organisations for failing to formulate any tangible programmes to resolve the needs of war-affected regions in the north. Wigneswaran stands accused of merely mouthing politically sensitive statements and engaging in confrontational politics with the Central Government in Colombo.
During Mr. Wigneswaran’s term in office, the NPC passed 444 resolutions, but only fifteen statutes which related to local governance or the provincial revenue generation process were passed.
A day after the council expired, Northern Governor Reginald Cooray visited Provincial Education Ministry to inspect the department’s affairs and shortcomings, as the provincial administration was brought under Governor’s rule until fresh polls are called.