[Dr. Colvin R. de Silva] අවුස්සන ලද මිනිසුන් මිනිස්කමක් නැති මෘග තත්වයකට පැමිණෙනවා. " මෘග තත්වය” කියන එක වටින්නේ නැහැ. මන්ද? මෘගයන්ගේ නැහැ ජාතිභේදය. මෘගයනට වඩා දියුණු මිනිස් ජාතියට අයිති අපට පමණයි මේ විෂ සහිත දේ වැහිලා තිබෙන්නේ. ඒ කාලයේදී පානදුරයේ කාලයේදී පානදුරයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයාත් උතුරු කොළඹ මන්ත්‍රීවරියත් මාත් කල්කටා නගරයේ එන්ටලි කියන ප්‍රදේශයේ පදිංචිව සිටියා. ඒ එන්ටලි ප්‍රදේශයට ඇතුළුවන මහපාර හන්දියේ සිටිය අයගෙන් වැඩි දෙනා මුස්ලිම්වරු. නමුත් ඉන් එහාට වූ විට වැඩි දෙනා හින්දු ජාතිකයෝ. හින්දුකාරයින්ට ගෙවල්වලට යන්නට බැහැ. එන්ටලි හන්දියෙන්. මුස්ලිම් ජාතිකයකුට කඩේට යන්නට බැහැ හින්දුකාරයින්ගේ අවසරය නැතිව.

Dr. Colvin R. de Silva: ඒවා නො කෙරෙන විධිය පෙන්නන්ටයි, මන්ත්‍රීතුමනී මා මේ විධියට කථා කරන්නේ. මා මතක් කරනවා ආණ්ඩු පක්‍ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ට ගිය අවුරුද්දේ මේවා ඇති කළා; මේ අවුරුද් ද්දේ නොවන ඇති මාර්ග පෙන්නන්නටයි මා හදන්නේ. ඊට කන් දුන්නොත් හොඳයි. පස්සේ මට පහර ගැහැව්වාට වරදක් නැහැ. එන්ටලි ප්‍රදේශයේ ඒ ජනයා ඒ අවස්ථාවේ විශෙෂ වැඩ පිළිවෙළක් සැලැස්සුවා. දෙජාතියේම ආරක්‍ෂාව පිණිස මොකක්ද සැලැස්සුවේ? දෙජාතියම එක්සත් වී එකතුව සාකච්ඡා කර ගිවිසුමකට බැස්සා. කල්කටාවේ වෙන

කොයි ප්‍රදේශයක ජාතිභේද රණ්ඩු ඇති වුණත් එන්ටලි ප්‍රදේශය තුළ නම් ඇති වුනේ නැහැ. මොකද ? දෙජාතියම එකතු වී දෙජාතියෙන්ම යුත් සාම කාරක සභාවක් ඇති කර එ මගින් වැඩපිළිවෙළ දැම්මා, යම්කිසි විපතක් ඇති වෙන්නට යන කොට ඒ බව සියළුම ප්‍රදේශවාසීන්ට දැනුම් දුන් විට සියළු දෙනාම ඒ ස්ථානයට පැමිණ එය නැවැත්වීමට මාර්ග සැලැස් සීමට. උප සභාපතිතුමනි, මගේ විශ්වාසයේ හැටියට නම් එන්ටලි ප්‍රදේශයේ හින්දු-මුස්ලිම්

දෙජාතියම එකතුවී සාම මණ්ඩලයක් ඇති කරමින් ජාතිභේද රණ්ඩු නැති කිරීමට එදා ගත් ඒ පියවර තමයි කොළඹින් පටන් ගෙන අප රට තුළ සෑම ප්‍රදේශයකටම ගෙන යා යුත්තේ.

