Thursday

Open letter to Cho Ramaswamy – the strawman of Tamil politics

Mr. Cho Ramasamy the actor turned politician and editor/publisher of a Tamil weekly has recently appeared in few national television media to air his opinion on issues relating to the region.

This is an open letter to Mr. Cho with reference to his recent interview published in The Economic Timeson 19 May 09. I hope Mr. Cho will be a good sport for appreciation/criticism.

Open letter to Mr. Cho Ramasamy:

20 May, 2009

Good Morning Mr. Cho. Congratulations for getting a spot in the The Economic Times to air your views on the fallout of the latest Lankan developments in Tamil Nadu and to give your advice on what the Indian government should do now to find a solution to the problems.

I would like to point out some of your answers and seek some clarifications.

To start with, for the question: “What you think will be the fallout of the Lankan development on Tamil Nadu, where Sri Lanka war was a big election issue?”, you have answered: “It was never a poll issue and this time also it wasn’t a poll issue“

However, In the very next question: “What about youngsters here? Do you think their empathy will spill over to agitations? “, You have answered “…. It may be a poll issue but parties will not support agitations”

If “the poll issue” fliflop was a print error by The Economic Times, I guess it can be left uncorrected as most readers presume that it is indeed your style of expression (confuse the issue or reader or if possible both). Otherwise, please clarify.

Further in one of your answers you have stated that “Nobody was elected because he was a champion of LTTE and nobody was defeated because he was not.”

I am positive that you must be aware of the following facts:

The rout of several senior Congress leaders, including Union Ministers:The prominent losers from the Congress include Union Ministers E.V.K.S. Elangovan from Erode and Mani Shankar Aiyar from Mayiladuthurai, former Union Minister R. Prabhu from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.V. Thangkabalu from Salem. In a see-saw battle, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram of the Congress won by a narrow margin of 3,354 votes.
– Frontline , “The Hindu” publications.

Are you not aware that there were few organizations that worked exclusively for the defeat of these candidates?  May be you did not want The Economic Times to know these facts?

Also you cannot refuse the argument that AIADMK would have been routed if not for the last minute announcement by Ms J. Jayalalitha that she will send the Indian Army to create an independent state for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Further, you have also stated this: “As far as the LTTE is concerned, there is no sympathy left with the Tamils here”

Can you explain the methodology you use to feel the pulse of the people in our state? Do you refer to surveys conducted by reputed firms?, Because all the surveys I have read (Indian Express, Vikatan and Loyola College) indicate that if not all, a sound majority view LTTE as a legitimate freedom struggle. Please let us know what logical reasoning you adopt to come to conclusions about the views of the people, because you may have to change it as it had gone totally wrong.

You have clearly stated that you oppose an independent state for Lankan Tamils. I respect your anti Eelam stance and will stand to protect your freedom of thought and speech. However the tool you are using to push your viewpoints – “Lies” is not appropriate in any manner. In my humble opinion, using “Lies” will not only taint your reputation but also weaken your viewpoints.

Further you have stated: “Well here, some fringe elements will indulge in some agitations. Some fanatics may even try self-immolation”.

Can you please explain what the term “fringe elements” mean?. Mr. Muthukumar has been given a page in Wikipedia. His statement became the most circulated material in the Tamil print and internet media. It fueled 10 other self immolations across the globe (Mostly in Tamil Nadu) which is very sad.  Film Actors, Film workers, Doctors, Advocates, Traders, IT Engineers, TV Actors, Directors, Students, Painting Artists, Poets – folks from all walks of life have observed protests. All political outfits have organized several forms of protests. The Chief Minister Mr. Karunanidhi and the opposition leader Ms Jayalaitha have observed fast protests. I have not seen an uprising in my life (in my state) that parallels the protests in the last few months. Your above statement that these protests are by “fringe elements” is nothing less than a consciously stated lie.

Again, I respect your anti Eelam stance, but the tool you have chosen to push your view points – “Lies” is not appropriate in my opinion.

To my knowledge, this convinient misrepresentation of facts (Lies) by you to mislead some of the National Indian English media  is indicative of the low standard of journalism you have set for yourself. It also indicates the low standard of moral ethics you have set to yourself. The sloka you quote very often which is the essence of the Hindu religion talks a lot about truth. 

“Sathyam Bhruyaath
Priyam Bhruyaath
Mathbruyaath sathyamapriyam
Priyam cha na anruthambruyaath”

(Speak the truth,
speak the soothing word,
Even if truth,speak the soothing word,
Even if true, do not speak the harsh word, Even if soothing, do not speak the untruth.)

What benefit it does to understand just the individual meaning of the words and not practice it in your life.

I urge you to write more about why you have been opposing the formation of an Independent state for the Tamils in Sri Lanka, with verifiable facts and arguments based on policies and geo political interests and above all with “Truth” behind your view points.

I do admire your sense of humor and will be delighted to see you in the screen again. 

Sincerely,

Sunderapandyan
Citizen Journalist, Kalugu.com
——-***——-
The Straw-man of Tamil Politics:

Cho’s affiliation to RSS and the Hindutva ideologies are his birth right. In my opinion he has his own version of the Hindutva philosophies and is yet to find a platform or a leader to carry that forward.

Cho has been very vocal in opposing any movement that would lead to the creation of an independent Tamil state for the Lankan Tamils. So I view him as sabotaging the Lankan Tamil interests and progress. Some feel that Cho represents the aspirations of the Tamil Brahmins. I don’t agree to that either. Cho has never represented the Tamil Brahmin aspirations. Here is an example from a recent happening:

MrCho is a self-confessed well-wisher of the BJP which did not win a single seat in the state.Mr. Cho predicted 25 constituencies for ADMK and 15 for DMK in this elections.

An incident that rocked the sentiments of the Tamil Brahmin community in recent times was the arrest of Swami Jeyendira Saraswathi – The Sankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt.  Needless to say the Kanchi Mutt is one of the oldest and most respected institutions for Hindus all over the nation. Several members of the mutt were in turmoil with the incident being highlighted in a manner that brought disrespect to the institution and its tradition. While most members of the mutt agreed that the crime has to be punished, they were shocked in the way the story was handled in the media, with no respect to the Hindu sentiments.

While the leader of the Tamil Brahmin community organization (TAMBRAS) called upon members of the community to come out of their house and organize protests, there was little support. To my knowledge Mr. Cho did not utter a word about the whole chapter. While Cho would comment on all state issues in National media, he failed to use his network in the media to throw some light into this issue. Mr. Cho would openly state that he does not stand for the welfare of his community. The pretext being – his ideologies are larger than just his community or even the state. So patronization of Cho by sections of his community (by subscribing to his magazine) has indeed recieved no gratification.

While among Tamil Brahmins, he ignores their true sentiments, while amongst Tamils he sabotages their aspirations, and we can speculate what he will stand for as an Indian/Human.

Cho being the straw-man he is in Tamil politics, does offer some value to the state. However, if one does not understand the correct perspective with which his opinions can be taken, it may lead to a disaster. The key is – his opinions should be listened to, but not implemented. In fact it may work in most instances if you implement the opposite of what he suggests. 

Mr. Rajinikanth and Ms Jayalalitha are two examples of otherwise successful individuals reaching the lowest point in their public life due to their association with Cho. The reason these associations resulted in disaster is because both of these individuals did not have any clue on how to apply Cho’s intelligence appropriately.

In simple terms, the key to success with Cho on your side is: When Cho says go south, you should go north.

Written by Sunderapandyan