New political agenda for the State of Tamil Nadu. Will Rajanikath, Kamala Hasan et al clarify their position on the following burning political issues?

After a long din and debate the common public in Tamilnadu are clear that it is a fundamental right of any one to enter politics at any stage. In fact, this is a healthy development. But we understand that Mr Rajinikanth is busy with his new project "Kala" and Mr Kamala Haasan is busy increasing the TRP ratings of Big Boss.

Notwithstanding these demanding professional commitments (which they have every right to pursue and in fact have a duty to do so) ,they occasionally speak on issues which are topical and contemporary. But I am afraid they have not informed  the general public of Tamilnadu their views on the following burning issues. Hopefully, they will enlighten the general public  their respective stand on each of the issues. While there is no entry qualifications to public life or politics , one’s position on public issues is important because people have a right to know it.

1.      Independent Eelam state.

After a terrible human toll, the Sri Lanka had subdued the LTTE. But still there are political parties like Nam Tamizhar, VCK and PMK expressing support to a future Eelam State. DMK and ADMK are understandably ambiguous on this matter. BJP, Congress and even Left Front oppose this idea. Under Sec 125 of the Indian Penal Code, waging war against any Asiatic power in alliance with the Union of India or abetting  waging of such war shall be punished with an imprisonment for 7 years or even life. Hence, eulogising Mr Pirabhakaran and espousing the dream of Tamil Eelam and providing material support to the splinter factions of LTTE in different parts of the world may attract the operations of this provision. In fact, Mr Thirumurugan Gandhi’s otherwise questionable preventive detention receives a semblance of justification because of his open support to the formation of Tamil Eelam. I believe that this demand will drive the Sri Lankans even more into the open arms of China. Furthermore, this will make the job of rehabilitation of all Tamils (Jaffna, Indian and Muslim Tamils in Sri Lanka) even more difficult. The Tamil community is  quite eager to know the position of Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth on these issues.

2.     Katchatheevu issues

Across the Tamil political spectrum there is a unanimous demand that India must take steps to recover Katchatheevu. In Tamil, there is a proverb which says that if you ask  the return of something which you have given to somebody enemity will follow next. This is exactly what is happening in Katchatheevu dispute. Legally and constitutionally, in Berubari Union and the subsequent cases, the Supreme Court has clearly held that the Union Government either when ceding territory to a third country or even while reconstituting  states for making new states, it need not take the concurrence of State Governments. Under international law also, only the Federal government has the final say in ceding territories and dealing with other sovereign states. Hence the earlier reactions or either DMK or ADMK as manifested through the periodic Resolutions of Tamilnadu Legislative Assembly are at best historical importance but devoid of legal significance. This does not mean that everything is fine with Katchatheevu dispute and we should kiss Sri Lanka and forget about the Katchatheevu dispute. Actually, under the original agreement, Indian fishermen had historic rights of fishing around Katchatheevu and fishing in waters of Indian ocean. Furthermore, the Indian nationals of the coastal districts were given the rights to attend the annual religious functions in a Roman Catholic Church at Katchatheevu. Citing the LTTE problem particularly arms and drugs smuggling, the  Sri Lankan Government with India’s tacit consent denied these 2 important rights. Considering that the LTTE problem is  not  serious any longer, the Sri Lanka should immediately restore these original rights to  Indian fishermen in waters around Katchatheevu. Furthermore, Indian fishermen will naturally look for a permanent lasting peaceful institutional arrangement to facilitate the flow of Christian pilgrims to the annual festival in Katchatheevu. In my opinion, not much  progress is being made in either of the areas. In fact in the din of seeking the return of Katchatheevu, the above  2 important demands, which will solve most of the problems that our fishermen face with Sri Lanka  are not receiving serious attention because of the extremist position of seeking return of Katchatheevu. I wish these 2 actors as spell out their position in this issue as well.

3.     Arrest of Indian fishermen in SriLankan waters and seizure of their fishing gear and unfortunate periodic deaths.

As a person exposed to international law, I am aware that if the area of sea  is accepted as the territorial seas of a particular nation, then that nation has right to prohibit foreign fishing in such waters. Under the Law of The Sea Convention Sri Lanka has not only the rights to prohibit fishing in its territorial waters but also prescribe  appropriate punishment for what it consideres as trespassing in accordance with the procedure established by law/ and /or complying with the due process of law. Admittedly, both India and Srilanka have demarcated their respective territorial seas by bilateral treaties. However,the Union of India can always negotiate another bilateral treaty conferring on Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen mutual and reciprocal rights of fishing in each other’s territorial seas. Earlier, both the Sri Lankan government and fishermen had complaints that Indian trawlers  use environmentally unfriendly fishing methods, nets etc to over-exploit the seas. Even the fishermen would agree that the bottom part of the Indian ocean waters which include Coromandel and Arabian coasts  are  among the most over fished areas. Hence to begin with, Indian fishermen should use GPS devices to ensure that they do not accidentally stray into the territorial waters of Sri Lanka. Union of India should impress upon Sri Lanka that straying into other nation’s water can occur due to water currents and wind conditions or due to inadvertence  and hence Sri Lanka take a more progressive and a liberal view on how to treat the strayed Indian fishermen. I think government of Tamil Nadu or NGOs based in Sri Lanka should provide them legal aid, contest the case of trespass into Sri Lankan waters, after taking bail for the arrested fishermen. Quoting the old Commonwealth Practice, to permit the Indian fishermen on bail we can demand the Sri Lankan government to permit the release of fisher men to fish in SriLankan waters during the period of their bail.  It might be worthwhile to demand that the fishermen of both India and SriLanka  adopt the  less predatory fishing methods that prevailed prior to the 1970s. Both sides must recognise that if this issue is allowed to remain as it is today, then in the long run  it will cause irreparable harm to the Indo- SriLankan relations.