ජාති භෙදයෙන් තොරව ජනතාව ගැන ම කල්පනා කරන්ට ඕනෑ. මහජනයා ලවාම, මහජනයා මගින්ම සාමකාමී සංවිධාන ඇති කර එවා මගින් පළාත් ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් යොදනවා නම් මගේ විශ්වාසයේ හැටියට, මේ ජාතිභෙද පිස්සන්ගෙන් පළාත් ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට පුළුවන් වෙනවා පමණක් නොව, ජාතිභෙද පිස්සුව ජනතාව අතරේ පැතිර යාම වැළැක් වීමටද පුළුවනි. ආන්න ඒකයි ඕනෑ. මේ වොලන්ටියර් කණ්ඩායම් වලට එවැනි කටයුතු ඉටු කරන්ට බැහැ. ඒ නිසා,ගරු සභාපති තුමනි, මේ ගරු සභාවට මා ඉතා ඕනෑ කමින් කියා සිටින්නේ මේ ප්‍රශ්නයට අපෙ හිත්, අපි කල්පනා කාරීව ඉවසිලි මත්ව යොදමු. එවිට මෙය විසඳා ගැනීමට පුළුවන් වේවි. මා ඇත්තටම කියන්ට ඕනෑ,ගරු කෘෂිකර්‍ම ඇමතිවරයාට පෙර කථා කළ, නාවලපිටියේ ගරු මන්ත්‍රීවරයා ගේ කථාව නම් ජාති භේදය ඇවිස්සීම වැළැක්වීමට ලොකු ආධාරයක් වන බව. බොහෝ කලාතුරකිනුයි, ගරු සභාපති තුමනි, මට ඒ මන්ත්‍රීවරයාගේ කථාවකට ප්‍රශංසා කරන්නට ලැබෙන්නේ. මේ අවස්ථා වේදී නම් මා ඒ මන්ත්‍රීවරයාගේ කථාවට ප්‍රශංසා කරනවා.

ගරු සභාපති තුමනි, ලංකාවේ ලාංකික ජනතාවගෙන් වැදගත් කොටසක් වන දෙමළ ජනතාවත් එක්ක ආණ්ඩුව නමින් සිංහල ජනතාව හප්පා මේ රට එක්සත කිරීමට හෝ මේ රටේ සාමය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට හෝ නිදහස ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට හෝ බැරිය, කියා විශ්වාස කරන ලංකා සමසමාජ පක්ෂය ඔය මා කී ප්‍රතිපත්ති අනුව ඉදිරි කාල ේදී වැඩ කරන බව මේ ස්ථානයේදී ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ කියන්නට ඕනෑ. එ වැඩ පිළිවෙල

යොදන විට, අර කෘෂිකර්ම ඇමතිවරයාගේ කථාව වැනි කථා වලින් ඇවිස්සෙන ජනයා අපට විරුද්ධව නැගී සිටියාට, අපට හානි කරන්ට ආවාට අපි කෘෂිකර්ම ඇමති වරයා ටත් පොරොන්දු වෙනවා අප යන පාර දිගේ අපේ යෑම අත හරින්නේ නැතිව ඒ පාර දිගේම දිගටම යන බව.

[Mr. V. A. Kandiah]

to sell their convictions and sense of justice to attain their unholy objectives. That is all I can say.

The Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Food, and indeed some of the other Front-Benchers, have voted more than once for Tamil and Sinhalese as official languages, but yet accuse the L.S.S.P. of having voted this year and last year for the retention of Tamil as an official language. The hon. Member for Point Pedro (Mr. P. Kandiah) assigned the blame for the present communal tension to the present Government. The present Government is responsible for this communal tension. The wound that was inflicted on the Tamil community in June last year by depriving it of the rights it had enjoyed for centuries and centuries is still fresh and bleeding. A wound of that nature the Tamil community had

never ex

perienced in the history of its existence for the last 2,000-odd years. Sinhalese kings had ruled the Tamils in the Tamil language; Tamil kings

had ruled the Sinhalese in the Sinhalese language. But the M.E.P. Government - unfortunately,

we,

Tamils, also voted for it-when it came into power on a wave of communalism, thought that the best way to retain power-whatever may be the justice of it; whatever may be the fairness of it; whatever may be the other considerations for the building of a nation-was to maintain this communal tension. That is why even today the M.E.P. persists in it.

