It was the greatest moment in the life of Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to scale Mt Everest.
Influence of first Indian to climb Mt Everest
On a full moon night in May 1984 as she looked up into the beautifully clear Himalayan sky, she recalled more than ever that she felt truly blessed that it was on Buddh Purnima, the holy night of Wesak that she made the ascent.. It was a reminder that between the Indians and SL there were unshakable links much of it Buddhist and Hindu that would never be torn asunder by certified extremists.
(How Tamil Nadu tried to help SL’s Quislings and Mata Haris who are now -2010- cavorting with their sworn enemy)
Call for Indian intervention
This Wesak month (2009) there were calls, shadow fighting and sparring by well known Tamil Nadu politicians urging Delhi to intervene in SL. Producing cheap stunts regularly is a hall mark of South Asian politicians. However the good manners, innate decency, friendliness and warmth of the cultured and learned South Indians, in particular the Tamils of Chennai with which millions of SL visitors, students and pilgrims to Dambadiva are familiar, overcame these aberrations of self seeking politicians there and exploiters of ill will here. The Tamils of SL have contributed immensely and immeasurably to our culture, religion, development, progress and stature and have set an example which is no less enduring. They have great pride in being Sri Lankan even if the trauma that has been inflicted on them since 1983 may have made them keep that particular emotion close to their hearts. SL should also remember that this lot of Chennai card board heroes is no worse or better than our own brand of the same product.
Opposition in Tamil Nadu
Bachendri Pal unwittingly rekindled the bonds, some times under strain that binds SL to India especially the South. Mrs. J Jayalalitha, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, and Mr.Natwar Singh and very prominently the editor of the prestigious ‘Hindu’ newspaper Mr. N Ram, all heavy weight opinion makers, weighed in. They must have convinced doubters there and shadow boxers here that the millenniums old fraternal ties SL has with India will prevail as long as the cause and conduct of both is just, as it is at the present. SL should not forget the help given spontaneously, generously and effectively to us by India time and again in time of severe natural calamities with immense loss of life, from the floods in the 1950s to the tsunami in 2004. The bogey of India doing a repeat of 1987, which was an aberration that India greatly regretted, is one created mainly by SL media with its hysterical cries of ‘demarches’, (USA issues them copiously to Pakistan) cautions, advice, pronouncements and rebuffs from Delhi.
Karunanidhi’s dilemma
TN Chief Minister Karunanidhi whose ample belly if not chest was used as a base drum for the deliriously well paid marching supporters of the LTTE in his fold to strike a war beat, was out of step from the first. His followers tripped and fell, hundreds being arrested by the Chennai Q (counter terrorism) branch. His support for them at a time when his life line to power was crumbling, was sheer bluff as he, his daughter Karimolli and Indian PM Manmohan Singh, a Sikh knew well. He was also shortly to be made to about face by Tamil political leaders in SL like the bravest of the brave, Northerners Anandasangiri of Killinochchi, Devananda of Jaffna and Karuna of Batticaloa sent clear messages that the only enemy the Tamils of SL had were the LTTE.
First Indian mutiny
The last Indian mutiny started in Meerut in 1848 when Hindu and Muslim ‘sepoys’ (soldiers - from the Persian word siphi) marched on to Delhi. They were as leaderless as this mutinous Chennai mob driven mad not through bloodlust as their predecessors in 1848 but hallucinating about the suffering of the Tamils in the Vanni and blaming it on the SL state when in fact as hostages, they were captives of the LTTE. When it became clear to Karunanidhi that his short lived ‘upheaval’ was going to get smelly egg plastered all over his rather pleasant face, he started a mobile defence which ended with him entering the Delhi camp and his followers being arrested on charges of treason against the Indian state. He was much like Bahadur Shah Zahar II, the last Moghul ruler of India to whom the rebels appealed in 1858, a hostage to the rebels at first unwillingly, then accepting the mantle under duress and when the end came in sight, abandoning his role and calling for a truce. It was unlike in 1848, given and there were no firing squads at dawn.
Delhi -1848
The 1848 business started over the cow/pig grease in the wrapping over the cartridges issued to the Hindu and Muslim soldiers for their weapons. That lot got into Delhi and killed all the ‘farangi’ (foreigners). The fearful counter slaughter by the ‘farangi’ brought about a total capitulation of the decaying Moghul Empire and the destruction of the finest and most beautiful city of its time. It strained relationships between the Indians and ‘farangi’ until independence.
Had this Chennai lot got into Delhi, there was only one little ‘farangi’ damsel from Italy who would have had to face them. Her protector would be a Sikh. In 1848 the Sikhs (with the Pathans and Gurkhas from Nepal) tipped the balance for the ‘farangis’ to defeat the native mutineers (Hindu and Muslim) and exact unspeakable revenge. This time the Sikh provided wise counsel to the ‘rebels’ to cease fire and accept terms. Generally arguing with a Sikh is not recommended.
