Politics of war memorials

When The Indian Express Editor, Shekar Gupta took our President Mahinda Percy Rajapakse up and down the spreading Banyan tree at President's House gardens in his Walk The Talk interview in January, we were given the impression that he took our President for a long walk.

Gupta had the President of Sri Lanka expressing regret that there had been no gratitude expressed for the sacrifices made by the Indian soldiers and even admitting that President Premadasa gave arms to the LTTE who were fighting the Indian troops. Rajapakse promised that a statue would come up on Independence Day, near parliament in memory of the fallen Indian soldiers.

But it appears that our son, south of the Bentara Ganga, had also taken Shekar Gupta for a walk. Independence Day has come and gone but no statue to remember the fallen Indian warriors has come up. The structure which had been coming up in the grounds before parliament, which was presumed to be the said war memorial has been pulled down.

Has President Rajapakse gone back on the promise he made on TV, shown to vast Indian audiences and also in Sri Lanka? No official explanation has been given for the promise failing to materialise.

 New Delhi-Colombo thaw

This broken promise is indeed intriguing considering the recent warming up of ties between New Delhi and Colombo. Rajapakse's initial wooing of New Delhi met with cold responses. For two years Indians remained aloof adopting the pose 'Once bitten twice shy.' Tamil Nadu Chieftain Muthuvel Karunanidhi, and firebrands like Vaiko were exerting great pressure on the Congress coalition of Sonia Gandhi not to accommodate the 'racist, chauvinist' Rajapakse government.

But in recent months New Delhi appeared considerate, particularly after Rajapakse hinted that his solution would be the 13th Amendment which India forced on President Jayewardene and made him enact it. But much of it remains unimplemented.

India could also act as a buffer to pressures of the Western powers that are breathing down Mahinda Rajapakse's neck on violation of human rights. Thus, India has much clout with the Rajapakse regime today.

 Tail wagging the dog?

But why did Rajapakse go back on the promise of a war memorial which India would like very much? Is it that just as much as the coalition of Sonia Gandhi stands or falls on the support extended by Tamil Nadu parties in the Indian parliament, the Mahinda Rajapakse government's survival too depends on the support extended by the JVP and the JHU. This was well demonstrated when the JVP somersaulted in the third reading of the budget and saved the Rajapakse government from defeat.

The JVP, now in an attempt to regain its credibility as an opposition party after the now famous somersault is beating the anti-Indian drum once again. But does it mean that the JVP tail is wagging the SLFP dog? Or is it that both parties realise that mutual assistance at crucial moments is essential for survival of both but sniper fire for credibility's sake when there are no imminent threats in the horizon is permissible?

This is typical Mahinda Chintanaya strategy: One step forwards, two steps backwards, three steps sideways. No one knows whether he is coming or going.

The JVP comrades can now berate their gullible juvenile audience on how they prevented a memorial being built in memory of the 'invaders of our motherland' but whether this kind of anti-Indian propaganda will have the same effect now, as it did in the mid '80s, is doubtful.

Forsake Pakistan and China?

Equally intriguing is the visit to India of the Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka as a guest of the Indian government. The General who earlier declared that the LTTE would be defeated by April this year but has now shifted time frames, has found time to visit Kashmir controlled India, and go to the Line of Control separating Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani part.

General Fonseka has always been a hardliner who believes that the LTTE has to be defeated militarily for any solution to emerge while India still maintains there is no military solution to the Sri Lankan problem and negotiations is the way out.

Whether there could be a meeting of minds is to be seen. More important is whether the Rajapakse government would now take heed of the Indian call not to buy arms from Pakistan or China but to look to India.

Time tested friends

Pakistan and China are two of our time tested, friendly and dependable nations, who have not failed this country in moments of peril while India having set the torch of terrorism aflame here has sat aloof with Brahminical disdain while the terrorists were at the gates and attempting to kick them open.

They even moved to save the terrorists by threatening this country with an invasion as what happened during the Vadamaarachchi operation. While developing cordial relationships with India is essential, putting all our eggs into the Indian basket would tantamount to committing hara-kiri. It is axiomatic that friendship with India cannot be at the cost of antagonising our two time tested friends who have no domestic compulsions in helping us.

War memorial for our heroes

Before considering a war memorial to fallen Indian soldiers, President Rajapakse is bound to consider a memorial to the fallen Sri Lankan heroes particularly those 700 policemen who surrendered to the LTTE on orders of President Premadasa and were massacred in cold blood by Karuna and Co. No effort has even been made to trace the graves of these fallen heroes. That's the way we have treated our war heroes.