• Anandasagaree claims other Tamil parties are ‘cheating’ Tamil people  

Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Leader Attorney Veerasingham Anandasangaree yesterday (19) expressed both concern and dissatisfaction over not being invited to the all-party conference held last week at the Presidential Secretariat to find a solution to the national ethnic issue, claiming that President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had witnessed his (Anandasangaree’s) Parliamentary politics, should have invited him. 

Anandasangaree told The Morning: “I am not angry with the President, but I am dissatisfied that I was left out of the all-party conference. The TULF is one of the oldest Tamil political parties, and I am one of the most senior Tamil politicians. My party is a registered political party. Most Tamil parties that had been summoned for the conference were offshoots of our party. They have illegally fragmented and formed various groups.” 

Anandasangaree was also critical of the Tamil political parties that participated in the conference, claiming that they have cheated the Tamil people in doing so. “In 2004, our party was eradicated by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) with the support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). All their members were elected fraudulently and they never had the legitimacy of entering Parliament. On behalf of the TNA, the LTTE members who were backing them did not allow any rival supporters to carry out their campaigns. After all these efforts, 22 members entered Parliament and made that an illegal body. They came in on the basis of fraudulent votes, claiming to be members of the Tamil community. We were the only party that had successfully contested elections democratically,” he claimed. 

He also noted that he would have proposed a proper solution welcomed by all communities, emphasising that the Indian model would be suitable for the ethnic issue. “The Indian model of devolution will provide relief to the Tamil people here. One great advantage is that the moment you say the Indian model will be adopted here, not a single fellow of the Tamils will open their mouth. My view is that adopting an Indian model will be suitable. Indians don’t talk about separation. The moment we adopt this, things will be solved,” he added. 

An all-party conference to resolve the national ethnic issue was held at the Presidential Secretariat under the leadership of President Wickremesinghe on 13 December.