The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province has formed a new “non-political” organization which observers see as  the first step towards splitting the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which he represents in the Northern Provincial Council (NPC).  

The outfit, christened Tamil Makkal Peravai or Tamil Peoples’ Assembly (TPA), was formed after a four-hour meeting at the Jaffna Public Library on Saturday.

Estimates of the number of people who attended vary from 15 to 30. But the significant thing is that only one TNA member of the NPC, and not a single TNA MP attended.

It was a closed door meeting into which the media were not allowed. After the meeting, Wigneswaran refused to brief the media, but individual attendees spoke to the press.

Prominent among those who attended were Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, leader of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF), and Suresh Premachandran of the Eelam Peoples’ Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), who is opposed to the TNA’s leaders. To give it a non-political color, the religious leader Srila Sri, Somasundara Desigar Paramacharya of the Nallai Adeenam was included along with some civil society activists.

Although the TPA portrayed itself as a non-political, civil society organization meant to work for the rights of the  Tamils, Somasundara Paramacharys said that it was formed because existing political parties had failed to deliver.

Chief Minister Wigneswaran has been at odds with the TNA’s leaders since the beginning of this year. Just prior to the August 17 parliamentary elections he declared that he would be “neutral” but he appealed to the people to vote for candidates with certain attributes which clearly showed that he was backing the radical TNPF.

The TNA leadership threatened to oust him for anti-party activities but Wigneswaran claimed that he was a representative of the people and not the TNA. While he believes that the Sirisena government has done precious little for the Tamils, his opponents say that he himself has done little or nothing for the Tamils except issuing statements. While the TNA wants to engage the government, Wigneswaran prefers the path of confrontation.

TNA leaders are concerned about Wigneswaran’s moves, but they also point out that his men drew a blank in the parliamentary elections.

(The New Indian Express)