KAMALIKA PIERIS

Ven. Kitalagama Sri Seelalankara, chief priest of Dimbulagala Raja Maha vihara (Dimbulagala Hamuduruvo, hereafter Dimbulagala)   was a political monk. He had a continuing battle with Tamil officials and politicians of Batticaloa on illegal settlements in Maduru oya. He himself had tried to settle Sinhala farmers at Wadamunai, (Koralai Pattu west, Batticaloa district) in 1974 without success. The administration and the police had chased them away.

Dimbulagala came to Mahaweli Centre to meet the Director General in August 1983. He was very agitated. You are the DG of Mahaweli. What you are doing while Mahaweli land is illegally occupied by Tamils from Batticaloa, Dimbulagala thundered. Do you know that while you people are seated in this big office, separatist Tamils are encroaching on the right bank from Batticaloa?

They are mounting a massive encroachment at Maduru oya right bank from Batticaloa. They are altering district boundaries, converting Sinhala villages by giving them Tamil names and changing the names of poor Sinhala people, continued the angry Dimbulagala. I have been complaining to GA Polonnaruwa and all the officials of the Mahaweli for the last ten years, but they have taken no action.

There is tremendous pressure for land from people in Polonnaruwa, Minneriya and Hingurakgoda. They are objecting to the Tamil encroachments .They say that Tamils are flagrantly encroaching on Mahaweli land while they are looking on. Can you not send Sinhala people to this land quickly.   Unless something is done soon, there will be no land left for the Sinhala people, concluded Dimbulagala.

Mahaweli  Centre decided to do something .Dimbulagala  was asked to settle   Sinhala farmers at Maduru Oya, starting on September 1, 1983. He was assured that Mahaweli Authority would support him. The priest acted on that assurance, observed   journalist T Sabaratnam. He did everything openly.

 Dimbulagala was given a vehicle  and sent with two  officers from  Mahaweli   Media unit to identify the  suitable tanks  and locations in the Maduru oya area. Mahaweli officers who knew about the  new Tamil settlements, advised him before he left.

Dimbulagala went to Davasa  group and  got them to publish an advertisement in Riviresa. It said that Ven. Kitelegama would be distributing land at Dimbulagala, free to  youth who do not have land and to poor peasant families. They must bring  a letter from Grama Sevaka .  Dimbulagala  also sent a circular to  temples, asking the chief priest to send at least two landless peasant families. There was a good response. Dimbulagala   told  Riviresa later that  many people from the four corners of the island had bundled up their belongings and had come. He consulted astrologers and obtained an auspicious time on September 1^st 1983 for starting the project.

The two  officers from the Mahaweli media Unit,  detailed to work with Dimbulagala   reported to Malinga Gunaratna   on what happened  next. They said, on 31st August almost 3000 people had gathered at the Dimbulagala temple. They had brought along food stuff to last them for three months. Most were men. Women and children were not present. They had brought along cadjans and tools to build houses and occupy land. Ven. Seelalankara was moving about giving advice and encouragement.

Ven. Seelalankara then made a speech. ‘You are assembled here not only to get a piece of land but for a more lofty purpose.  We are being threatened on all sides by separatists. What the separatists want is a continuous block of land which they propose to call Eelam. You are going to break that.

You have to defend the unity of the country. But you must live with the Tamils as one big happy family.  You should go to their kovil, you must teach them your language and you must learn theirs. But if a terrorist comes to throw you out, you must fight to the last.

 You are not to return from this journey. For if you do not stay there, the boundaries of Sri Lanka are not safe.  Don’t look to the state for help. The state is not here to help you, you must help the state. It is my great honour to lead you, now let us go on our holy journey. Remember Dutugemunu,’ Ven. Seelalankara concluded.  ‘Sadhu Sadhu’ said the future settlers.

The monk had mobilized vans, lorries, cars and motorcycles from rich Sinhala business men from Polonnaruwa. There were over 200 vehicles. The convoy left for its destination with Dimbulagala heading the convoy blaring pirit through a loudspeaker and flying the Buddhist flag. 

When the convoy started on September 1^st, the Tamil lobby responded immediately. They informed the IGP.  IGP Rudra Rajasingham rang Mahaweli Chairman NGP Panditaratne to say that a massive convoy was moving towards Batticaloa, headed by Dimbulagala monk.  Panditeratne did nothing to stop the convoy.

The Sinhala settlers arrived at three places in System B, Meerandavillu-Wadamunai, Mathavanai- Mahaella and Punani, all coming under the Koralaipattu AGA division of the Batticaloa district.

 GA Batticaloa instructed AGA Koralai pattu to visit the settlements   and report back.AGA Koralai pattu reported to the GA that he had received a complaint from about 10 families at Meerandavillu that they had been chased out by a large number of Sinhala people. He was informed that [Sinhala] people had come to Meerandavillu and threatened {Tamil] people there with bodily harm and chased them out, saying they were going to settle there. The Tamil families were scared and frightened.

