Prabakaran desisted from activating Destructive weopons and Suicide bombs in Ealem war at Mullivaikkal – Father Jegath Gaspar reveals
Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj, the founder of Tamil Maiyam showered praises on LTTE Leader Prabakaran as a Man of Civilisational Strength while delivering the key note address in the Regional conference of Lions club international held at Vivekananda auditorium of Anna University, Chennai on 3.01.2010.
The meet was organised by the noted linguist and environmental activist MJF Lion M.Sadasivam, Regional Chairman of Lions Club International as a conference on “Life and Oceans” (piraviyum perunkadalum) and in facilitation of a team of activists who walked 5000 kms in Tamil nadu and met 5000 people to awaken the people in a save water campaign.
Father Jegath Gaspar was originally asked to deliver a lecture on the opportunities available to the people of Tamil nadu along the long shorelines to exploit the potential of setting up minor ports to encourage shipping and trade and to utilise the wealth of the sea. But at the request of Mr. Sadasivam, Father Jegath instantly agreed to talk on spirituality and life under the same topic (perhaps he reserved the topic for another occasion since he was to leave immediately to Erode for organising Sangamam an event of performing arts of music and dance promoting and showcasing Tamil culture).
Father Jegath, a Christian priest, began his speech by reciting Hindu hymns from Thiruvasagam , written by Manickkavasagam in praise of Lord Siva and Thiruppaavai written by Andal in praise of Lord Narayana. Both these rich Tamil songs belong to the medieval period of Indian spiritual and philosophical renaissance originating from Tamil Nadu which spread to north later. Father Jagath sung the songs set in tune by himself which left the audience spellbound.
He went to compare Vaishnavism as a religion asking to “celebrate the life” and Saivism as a religion advising on ‘ fulfillment of life. He explained why Vaishnavism is more closer to his heart.
You cannot fulfill a life without celebrating.
The one who is afraid of celebrating life has not lived.
The one who lives to celebrate shall not fear.
How can we describe this birth? Blessing or Burden?
Definitely it is a Blessing.
As one of the ways to enjoy life without fear he said that he practiced critical irreverence to everything. Nothing is above criticism.
I can criticize the Pope.
I will obey his (Pope) leadership but not before making my point
One should enjoy the life
And should not be a slave to anything.
And finally Father Gaspar touched upon the humanitarian tragedy in Srilanka.
I have inherited Tamil. My language is not a barrier to reach others. There is a huge misunderstanding about Tamils among other Indians. Others think that Tamils are linguistic fanatics. It is not true. Tamils have not killed Hindi speakers during anti Hindi agitation. We are the only race which has not killed anyone for speaking a different language. That is the “civilizational strength” (naagareegach chezhumai ) the Tamil speakers derived from their language. Tamil is my mother. Just because my mother is black and my neighbor’s mother is white or for any other reason, I cannot call the other woman as my mother. I will celebrate my mother.
All attachments come from my love for my language and culture. I am a staunch Ealemist. Sri Lanka is a tyranny of the majority and not a democracy. Sheer unwillingness of Sinhala to accommodate Tamils by language and religion is the root cause of the problem. Whether LTTE is there or not, Whether Prabakaran is alive or not I hope Ealem is the only solution.
LTTE Leader Prabakaran
On the fateful day at Mullaivaikkal where 20000 Tamils were massacred on a single day, Prabakaran had one choice. He had destructive weapons and human suicide bombs enough to kill one lakh innocent people in Columbo and elsewhere in Srilanka. He desisted. He is a Tamil and Tamils have the Civilisational Strength not to kill the innocent.
Father Jegath concluded by highlighting “It is love that drives us.
Never be drowned by hate”.
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(Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj is a Catholic priest currently residing in Chennai, India. His academic qualifications include bachelor degrees in History, Philosophy, Theology and Masters in Political Science, and Strategic Studies. He served as an international broadcast journalist for seven years, co-founded the Chennai Sangamam, played the pivotal role in the making of “Thiruvasagam in Symphonic Oratorio”; co-founded “Give Life” project, was the chief architect of “Give Life Marg Chennai Marathon”.
Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj is a staunch democrat with fervent faith in the ideals of freedom, equity and fairness. He fiercely resists every form of fundamentalism and believes very much in dialogue between religions and cultures. Through international radio he reunited around 4600 SriLankan Tamil families who were disintegrated by the civil war between 1996-2000. This he considers the best he has done so far in his life).
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(Also hear Father in audio about defeat of LTTE: Where do the Tamils go from here? visit http://www.jegathgasper.com/speak.html
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6 Comments
I have been reading Kasper’s articles since Mullivaikal. The only impression that I get regarding Kasper is that he is out and out RAW agent. Worst of his lies and most unforgivable is his assertion that VP escaped in a super fast submarine to SE Asia with tacit support from Indian Navy meaning India intentionally allowed it happen.
I am pretty sure that Kasper being closer to Kanimozhi would have definitely known better on Center’s objectives, actions and its thinking (it is India that put pressure on SL to bomb the hell out to vaporise VP & Co no matter the collateral tamil genocide sooner so as to pre-empt any US+Western tactics of keeping LTTE option still open while negotiating with Sinhalas for their National interest).
So propagandic lies that Kasper was spewing out aftermath of May 18 immediately absolving Indian culpability only points to the fact that he is instructed to subvert and confuse Tamils understanding of the issue (both TN and eelam).
Just because we happened to be Indians does not mean that we need to white wash every the crimes against humanity committed by Indian nation and try mitigate the consequences of her actions (vis-a-vis tamils response) through propagandic lies. Instead, if we had taken a open and confrontationist attitude towards Center, it would have yielded significant results in terms of saving the lost eelam tamil lives (in the least). Because, MK would have been forced to act which in turn would have forced the center. Because of people like Kasper (lackeys of MK) who kept muffling the strident vioces and preached co-option and capitulation to Center’s policies that we are in such a sorry state.
Upshot of eelam events in 2009 is that: Indian establishment has clearly shown in past 60 years that they will NEVER support Eelam Tamils as long as sinhalas do not openly antagonise Hindians. Sinhalas will keep playing zero-sum race politics with eelam Tamils to eke them out of any outside support. The only short term option available for Tamils is to reduce the current (giagantic) Indian influence in the island and increase the influences of her antagonists/competitors (pakistan, china, US, Europe) and show the repressers in New Delhi (again) their worth. In simple words, TNA and Co should ignore any Indian advices-machinations and tacitly work sinhala sections which strive to reduce indian influence in the island (ex. supporting jvp-backed Fonseka in the upcoming election). The more that Sinhalas are dragged into geo-political sh*t of this region the more they will be forced to take sides (contrary to current state of universal support). That is the only way to keep the embers of Tamil eelam alive for future struggle.
Seeman too alleges Jegath Kaspar a RAW agent.
There are different levels on what to do and who must do for Ealem
Srilankan Tamils can have one agenda. Non Resident srilankan tamils may have another. What could be agenda for Indian Tamils?
In India we have seen Chief Minister Karunanithi, Jayalalitha, Vaiko, Nedumaran, Ramadoss and Thirumavalavan who have spoken a lot. But the result was zero.For that matter we cannot ignore them and their talks on Ealem.
We the people of Tamil nadu failed in democracy to impose our opinion on our policies on expernal affairs. We are divided.
It may take a decade to regroup ourselves, change the Indian policy on Ealem. This cannot be done by simply opposing the Indian Government and accusing RAW.
Seeman is a recent entrant and has taken a path of confrontation. We appreciate his energy and courage. At the same time we cannot ignore some people who are involved in the welfare of lankan tamils for a longer period.
This is a news report on event. Father Jegath was all in praise for Prabakaran and expressed his hope for Ealem. The important point to note is that the event was organised by Lions club international and was held at Anna University ( A government campus)
The next day in Mylapore, KV Thangabalu the congress leader said Ealem is a myth and EVKS Elangovan asked Karunanithi to restrict the ealem supportes and not to allow posters of Prabakaran.
