Insight By Suni Kumar

6th June 2010
Has Indian political activistƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  and writer Arundhati Roy been overcome with delusions or has she been prompted towards the malfunctioning of her perceptions with a little help from truckloads of dissentorsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  who cry foul on the flimsiest of pretexts against administrations trying to do their job relative to the well being of the countryƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  with particular reference to Sri Lanka where little knowledge seems to be dangerous in her case to make comments suggesting that “The war in Sri Lanka was not just a war of the Sri Lankans against the Tamil people but a corporate war!” which is a load of rubbish in the overall picture as there are many inalienable facts attesting to he contrary.
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By her bold unclassified statement she is suggesting that the anti terrorist war in Sri Lanka was for corporate and political gain which seems a mythical conclusion!
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In Sri Lanka as well as globallyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ many discernng analysts and many astute observers qualified to comment on the anti terrorist insurgency also input their observations that indeed Roy known around the globe as a veritable troublemaker butting into world affairs beyondƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  her total cognizance, armed with intangible presentations of inaccurate information gleaned through misconceptions perhapsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ but loads of speculative conjecture is nowƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  trying to paint a totally different portrayal of the three and a half decades long Tamil Tiger Insurgency orchestrated by minority Tamils who supported a megalomaniacƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and championed his cause for secession and failed miserably.

That the Indian Government going back to the days of Indira Gandhi and latterly her son Rajiv who tried desperately to support this cause on the coercion of Tamil Nadu is a globally known factƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and the relatedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ fallout which resulted detrimental to India, but to suggest that Tamil Nadu could have controlled the internal affairs of Sovereign Sri Lanka involving the terrorists of Tamil Ealam through manipulation is a sheer figment of Roy’s imagination which needs to be pooh poohed! where she seems to be getting carried away with her own conclusions based on a somewhat avid imagination which even seems to compromise India’s moral integrity with respectƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  to unilateral intervention in the internal affairs of a friendly albeit sovereign neighbourƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ at that.
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To suggest that it was a corporate war based upon her deductions that all the large Indian companies are now heading to Sri Lanka to make more money,and that it was a war which could have been ended had the political parties of Tamil Nadu intervenedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  and were the only ones who could have stopped the genocide in Sri Lanka( where the term genocide is totally inapplicable and overkill on her part with no pun intended) is the biggest load of baloney by way of politicised jargon by a so called educated intellectual whose logic seems comparableƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  that of certain Tamil activist of Sri Lanka who insist that the Nation once belonged to them unequivocally which once again is conjecture without tangible proof and a spinoff on the wars that were fought by Dravidian invaders who may have possibly controlled the Island for a very brief period of time in History but wrested back by the Sinhalese!
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She goes on to suggest that theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Tamils of Sri Lanka were aware of this pro corporate Governmental roleƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ as well, but they chose to stand by silently, while alsoƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ drawing analogy to what’s happening in central India where tribals are resisting the takeover of natural resources by corporates ~ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ as insignificant an analogy as that may sound where it is the responsibility of the Indian Government to intervene towards setting right whatever aberrations may be involved.
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This is not a localised situation in any part of Sri Lanka!
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It also seems perplexing that Ms.RoyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ seems to have taken a fancy to the term ‘genocide’ and repeats it in her continued diatribes against both the Sri Lankan and Indian Governments while addressingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a convention in her capacity as activist,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ on “Operation Green Hunt and Genocidal Attack” on tribals by Indian State’, which was organised in an Indian city (possibly Chennai where the report comes from and posted in the Hindustan Times) on Friday by the Federation Against Internal Repression. She said “the resistance in central India was a fight against injustice and not a rebellion against the state as the government says it is. The government is on the side of the corporates who want to take over the lands, forests, rivers, the traditional homes of the tribals.” absolutely no analogies can be drawn with what transpired in Sri Lanka in this respect regardless of whether ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ‘Operation Green Hunt’ follows the Bush doctrine of ” you are with us, or against us,” as the only injustice in theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ fight in Sri Lanka was that it was orchestrated by a group of nation destructive terrorists where justice was eventually delivered by the Rajapaksha Administration and Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces!
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It might possibly be true that in India and certain other parts of the world, anyone who resists this corporate takeover, whether Gandhian, tribal or Maoist, is branded a terrorist,” according to Roy’s assertions but it seems preposterous and high handed for her to draw the same analogy with Sri Lanka where it was a straight laced, legitimateƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ fight against terrorism which was eventually won and acolladed by many Nations as precedent setting and magnificient in its effectivity!

If Ms. Roy wants to focusƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ her attention to the environmental impact of development in IndiaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ based on her reference toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  mining bauxite. beleivingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  that “one can never mine bauxite and then turn it into aluminium without destroying the ecological balance of the mountains. The tribals have lived in harmony with the forests and nature for centuries,” she should not drag Sri Lanka’s war against the Tamil Tiger Terrorists into her synopsis towards comparison as there is neither logic nor rationality involved where the only ecological damage done was initiated by the terrorists who destroyed vast areas of NationalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ forests, their flora and fauna by their destructive presence notwithstanding the damage done to public property and the lives of innocent civilians throughout their reprehensible terror campaigns.
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If for over five years, some of the poorest, most marginalised people in the country have held off some of the world’s largest multi-national corporations, according to Roy whilstƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ conveniently forgetting to mention that it was India she was specifically refering to, relative toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  “tribals and adivasis across the country where every institution in this country has been corrupted but the spirit of our people remains strong”ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ according to her protest speechƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  but what has Sri Lanka got to do with her diatribe?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