4.     Caste based reservation policies.

In many ways, Tamilnadu is a trendsetter in backward class and scheduled class empowerment. It is common knowledge that so called general merit category to public education institutions and appointment to government jobs is a pathetic less than  20%. Furthermore, those who have studied in Tamil medium also enjoy a linguistic reservation. It is gratifying to note that Dalit Political representative like Thol Thirumavalavan desire the total eradication of caste system and the attendant unpleasant effects of the incidence  of caste system in Tamil social milieu. It is common knowledge that the founding fathers of the Constitution wanted reservation in access to education and  public employment as a temporary measure. Everyone will recognise that reservations cannot be infinite and should continue even after 2050. When we talk about reservation there are four major areas where these worthies must disclose their stand on the four  following sub issues:

a                             a.  Reservation for scheduled caste.  In the last 70 years of independent India the position of Dalits has become substantially  better.  I am aware the Tamil Dalits are not part of the national main stream Dalits. I gratefully acknowledge that now  many of the accomplished Dalits whom I meet in Tamil Nadu mercifully are devoid of any rancour or ill will towards the so called forward communities that also include Brahmins. However, their opinion  on the backward or even most backward communities may not be the same. But the leaders of the community will rightly point out that though there is economic upliftment of Dalits, social and political empowerment has not been proportionately achieved. Mark Gallanter, a Chicago University professor in his Magnum Opus “Competing equalities”has observed that there has been substantial redistribution of opportunities favouring the Scheduled Caste in India often involving huge economic and social costs. But today , we see Mr Ramnath Kovind,  an accomplished Supreme court lawyer from a   humble background defeating an equally amiable more accomplished Dalit candidate in an open electoral process. In my opinion either of the candidates would have been a  good political choice for India. They are there for their achievements and not because they are Dalits. But the case of Justice Karnan of Madras and Calcutta High Courts is different . While many will recognise that he became a judge of the High court only because he was a Dalit, there are some who  claim that he was  given the unique honour of being a High court judge undergoing  detention equally only because he is a Dalit. Unfortunately, Justice Mr Karnan displaying total ignorance of law by

1.      passing a judicial order staying his own transfer violating the most elementary principles of jurisprudence that nobody can be a judge in his own case
2.      over playing Dalit card by continuously irritating the colleagues
3.      questioning  the integrity and motives of Supreme Court Judges and passed sentences without following the due process of law even more than what the Supreme court did to him.

So, for all these reasons Justice Mr Karnan’s is a clear case of  the grave harm that the system suffers if the reservation continues in the present form.  Justice Mr Karnan was not  all that oppressed considering that his father was a school head master with reasonable economic means. Today he should not unfairly play the Dalit card. Sure, the issues he pointed out should receive the careful consideration of the Supreme Court.  I believe these 2 accomplished film worthies Kamal and Rajani should spell out their position
 (a) Whether the reservation for SC &ST should continue for a few decades more.If so for how long ? What steps Government will take to make reservations unnecessary and redundant? 
(b) Whether there must be a ceiling on how many generations of the  same Dalit family can continue to avail benefit of reservation? 
(c) can a Dalit be declared as an open general merit person if his family attains specific financial social and political status?

b.     Reservation for Backward Classes.
In Indian politics the Yadav Chief ministers of North India , Mr Kalaignar Karunanidhi in Tamilnadu and  Mr Devaraj Urs has in Karnataka have brought about substantial empowerment of backward classes in their  respective areas. Mark Gallander in his “Competing Equalities “clearly records that numerically large politically active and economically forward backward communities in Southern states use the argument of reservations being a compensation for suffering deprivations in the past. In fact many communities in Tamilnadu like Vanniyars, Nadars Gounders and Mukkulathor are no more educationally, socially and politically deprived. In fact the price for these communities enjoying reservations is paid by really backward communities like Potters , Blacksmiths, Barbers and Dhobis from enjoying the benefits of reservation. Similarly though Muslims may be worse off than SC in other parts of India, mercifully in Tamilnadu Muslim and Christians cannot be considered as Backward. 

c.     Reservation for women and minorities.
An inclusive society must truly reflect the cross section of the community in the institution that exercises political and executive power. Unfortunately, we must admit that there was a lot of minority and women pampering in the past with no real benefit either to minority or women. These two actors must come out clearly as to their position on minorities and women. Justice Mr Ranganath Misra commission has specifically recommended reservation for minorities in matter relating to public employment.  These 2 actors must also consider as to whether Jains, Parsis, Jews, and Buddhist must be considered as minorities.

While Mr Sentamilian Seemal, Dr Anbumani Ramadas, Mr Thirumurugan Gandhi,  Kolathur Mr Mani may not find the above identified agenda interesting or been worthy of consideration, these two actors must apply their minds to the above issues soon than the later and come up with concrete opinion for us to have a prosperous and well governed Tamil Nadu which will contribute to India a became stronger nation and superpower at least be 2030. Sad, we  will be missing the deadline of our beloved past President Mr Abdul Kalam atleast by a decade. Let us still achieve it. 
Jaihind.                   

PS: 
1. For instructional use only.
2. No Commercial benefit is made from publication of blog.
3. Photograph may be copyrighted material and author asserts the right of fair use while incorporating the above material