The highlight of this article is to make a point about Civilisational Strength of Tamils which we have to carry forward and not the credentials of speakers.
malar
Malarthamil,
I have no disagreement with you on the content ( of this article Kasper’s view on the eelam Tamils ‘naagareegach chezhumai ‘) or the need to publish. I also understand that in a society where caste identity dominates there will be different agendas behind the public discourse of various sections and establishing a pan-tamil identity is a near-impossible task.
But in the case of Kasper, there is lot more than that meets the eye. At minimum, his articles and actions strongly suggest that he is playing second fiddle to MK in confusing the Indian tamil nationalists understanding on this issue so as to hide the MK’s nefarious part. Calling him a RAW agent is a stretch, but he is effectively a RAW agent.
>> Father Jegath was all in praise for Prabakaran and expressed his hope for Ealem.
Indeed, MK himself praised VP on many occasions and expressed his wish that Eelam could become reality. I still believe MK meant most of those words. But that does not absolve his partnership in crime of crushing this dream and killing its protagonists.
In my understanding, the agenda for MK is not to loose his pre-eminence as a tallest world tamil leader in the eyes of TN-Tamils (in-lieu of his recent actions) and the agenda for Kasper is to ensure that guilt part is diverted away from MK in the least. Until Kasper answers these accusations (mainly from diasporic eelam tamils), his support on eelam issue will sound hollow (however genuine it is). On the other hand consider Thiruma who spills the right sound bytes that Tamil nationalists would want to hear, but when he went into alliance with MK it was understandable. Rationale and agenda behind thiruma’s action were mostly TN-centric than eelam-centric. So, no sane Tamil nationalist accuses him as a second fiddle or a RAW agent. Thiruma did not even try to confuse his followers using on why he did so!
>> The important point to note is that the event was organised by Lions club international and was held at Anna University ( A government campus)
Kasper will be ALLOWED to talk on such forums only if he stays within the agenda set and understood for him by DMK.
>> What could be agenda for Indian Tamils
Agenda for us still remains to be the bread and butter issues (not pressing Tamil national issues) as clearly demonstrated by Tamil voters in the recent elections. Anyone deviating from that will be punished by tamil voters
>> The highlight of this article is to make a point about Civilisational Strength of Tamils which we have to carry forward and not the credentials of speakers.
Again, I agree that we need to portray this as a civilisatonal strength of Tamils. Probably discussion here should have been on this strength than on the credentials of the speaker.
There could easily be alternate explanations which will make more sense to an outsider and for which Tamils should have countering views:
The so-called Civilisational Strength of Tamils is nothing more than a fear on the part of VP that he might provide a fig-leaf for racist sinhalas to completely anhiliate the vanni Tamil population and make the Tamils’ struggle totally untouchable in eyes of international community for good. What do you think sinhalas are going to do, if you go to their homeland and cause a mass destruction? They will retaliate in 100 times bigger scale claiming prevention of future attack as a reason. They will capitalise fully to portray Sinhalas have been the victims for past 60 years. Even assuming such possibility does not exist and it is the civilizational strength of Tamils, even then history will most likely record it as a tactical blunder of Tamils not as a civilisational strength of Tamils unless eelam Tamils eventually win (which will prove their civilisational strength) and write a history of their own.
But please do not be discouraged by these comments and keep publishing these great articles
Latest of charges against Kasper;
http://tamilthesiyam.blogspot.com/2010/01/blog-post_7763.html
Prabhakaran was a brutal cold blooded murder who gained respect and compliance of his people through fear. If that is to be praised, then your head is to be examined.
Hi Ramesh and Malarthamil,
Excellent article and comments. Especially regarding Kasper, I did not think he was a MK croonie, until I read Ramesh’s comments. This kind of side-tracking and misleading is more dangerous than straightforward assault. MK started using even MGR’s name after his demise. That shows how low he can go to hold on to power.
May your thoughts continue to provide strength to human kind.
regards