Sampanthan 'kills two birds with one stone'

by Manekshaw-2013-07-23

Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, has proved his political maturity and his able leadership in maintaining the integrity of the TNA by getting all five constituent parties in the Alliance to concur with his decision to nominate former Judge of the Supreme Court, C. V. Vigneswaran, as the chief ministerial candidate of the TNA for the Northern Provincial Council, election.

The trilingual Sampanthan is named after South India's Pallava period Hindu saint, Thirugnanasampanthar, who had rendered 10 devotional lyrics in Tamil on the Koneswaram Rock Temple of Lord Siva in Trincomalee in the 7th century.

The members in the TNA or from Sampanthan's own party, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK), may occasionally fall out with the Leader, but his security personnel who are Sinhalese officers from the Sri Lanka Police, treat him with due reverence and utmost care, and will even sacrifice their lives to safeguard him. The devotion is to be expected, as the 80-year-old veteran Tamil politician is extremely fluent in the Sinhala language and is known to treat his men in a gentlemanly manner.

An invincible figure

Sampanthan, an eminent criminal lawyer from the Trincomalee Bar, enjoyed a lucrative practice before entering politics for the first time in 1977. He succeeded late P. Neminathan of the ITAK, though at the beginning, he was reluctant to enter politics. However, on the insistence of the late Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Appapillai Amirthalingam, Sampanthan entered politics in 1977 and since then has remained an invincible figure in the Tamil political scene, especially in the Trincomalee District.

Reportedly, late President J.R. Jayewardene, had made an attempt to get Sampanthan to his side by offering a ministerial portfolio, similar to the manner in which he convinced the 'die hard' TULF Parliamentarian, Chelliah Rasathurai, to cross over to the United National Party (UNP). On that occasion, JR made Rasathurai the Minister of Hindu Cultural Affairs.

However, Sampanthan is a different kettle of fish, and remained loyal to his party even during the turbulent days when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) targeted the elitist Tamil politicians who had supported the Indo-Lanka Accord and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Later, when the Tamil National Alliance was formed in 2002, Sampanthan became the automatic choice to lead the Alliance, which developed closer links with the LTTE when the outfit embarked on its 'globetrotting' peace talks with Norwegian facilitation. Fortunately or unfortunately, the peace talks ultimately fizzled out with the LTTE digging its own grave.

'Escaped unscathed'           Read More