The call by some Tamil politicians to the upcountry Tamil people, especially the plantation workers, to settle down in the Northern and Eastern Provinces in the wake of the recent calamity caused by nature’s fury, has stirred up an intense debate the political arena. 

Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader and Member of Parliament Mano Ganesan, who visited the families of plantation workers in a landslide-affected area in Kandy district recently, spoke of the need to relocate them to safer places. 

Ganesan said that he would talk to the government about the possibility of settling those people in the upcountry areas where there is no risk of landslide and questioned whether they would come forward to settle in the northern and eastern provinces if enough land could not be found upcountry. Most of those present responded that they were ready for it.

It is quite natural that those people who have been badly affected by the natural disaster and who have lost their homes would say so immediately. But on the basis of the response of that one group of people, it cannot be assumed that upcountry Tamil people will be ready to abandon their traditional means of livelihood and way of life in order to migrate to the north and east in large numbers.

While the media, mainly social media, attached great importance to Mano Ganesan’s meeting with the affected people, former Member of Parliament and General Secretary of the Ilankai Thamizharasu Katchi (ITAK) M. A. Sumanthiran announced that the upcountry Tamils were welcome and he was willing to help if they wanted to settle in the north and east on their own.

He was followed by Batticaloa district MP Chanakyan Rasmanickam, who called on Tamils living in insecure areas in the hills to come and settle in the east. Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) General Secretary Suresh K.  Premachandran also stressed the need to provide support and assistance to the upcountry Tamils to settle in the Tamil areas.

This is not the first time that the upcountry, particularly the plantation regions has been hit by a natural disaster. Plantation workers have long suffered from natural disasters such as landslides and floods. But the governments have never come up with effective  plans to ensure a safe life for them.

It is certainly to be welcomed that these Tamil politicians have expressed solidarity with the upcountry Tamil community and invited them to the North and East.

Sumanthiran said that when the people of the upcountry say that there is no place to live safely in the painful situation created after the sudden natural disaster, it is their duty to welcome them.

He pointed out that he was continuing to work with Mano Ganesan on the next steps to be taken, and that there was a need to talk to the government about such plans to resettle people, adding that many members of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora had expressed their willingness to offer their lands in the north and east to the upcountry Tamils. 

In any case, disaster-prevention and resilience programmes aimed at protecting Tamil communities—particularly plantation workers—must be implemented primarily in the regions where they have historically lived as a distinct community, in order to prevent them from being repeatedly affected by natural disasters.

There is no problem in sending them to the North and East on a voluntary basis under a broad programme of gradual resettlement to safer areas. Only the government can implement such a scheme.

On this occasion, it is pertinent to recall the position taken by the National People’s Power (NPP) before the two national elections last year on the land and housing problems of the Tamil people living in the plantations.

On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the repatriation of the Tamil community from South India to the Sri Lankan hill country, NPP issued policy statement called the ‘Hatton  Declaration’ on their rights, on 15 October 2023. 

The paragraphs that deal with the land and housing problems faced by the Tamil  plantation workers is as follows: 

“The main problem facing the Malaiyaga Tamil people is the housing problem. According to the 2012/1013 Population and Statistics, 67.8 percent of them still live in line rooms. A National People’s Power administration will initiate a programme to provide livable housing to Malaiyaga Tamils through housing schemes that will help them develop into a prosperous community.”

“Attempts are made to evict some workers from their homes when they leave plantation work. A rule by NPP will prevent such actions. Although many families spent money and labour to build their houses, there is still no recognized land registration deed for the land.”

“The problem of lack of title deeds is a problem faced not only by this community but also by colonists on other parts of the country. The NPP seeks to find a fair solution to this problem and ensure the land rights of the Malaiyaga Tamil people so that they can continue to settle in their homes without hindrance. Uncultivated areas and abandoned land in the plantation areas will be used to improve the livelihood of the unemployed youth of the Malaiyaga Tamil community.”

The NPP also promised in the 2024 presidential election manifesto that steps would be taken to recognize the identity and rights of the upcountry Tamils and improve their land, housing, education and health facilities, as stated in the Hatton Declaration.

At this juncture, an important question arises as to what extent the NPP Government has focused on the fulfilment of this promise more than one year after coming to power.

With the land issue of the upcountry Tamil people back in focus following the recent natural disaster, the Tamil parties should urge the Government to keep its promise. The Tamil parties in the North and East should join hands with the parties that represented the upcountry Tamils and the trade unions in a protest movement to put pressure on the Government in this regard.

When Mano Ganesan brought to the attention of President Dissanayake the issues related to the relocation of the upcountry Tamils to safer places, he promptly asked, ‘Where is the land? Is it that without knowing where the land is, the president promised to solve the land and housing problem in his manifesto?’

The upcountry Tamils are already settled in the north, especially in the Vanni region. After a series of ethnic violence unleashed against Tamils during the United National Party (UNP) government in the last century, a considerable number of upcountry people migrated to the north in search of safety. Their number is estimated to be more than one lakh now. 

Now, when an invitation is made to the upcountry Tamils to come to the north and east, a proper assessment of how the people who have already settled there are living is necessary. The first thing to consider is whether those people are equal in terms of access to livelihood and other facilities without discrimination among their northern brethren.

While Sumanthiran says many of the Tamils in the diaspora are willing to give their land to the hill people, he should also take a serious note of the fact that the people of the upcountry also have the experience that some of the diaspora Tamils who came back to Sri Lanka after the end of the civil war in 2009, asked for the return of their lands.

Simultaneously, it is also important to note how the present-day upcountry Tamil youth think about the future of their community. They don’t want to be called Tamils of Indian origin anymore. Their demand is that the separate ethnic identity of them as “Malaiyaga Tamils” should officially be recognised. There are those who talk about the concept of ‘Malaiyaga Thamizh Thesium.’

Indeed, the upcountry Tamils have unique problems, livelihoods, way of life and culture in contrast to the other Tamil-speaking communities in the country. If they start migrating to other parts of Sri Lanka, as the north and east Tamils do in large numbers abroad today, there is a danger that they will lose their identity as a separate community, unable to claim their unique rights.

They should not be seen as a nomadic group that can settle in any part of the country. Plantation workers are the main segment of the working class in Sri Lanka. These people have been working for generations for the economic development of the country.

Even if they are to be relocated from disaster-prone areas, it is still appropriate to carry out the programmes primarily in the regions where they have traditionally been living and working. 

It is noteworthy that in a memorandum sent to the British Government in 1936 on the need to establish a federal system of government in Ceylon, Leonard Woolf, an Englishman who had served as Assistant  Government Agent in Hambantota in the south during the British colonial period, proposed federal units for the Northern and Eastern Provinces, Kandyan Sinhalese and the coastal Sinhalese and stated that the areas of the upcountry inhabited by Tamil plantation workers could be merged to form a separate unit.

It may be recalled that a white colonial official had said 90 years ago that the plantations Tamils had unique rights like any other community. However, the first post-independence Ceylonese government stripped the hill-country Tamils of their citizenship and made them stateless. Who knows how long those people who won citizenship and voting rights back after half a century of struggle will have to fight for the ownership of land, house and other facilities for a decent life?