Like a bully with no compunctions and no respect for international obligations, India has airdropped what it euphemistically called “supplies” in Sri Lanka to bail out the Tamil guerrillas fighting for a separate homeland. Reacting to Indian gangsterism, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr. Ranasingh Ramadasa described it as a “deadly blow to the regional cooperation and an outrage against the sovereignty of a neighboring country”. In pointing out India’s hypocrisy of glorifying Tamil guerrillas as freedom fighters and condemning Sikh freedom fighters as “terrorists”, Mr. Ramdasa has touched the crux of the problem. How would India feel if Sri Lanka, or Pakistan or China were to airdrop “supplies” to the besieged Sikh freedom fighters. The very thought of it would be most unpalatable and repugnant to her and she would go wailing and weeping to every conceivable forum and brand it as the most blatant “aggression”. But in the case of weak Sri Lanka and minority Sikhs, it is a different story. Perhaps, equating these “underdogs” with the “privileged” masters of India sounds rather irrational to the caste ridden psychology of Manu’s descendants.
The cavalier fashion in which India has acted demonstrates her big brother complex and her cold contempt for even elementary ethics. In his anxiety to appease the Tamils of India who are deeply incensed at Hindi Hinterland’s boorish behavior and its pathological obsession with imposing Hindi over non Hindi speaking States, Gandhi seems to have lost all sense of proportion. Obviously, the supplies were not dropped for humanitarian considerations but to create a favorable climate for Delhi in Tamil Nadu as well as to overawe Sri Lanka into accepting India’s domination.
If India really had altruistic concern for the Tamil guerrillas, it could have used the good offices of international Red Cross or approached a neutral country acceptable to Sri Lanka to deliver the supplies. Not using these available options raises serious doubts about what has actually been dropped. It could be food, it could be medicines, and it could be sophisticated weapons. India’s real aim is not to help Tamils but dismemberment of Sri Lanka. It is acting on behalf of the Soviet Union. Soviets feel uncomfortable with the British bases in Sri Lanka and to counter it they also need a foothold in that region. They would, therefore, like Sri Lanka to be partitioned in order to use Tamil majority area of Jaffna as a parallel base to offset British and American influence in that part of the Asian continent.
Indian rulers have always been talking with a forked tongue. Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, ardently advocated the principle of noninterference into the internal affairs of another country and went around the world selling his philosophy of Panch Sheel. And the same Jawahar Lal felt no qualms in annexing Kashmir, Hydrabad, Sikkim and Goa. His daughter, Indira Gandhi pretended to subscribe to Panch Sheel but was instrumental in dismembering Pakistan.
Following in their steps Rajiv Gandhi has made a total mess of everything. He is surrounded by pimpsturnedpoliticians who have thoroughly corrupted and communalized the administration. The supposedly law enforcing agencies like police and paramilitary troops function as trigger-happy bandits indulging in wanton killing of innocent Muslims and Sikhs. Now he has started creating havoc beyond the frontiers of his own country by meddling into the internal affairs of others.
Sri Lanka needs to raise the issue in all the appropriate International forums and must launch a crusade to expose the fascist face of Indian imperialism that often acts more like thugs, smugglers and drug traffickers than as a responsible member of the comity of nations. With the world abounding in nuclear warheads, the spirit of Genghis Khan cannot be allowed to possess any Gandhi and prey at the liberty of small nations.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 12, 1987