Delhi -2009
This time the Chennai mob decided as in South Indian films to practice their version of martial arts (flying kicks into thin air and thumping of breasts, thighs and arms) with a show of force on Delhi, not to attack the battlements of the Red Fort but to deny a DMK block parliamentary vote to the ruling party and thus threaten to bring it down, despite being its coalition partner. They added a side show. It was to attack in the opposite direction to storm the beaches of Rameshwaram and plead with the gods to punish the SL forces. None of the gods got their message. And it started to rain, so they did not even make it there. So much for their ardour.
Great India’s problem-Taliban not SL
Was great India (GI) to come to the aid of the very LTTE that killed 1700 of its soldiers in 1987-89, (the captured Sikhs and Gurkhas were burned alive) and which then suicide bombed a former Indian PM? Was it going to do what it accused Pakistan of doing in Kashmir? It must have struck the Indian PM that it was not SL that was ever a problem for India but the Taliban with al Quida certainly were peering over Pakistan to get at the last Sikh kingdom of Kashmir to finish off what they could not in 1947.In the sub continent there is also the fundamental message of Deobandism that originated in Deoband, India in the 19th century. It is as unrelenting as Saudi’s Wahabism as to what true Islam is. It’s most fanatical adherents are not in India but amongst the Pushtuns (Pak/Afghan) to whom ‘liberating’ Kashmir has been an over 60 years old mission. Is Mullar Omar the Talib leader also a father in law of prolific Bin Laden? That is the nightmare that must haunt India.
Where is Wanni or Kachchitivu
What did the fighting in SL’s Wanni and the sufferings of the Tamil IDPs held hostage there by the LTTE really matter to the national interests of India? The fighting with painful memories of Indian involvement in the past had been going on in SL for the last 25 years. Possibly Manmohan did not even know (or care) where exactly the Wanni was until this month. He must have recalled with mixed feelings as to what Shastri did about the then vexed problem of Kachchitivu island. It was given to SL (Ceylon) without even trawling the opinions and wishes of the affected Tamil Nadu government creating an endless tiger prawn fishing war! Of course there was China too that had a habit of teaching its neighbour’s ‘lessons’ and whose support is essential for India to enter the permanent members’ club of the expanded security council. The decision of TN to help the IDPs in the Wanni by sending food, using only a miniscule of the funds it used to lavish on the LTTE when the IPKF was fighting it, was a face saver.
SL’s 5th column- free loaders and vultures
Then entered SL’s freeloaders, hoping like vultures to feed on carrion. They were earlier filmed at their ghoulish rituals visiting hospitals to count dead bodies in mortuaries. With battles raging in the Wanni their interest was to collect benefits from NGOs and the LTTE in the guises of concerned politicians and internationally pedigreed HR poodles. While our soldiers die and are wounded, their concern is ostensibly with the sufferings of IDPs which comes each time as a ‘revelation’! None of them offered to physically help. They gloated when TN desperados began threatening the amiable but nevertheless Sikh PM whose people, when surrounded were wont to use bayonets to restore order in the battle field. Fortunately the TN ‘rebels’ are wary of the Sikhs even if in 1848 their Presidency (with that of Bombay) did not join in the failed ‘Indian’ mutiny. The Raj Sabha thus did not have rivers of bad political blood flooding its chambers. India knew that it could not side with terrorists, although ironically the SL fifth column was supporting the TN rebellion, albeit from a safe distance. When that threat faded, they asked for the official report of Colombo’s diplomatic exchange with Delhi as though they wanted a body count. Colombo if not Delhi, made it clear that nosey parkers, vultures and ghouls were not welcome in matters concerning the mutual national interest.
Mocking the troops
Then came a flood of related concerns but not for the soldiers battling the odds in the Wanni where as true professionals they have taken the weather and the terrain in their stride. It was to mockingly question why Killinochchi had not yet been taken. It was a straw to cling on to as they knew they had become irrelevant in the national struggle. The LTTE will fight this particular battle as it has always done, very hard until its chances of surviving disappear. It will then cut and run as always before. Did this lot not know that Killinochchi is the LTTE HQ and the ability of the LTTE to hold on to it for as long as possible impacts on their future survival where ever they may decide to retreat? It will define how their supporters especially abroad and in TN will decide on their future commitment to them, so the LTTE must make a stand here.
Quislings and Mata Haris
What is amazing is that these constant doubters, critics and smirking celebrators of any impending or actual reverses suffered by SL militarily, economically and internationally (war cry- “R2P here we be” - “GSP+ we do not lust” etc) are SL natives, local super X models of Mata Haris and Quislings. They are afraid to openly declare their treasonable nature. Some still quote 3 wheel drivers and others irrelevant legal tomes and out dated theories to cling to NGO support which demands their vocal support. They used to visit the Jayaratne funeral parlours to count the number of army trucks and make their treasonable and morbid calculations.
Where were you at Nandi Kadal?
What will they say in time to come when our soldiers ask them why they did not support them while they were fighting and their comrades were dying and being maimed for the country?
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
Post new comment