It has been claimed that the Tamils also worked along with the Sinhalese for Ceylon's freedom. The Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Food said, What have we done? We have done no harm to the Tamil language or to the Tamil community. All that we have done is that we have replaced English by Sinhalese. No harm has been done to the Tamils." In other words, he stated that after Ceylon gained independence, the Sinhalese have replaced the

English, and the Tamils remain where they were. That is the insulting part of it; that is what we object to. It is this mentality of the ruler that we are able to see and feel in this august Assembly; and to this we take strong objection. I do beg hon. Members on the other side to get rid of this feeling of rulership and to realize that they are one with us and equals of ours. We are as keen as any Member of the Government to make Ceylon a prosperous country and to see that the people are united. There should be no division of this country, and for that purpose the Tamils will always work together with their Sinhalese brethren. That assurance the Sinhalese now, and will always, have. But they must appreciate and concede that, for our fost rights, for the purpose of living with self respect, we are entitled to fight to the last. In other words, we are fighting for our freedom. After all, whom are we fighting? We are fighting our own brethren; and in that fight they should not misunderstand us if we persist in our struggle according to our conviction.

We were told that when the Sinhala Only Act was passed, there will be reasonable use of Tamil. What this reasonable use is, has never been defined and, I suppose, will never be. All that one can say is that the term reasonable use of Tamil" was in the M. E. P. manifesto. By this "reasonable use " they have actually fooled the Tamils-and, may I say, the Sinhalese also-because we do not know the meaning of it. I ask my hon. Friends on the Front Benches opposite: Is there any difference between reasonable and ordinary use of any language? In the history of the world has "reasonable use been ever accorded to the language of any country? We find it being suggested only in this country, and no other. Why ordinary use? Why reasonable use? When I asked the difference between 66 reasonable use and "ordinary use", some friend, by way of a joke, stated that one is the wife and the other the mistress. So, the Tamil language is the "mistress "-for reasonable use. That is the actual position in

which our language is placed: it is for reasonable use. One can understand the position of the Tamils in this matter, and how they feel about it.

It was with feelings of sorrow and frustration that the Tamils viewed the passage of the Official Language Act. We did not for a moment think that such an Act would be passed against our community. We had hoped that both languages Sinhalese and Tamil would be regarded as official languages of the country. We did not imagine for a moment that the Tamil community would be placed in such a humiliating situation as to be permitted the reasonable use of Tamil. Are we also to be permitted the reasonable use of food and clothing? We do not know where this provision for "reasonable use" will end. That is why we consider this a serious matter and, in the interests of our own community and posterity, are prepared to fight to the last. Can anybody blame us for it?

The Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Food today, for the first time, appealed to the Tamils to think in terms of the country. Indeed, we do think in terms of the country, and I say that we are more sincerely interested in the country and its future than are Ministers of the type of the Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Food. I say this in all seriousness.

The Hon. Prime Minister and the

Government assured us of the reasonable use of Tamil. But when the Official Language Act was implemented, there was no such reasonable use of Tamil. There were no regulations framed at any time providing for the reasonable use of Tamil. In fact, they forgot that Tamils as a race even existed in Ceylon. Every day it was a case of assuring that the Act would be implemented with the reasonable use of Tamil ; but every act of implementation was an act of humiliation to the Tamil community. For one whole year we bore it with patience our traditions have taught us that-and tried our best to get along in a friendly spirit with our Sinhalese brethren,

hoping every day that they would see the justice of our cause. We gave them one year's time to treat us fairly and justly. But we now realize that the assurances of the Government are utterly useless. So, we have decided to fight for our rights and for our freedom rather than suffer daily these petty acts of humiliation.

8 P.M.

Mr. Deputy-Chairman of Committees: Mr. Speaker will now take the chair.

[Whereupon MR. DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES left the chair, and MR. SPEAKER took the chair.]

