In the run up to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) elections on September 21, most Tamils appear to be backing the TNA. But a section feels that the TNA’s political demands are unrealistic and fears that the alliance may take the Tamils back to the “Dark Age” of armed confrontation with the Lankan government.
Reflecting the general mood, S Thambirajah (29) of Vellamulliwaikkal said: “At the end of the day, Tamils will vote TNA. It represents the Tamil interest.”
Vellamulliwaikkal is the scene of the infamous carnage in the final stage of Eelam War IV. “If the TNA captures the NPC, I am sure it will bring relief to the long suffering Tamils who badly need jobs, a livelihood, housing, water and electricity,” Thambirajah told Express.
Disputing the contention of the Lankan government that supporting the TNA is tantamount to supporting the LTTE, he said that the Tamils did not want the LTTE to come back and resume the armed struggle because the armed struggle had only “brought death and destruction” to them.
R Balasubramaniam (58) of Ganeshapuram in Kilinochchi district said the TNA would be able serve the people if the Lankan government gave the NPC adequate powers. No sympathiser of the LTTE, Balasubramaniam accused it of forcefully recruiting his children.
His primary grievance is that the Sri Lankan government has not accounted for two of his children, who had surrendered to the army in the year 2009.
Contrary View
But Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP), the former arms procurer of the LTTE, accused the TNA of trying to lure the Tamils to the “Dark Age” of war and deprivation by talking of resuming the struggle for an independent Eelam with the help of India and the West.“The need of the hour is education and economic development of the poor Tamils,” he said.
Endorsing this, S Jasikala (35) of Vellamulliwaikkal said: “If we want our basic needs to be met, we have to support the government.”