Reason for India's Anti-Tamil Policies and Actions in the Sri Lankan Ethnic Conflict
Thanjai Nalankilli
[First Published: May 2018]
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1. Introduction
2. Flawed Reasons Debunked
3. Real Reason
4. Background
5. Multi-Ethnic India
6. Who Rules India?
7. Concluding Remarks
1. Introduction
India's policies and actions in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict/war between the majority Sinhalese who control the government and the minority Tamils have been consistently anti-Tamil from the very beginning to the present (2018). It is puzzling to many international and even Indian analysts why Indian government is hostile to Tamil aspirations for their legitimate rights in Sri Lanka, especially in view of the fact that India has a Tamil population of approximately 60 million in Tamil Nadu State.
2. Flawed Reasons Debunked
Reasons given are as follows:
1) Once Tamil Eelam is independent, it will set out to liberate Tamil Nadu from India.
2) Once Tamil Eelam is independent, it will destabilize Tamil Nadu.
3) Once Tamil Eelam is independent, it would want to merge Tamil Nadu with it and create "Greater Tamil Eelam".
4) An independent Tamil Eelam would inspire the various minority nationalities in India to aspire for independence and India would breakup like the Soviet Union.
5) An independent Tamil Eelam is not in the national interest of India.
We have discussed these reasons in some depth and found them flawed [References 1, and Chapters 3-4 in this book].
3. Real Reason
If an independent Tamil Eelam is in the national and defense interests of India [Chapter 3], why is not India helping Sri Lankan Tamils get an independent country (as it did "Pakistani Bengalis" get an independent country Bangladesh)? India is not only not helping Tamils but it helps Sri Lankan government financially, militarily and diplomatically to make sure Tamils do not get an independent country. Why?
Tamil Eelam is not against the interest of India but India's rulers (Hindi politicians) think it is against their (Hindis') self-interest. To understand it and India's anti-Tamil Sri Lankan policy, one need to know some basic, seldom discussed, information about India.
4. Background
India's policies and actions in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict/war between the majority Sinhalese who control the government and the minority Tamils have been consistently anti-Tamil from the very beginning to the present (2018). It is puzzling to many international and even Indian analysts why Indian government is hostile to Tamil aspirations for their legitimate rights in Sri Lanka, especially in view of the fact that India has a Tamil population of approximately 60 million in Tamil Nadu State. Tamils of India and Tamils of Sri Lanka are blood brothers and sisters; they are ethnically/racially the same and speak the same language. Tamils of Tamil Nadu have supported their blood brothers and sisters during the entire Sinhala-Tamil ethnic conflict/war in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately they could do very little to help them except to raise their voices against the injustice and then beg and plead to the Indian government to help Sri Lankan Tamils [Reference 2]. Indian government playbook is to say a few soothing words and making promises to people of Tamil Nadu but continue with its anti-Tamil policies. What is the reason?
5. Multi-Ethnic India
One should understand that India is not a single-nation country but a multi-national entity with dozens of languages, cultures and heritages with each group living in one or more states for thousands of years. There is no blood bond between the North and South, let alone differences within South and within North. There is no cultural unity between North and South. So, as the Sinhala-Tamil war continued in Sri Lanka, there is very little empathy in the north among the people or politicians except for a few human rights groups and individuals.
6. Who Rules India?
Who decides India's military and foreign policies? India is ruled by Hindi-belt politicians of North India; ministers from outside the Hindi belt have no influence if their views contradict Hindi politicians'. This is discussed in detail in Reference 3. Hindi people, politicians and the "elites" consider themselves the descendents of Aryans and South Indians consider themselves Dravidians. Where this racial theory is true or not is immaterial as long as North and South Indians think so. It is within this context that you should analyze Indian government's anti-Tamil policies.
Tamil Nadu irks India's Hindu rulers by being at the forefront on the demand for devolution of power to states (thus reducing Hindi politicians' power over non-Hindi states) and opposing vehemently Hindi imposition and thus delaying Hindi politicians' cherished goal of making their mother tongue Hindi the business and governance language of all of India.
Not only Hindi and Tamil cultures and languages different, there are ancient rivalries and, even enmities that have come to fore in post-British India. Tamil is a living testimony contradicting Hindi elites' and Indian government's false claim that Sanskrit is the mother of all Indian languages. This irks Hindi elite and politicians and Indian government makes every effort to downplay and downgrade Tamil in the international arena [see Reference 4]. There is serious concern among some Tamil scholars that Tamil would become an useless language in India as Indian government is removing Tamil wherever it can in Tamil Nadu itself. There is a saying. "a language without an army is a dialect". An independent Tamil Eelam would be a safe haven for Tamil. Hindi politicians do not like that. For example, whatever happens to Bengali language in India, it would survive as a living language and accepted in the international arena because Bengalis have their country Bangladesh.
7. Concluding Remarks
To put it succinctly, independent Tamil Eelam is actually in the national interest of India [Chapter 3] but it not in the interest of India's rulers (the Hindis), as the Hindi elite see it. That is the reason for Indian government's anti-Tamil actions in Sri Lanka. It has nothing to do with country's national interest.
No one can rule India without the support of the Hindi-centric parties, currently Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress. These parties may differ on many issues but they have the same anti-Tamil policy on the Srilankan ethnic conflict.
REFERENCES
1. The Myth of Greater Tamil Eelam, "Tamil Nadu and the Battle for Tamil Eelam (Chapter 1)," edited by Thanjai Nalankilli, Free e-book available where you downloaded this book.
2. Agony and Impotence of a Tamil Nadu Chief Minister within the Indian Union, "Tamil Nadu and the Battle for Tamil Eelam (Chapter 4)," edited by Thanjai Nalankilli, Free e-book available where you downloaded this book.
3. Who Rules India?, "Hindi Imposition Papers: Volume 1 (Chapter 10)," edited by Thanjai Nalankilli, Free e-book available where you downloaded this book.
4. " Indian Government and Tamil Language: Volume 2", edited by Thanjai Nalankilli, Free e-book available where you downloaded this book.
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