The Tamil Homeland Question
By Rajan Hoole -November 6, 2013
Rajan Hoole
Sri Lanka: A Haunted Nation - The Social Underpinnings Of Communal Violence- Part 7
The political significance of the Tamil Homeland question has been similarly ob- scured by a spectrum of Southerners minutely dissecting Tamil nationalist claims and arguing that they are very unreasonable. The po- litical content of Tamil claims that was not ad- dressed was the demand for security and the right to preserve their identity. The history of state inspired communal attacks in 1956, 1981 and 1983 are ample demonstration of that need. Tamil nationalist claims are again a reaction to a very partial history sponsored by the State and taught through school textbooks. This official history makes claims to the effect that the Sin- halese were the first civilised inhabitants of this land having moreover an ‘Aryan’ origin. The ‘Dravidian’ Tamils are said to have come later as invaders and destroyers.
Any attempt to question this – and many Sin- halese scholars have done so (e.g. R.A.L.H. Gunawardene and more recently, Sudharshan Seneviratne) – would be met by a host of articles in the Press, often by established scholars, bordering on abuse. Once Sinhalese nationalism became the state ideology, counter ideologies and counter myths from those who felt threatened were inevitable and became the most powerful tools for mobilisation around a nationalist cause. It is pointless to treat this in isolation of the larger context of myth-making. We are always in dan- ger of chasing after red herrings.Read More
A Haunted Nation: India And The Legacy Of The Citizenship Act
By Rajan Hoole - Sri Lanka: A Haunted Nation - The Social Underpinnings Of Communal Violence- Part 6 India And Plantation Labour How Vittachi deals with the rights of Planta- tion Tamil labour of recent Indian origin who toiled many generations in semi-serfdom for the prosperity of others, too, has no doubt much ac- ceptance (p.5 of his book): [...]