He was told that a Buddhist monk had come 2 weeks back looked around and left. Then onSeptember 1, 1983 a Buddhist monk had led about 15 lorry loads and 10 tractor loads of people into Meerandavillu from Polonnaruwa distinct, with the intention of settling them on state land there. They were from Aralaganwila, Hingurakgoda, Jayanthipura and adjoining areas.

When the AGA went there, on September 3rd the monk was holding a meeting of a society he had formed. Ven. Seelalankara had flatly refused to leave. He said he had come there to prevent estate Tamils settling in the area.  He was not going to withdraw under any circumstance.  We will occupy the land by force if necessary. These lands belonged to Dimbulagala Maha vihara according to ancient records, he said. He will not vacate.   In 1972 when he had come with settlers he had been chased away by the MP, the GA and others. This time he was staying.

The newly arrived Sinhala settlers told the AGA that that 5000 of them had come in 25 vehicles with the intention of settling there at the behest of Dimbulagala and in deference to a sermon delivered by him at Dimbulagala Vihara. They were emphatic and their statement was marked by loud cries of Sadhu. 

AGA then went to Mathavanai-Mahaella. This area   was the traditional grazing land for cattle in Kalkudah. About 2000 persons have encroached on about 2500 to 3000 acres. About 2000 acres have already been cleared.  500 huts have come up. People were being transported in CTB buses and the Anti Malaria unit in Bibile had sprayed this area, reported AGA. 

AGA’s last stop was Punani area.  This came within the Koralai Forest reserve. AGA admitted that some lands had been alienated under the Land Development Ordinance to local residents.  Now about 200 persons from Polonnaruwa, Kantale and Kotmale have encroached on these lands. Already about 20 huts have come up.  AGA attached a one inch map indicating the areas encroached by the Sinhala settlers in all three places.

 Using the report from AGA Koralaipattu,  the Government agent ,Batticaloa, M.Anthonimuttu, informed Secretary, Mahaweli Ministry , on 4^th September  that there is large scale encroachment in System B .About 5000 persons from various  parts of the country,  Polonnaruwa, Mahiyangana, Matara, Kantale, Kurunegala Kandy  have encroached on  3000 acres of land in this area.  1000 huts have come up and clearing is in progress. Dimbulagala had told the AGA he had no intention of leaving the area under any circumstances.

These large scale encroachments have caused considerable tension in his District. These new [Sinhala] settlers had threatened the earlier [Tamil] settlers with bodily harm and chased them away. They had been long standing settlers.    They had left their allotments through fear and come to Batticaloa.

If this encroachment is allowed, it will precipitate large scale encroachment into other areas of the   District. Local people are likely to take this as an act of invasion by the Sinhala community. GA Batticaloa said   thatimmediate action must be taken on this matter by the Mahaweli Ministry.

T. Sabaratnam related what happened next. Home Minister K. W. Devanayagam’s coordinating secretary K. G. John telephoned me on the morning of 8 September 1983 and said the Minister wanted to meet me on an urgent matter.  I met him in his ministry. Devanayagam told me that a Sinhala invasion of his electorate, Kalkudah, had begun and he had conveyed his protest to President Jayewardene.

Devanayagam held the press briefing that evening.  He told the media that he had invited them to tell the country of a serious development taking place in Vadamanai that falls within his electorate.  He said a large number of landless Sinhala peasants were being brought by Ven. Seelalankara to encroach on the Maduru Oya settlements reserved for Tamils under an agreement he had worked out with Mahaweli Minister Gamini Dissanayake.

Devanayagam said the Dimbulagala priest had brought Sinhala peasants on 1 September and had refused to leave when Batticaloa Government Agent M. Anthonimuttu objected.  He said the monk had tried to settle Sinhala peasants in the same place in 1974, (sic)  but had been driven away with the help of the police.  This time the police were not cooperating with the government agent. This time, Sabaratnam found out later, the priest defied the Government Agent and the police refused to evict him and the peasants he brought because he had the unofficial backing of Mahaweli Minister Gamini Dissanayake and his Ministry.

On 17^th September it was reported that more and more people were flocking to the right bank of Maduru oya .  There was a massive movement of people toward the Batticaloa   area of Maduru oya. The situation had gathered a momentum of its own. Numbers had risen to 40,000. Shops and boutiques were coming up overnight on the Right Bank.  Malinga Gunaratne at Mahaweli was sending frantic messages to Dimbulagala to halt further settlements but Dimbulagala   had lost control.

Journalists provided eye witness accounts. They described the situation in the Maduru Oya area as that of a carnival.  Polonnaruwa correspondent for Lake House reported “People are pouring into the Dimbulagala temple from all parts of the country.  They are being transported in lorries and vans to the location.  Mahaweli Authority officials were directing them to various places and providing them with poles, tin sheets and cadjan to put up temporary sheds.  Food parcels were also being distributed by volunteer organizations.” [1]  (Continued)

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[1]  Malinga Gunaratne  For a sovereign state .

   https://sangam.org/articles/view2/626.html T Sabaratnam