Mr. V. A. Kandiah: These are perhaps nails driven in the coffin of the Tamil language. My hon. Friend the Minister of Posts, Broadcasting and Information himself had a few nails driven here. He brought in a regulation that post-bags should printed with English and Sinhalese letters only and when we asked him why, he said it was to prevent thefts.

be

And when we asked him what about thefts occurring in Jaffna, he kept quiet. He himself felt that he was driving a few nails-it was a case of nails and nails-right round this coffin.

But I must tell my hon. Friends that there is nothing in this coffin, that they are unnecessarily nailing a coffin and that they will never find the body of the Tamil community or their language in it. It is impossible to destroy the Tamil language or the community. Therefore, I would appeal to the hon. Members of the M. E. P. Government not to try the impossible. It is impossible for you to govern the Tamils in Tamil provinces in the Sinhalese language. I would like to repeat that many times over. Therefore, please give up that idea. By trying to persist in that idea you would be only creating an unnecessary struggle, an unnecessary quarrel and unnecessary tension and thereby you will be doing no good to your own people themselves.

[Mr. V. A. Kandiah]

Every day we are thinking of finding out a solution to this. We are as keen as anybody else to find a solution to this communal tension. In this country we are today placed in a very bad position financially-a depression is probably in sight and unemployment is rampant-and in the face of all this the country is torn into two because of this language question and other questions.

What is the solution to this? This has been answered by other countries in a similar situation. Other coun tries have tested it and accepted it and their answer is the one and only answer; that is, a federation. Let the Tamils have a federation of their own, with their own language, with their own government. Let the Sinhalese have their own federation, and both these will have their own government, a central government. Only certain subjects, agreed subjects, will be assigned to the Tamils. Then all this question of administrative difficulties in regard to language, and all these basic reasons, like jealousy and rivalry between communities, and so on, will disappear. This is the principle that has been accepted the world over and I would, therefore, appeal to my hon. Friends to consider this question very seriously.

Do not repeat the words that this would lead to a division of the country nor go to the various electorates and speak about a division. We ourselves are averse to a division; we do not like a division. Federation does not mean a division; the whole country remains intact politically-only that certain subjects are assigned to the federal unit.

With autonomy, after we get federation, we would be in a position, as far as subjects are assigned to us, to float loans and when we ask for a loan you may rest assured that we will ask you first, but if we have any surplus funds we will give it to you first. It is only if that is not possible that we will go for a loan from outside to develop our industries, our agriculture, ourselves and the country.

I ask you, where lies the harm in this whole concept of a federal unit? To repeat myself, I say that this is the solution that the rest of the world has found and I commend this solution to you.

As has been suggested by some other hon. Member, you want to give us concessions, something in the nature of a reasonable use of Tamil. Do you expect the Members of the Federal Party to accept this? And as somebody asked, do you expect us, after we accept this, to go back? I say that if by any chance we accept it, wo do not go back home, we remain with you. That is the position in which we are placed. Therefore, the question of accepting these concessions, this reasonable use, can never arise.

We are concerned with our birthright, with our own rights, the rights that we have enjoyed so far which you have taken away from us. would, therefore, appeal to you in all earnestness to solve this problem by treating the Tamils as people with self-respect, treating them as equals of your own and permitting them to enjoy rights as much as you do enjoy them. This can be achieved only by creating a federal unit.

Some interesting comment had been made in regard to these 100.000 volunteers that the M. E. P. are raising. They probably thought of these 100,000 volunteers after the Federal Party thought of raising 25,000 volunteers. Our volunteers have been recruited for the purpose of performing satyagraha graha on a non-violent method. Satyagraha on a non-violent method mean's actually penance and suffering. Our object is to melt the hard hearts of some of the Members of the M. E. P. Government so that they might see reason and justice and give us what we actually deserve, our own birthright. We are not worried about these 100,000 volunteers; that is a matter for the other parties. But we are perfectly sure that not one of these 100,000