Key Tamil group backs opposition leader at presidency, wants to remove ‘Indian’ label

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By Editor_1
Tamil Progressive Alliance pledging support to opposition leader Sajith Premadasa in the September 21 presidential poll on Tuesday (August 6, 2024) –economynext.com
By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO – The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), one of Sri Lanka’s key Tamil political coalitions on Tuesday (6) pledged support to opposition leader Sajith Premadasa in the September 21 presidential poll after both parties agreed on a set of conditions for a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

TPA officials said the Alliance, which comprises the Upcountry People’s Front, National Union of Workers, and Democratic People Front, wanted to be recognized as ‘Sri Lankans’ and the ‘Indian Origin’ label removed from the up-country Tamil identity tag.

TPA, which has never contested alone in any election up to now, has six legislators in the 225-member Parliament after contesting under the Premadasa-led centre-right Samagi Jana Balawegaya in the 2020 general election.  Since then, Alliance has been within the opposition led by Premadasa.

Mano Ganeshan, the leader of TPA said the party decided unanimously “to extend or reaffirm” support to Premadasa.

“The MOU does not demand the Sun and Moon. All that we need is to be recognized as more and more Sri Lankans,” Ganeshan told reporters at a media briefing in Colombo, elaborating, “We want to come into more and more Sri Lankanism. We are of recent Indian origins. We want to move away from that fact. We want to be more and more Sri Lankans.”

When asked why the TPA wanted to do away with the ‘Indian Origin’ label, he emphasized that there was Indian expansionism.

“I don’t want to carry that label. We are Lankans. All Sri Lankans are in some way Indian origin in history. We are of recent Indian origin and I want to remove that. It is a progressive move. We want to live with Sinhalese, Tamils in North and East and Muslims as Sri Lankans.”

Sri Lanka has nearly 1.5 million Indian-origin Tamils across the country, famous as plantation workers. Their living conditions, poor wages and failure to improve their standard of living by successive governments have been heavily criticized by rights groups.

The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), the main rival of TPA,  which is likely to back President Ranil Wickremesinghe, has sought Indian assistance to help the upcountry Tamil community including providing them with housing and education. India has pledged assistance for housing and teacher training.

TPA officials said their community is facing issues in housing, health, education, and land ownership. These along with the daily wage of plantation workers are usually included in election promises by main political parties during every presidential and parliamentary election.

Ganeshan said the support to Premadasa is “not unconditional”.

“Nobody will give unconditional support to anybody. There is real politics. Our conditions are bringing enhancement or strengthening Sri Lankanism in this country. That is a progressive stance,” he said, adding that all their conditions were mutually agreed and appreciated.

However, he did not elaborate on the conditions agreed with Premadasa in return for the party’s support to him, except to say, “We expect to bring a system change in the plantations.”

He said the Alliance hoped to shift the daily wage-earning plantation workers to smallholders, noting, “They should become stakeholders of the plantations instead of labours”.

He also there was a legal citizenship issue right now, with at least half of those in the plantation not being recognized as fully-fledged citizens of Sri Lanka, adding, “As the TPA leader, I must say this sadly”.

Ganeshan expressed confidence that SajithPremadasa’s government would provide the denied-justice to the community which the TPA represents.

-economynext.com

 

 

 

Editor_1
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