[Mr. Vanniasingam]

refused to be drawn on the side of the Germans. Why? Because the measure of freedom they enjoyed, the amount of autonomy they enjoyed, had helped to build up a sense of nationhood, a sense of unity, a sense of cohesion. These factors proved much stronger than language ties.

So that, that is precisely what we want. We want in this country the right to rule ourselves in regard to our internal affairs so that we may build up a sense of oneness, a sense of nationhood, a sense of unity which are so essential to the well-being of this country. We want the majority community to help us to foster this sense of oneness, to foster relations that will endure and last. You can do that, we assure you, only by giving us a share in the day to day administration of this country-not one or two portfolios-but a real sharing of power, division of powers, of government in a federal system. That is the way to solve the multi-national, multi-linguistic problems in this country. Switzerland chose that

way.

I ask you the other question. My hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture made certain remarks. I ask whether there is any known case of any federation in the world where the federating unit has actually got out of a federation. I ask that question. I have referred to Switzerland and shown you how federalism is worked out there. There is a division of powers there and the treatment accorded to the various linguistic groups had helped to foster a sense of nationhood so as to override other considerations such as language.

I refer now to another type of case. Hon. Members are no doubt aware of the existence of Sudetan-land in Czechoslovakia. In the pre-World War II period Czechoslovakia Sudetan Germans were treated as an unwanted minority, treated perhaps in the same shabby way in which the Tamil-speaking people in this country are being treated, and that paved the way for Hitler to walk into Czechoslovakia. By treating

the minorities here in the

shabby way that you want

in

to treat them by denying them language rights, by subjecting them to various other insults and hardships, are you not really creating a pemanent fifth column this country-a fifth column that would welcome any deliverance from bondage? Have you not created a class of stateless, rightless, franchiseless labour population in the upcountry areas ? On this matter I must say in fairness to my good Friend the Hon. Minister of Agriculture that he and the fair Member for Kiriella (Mrs. Kusumasiri Gunawardena), when they were on this side of the House, had been consistently fighting against the disfranchisement and decitizenisation of the Tamil-speaking people in this country-the estate labour upcountry. On this point I wonder what he has to say today as an honourable Minister of the Mahajana Eksath

Peramuna. But I am on this point. Are you not creating a class of stateless persons in this country-persons who are going to be with you; you a cannot get rid of them even if you want to unless you resort to genocide -who will have no stake in this country, who will be sort of permanent fifth column? But when we tell you: please give them citizenship, please treat them as equals it is elementary human justice to do so, please give us rights, let us govern our own territories and areas in the way we want to, my Friend the Hon. Minister of Agriculture takes up the attitude that these are impossible demands and says: "We are not prepared to grant you federalism". He shouted that he was not prepared, he reacted with a certain amount of gusto, he spoke with force and authority in the belief that it would make us, a minority, submit to his sanctions in the matter.

the administrative districts that we already have or it may even be by constituencies or electorates if you like. But please announce beforehand that Government agrees to the setting up of an autonomous Tamil liguistic state consisting of such areas as have voted for a linguistic autonomous Tamil state within a federal framework. If you are prepared to take the verdict of Tamil-speaking people on this question we are fully satisfied. Hon. Members will remember that when the question of the partition of India arose the matter of whether Sylhet District should form part of Pakistan or remain part of Assam was taken up. A plebiscite was held and the verdict went in favour of Pakistan and Sylhet joined Pakistan while the rest of Assam remained part of India. My good Friends will also remember that the North-West Frontier Province was a Congress majority Province at the time the partition was effected. However a plebiscite was held and the plebiscite went against India and the North-West Frontier Province had to accede to Pakistan.

Similarly, you must grant the right of self-determination to the Tamilspeaking people and say that they are free to decide for themselves whether or not they want a linguistic State within a federal framework. I am not asking for partition or division; please forget that once and for all. No one will be more unhappy than I to see this country divided in the manner that India and Pakistan were divided. I am a firm believer in the essential unity of this country, but at the same time I want unity in diversity. I want the Tamilspeaking people to be enabled to live their lives in their traditional homelands in the way they have lived for centuries. I do not want a mere change of masters from the Britishers to the Sinhalese. That is precisely what my good Friend, the Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Food postulated when he said, "What does it matter? What injustice have we done to you? We have only replaced English with Sinhalese. A very simple transformation. Mr. Deputy-Speaker! But that does not satisfy us.

Now, I am sure it is not the desire of any party in this country, not even of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, to set up a little Sinhalese empire in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. It was only yesterday that my good Friend the Hon. Minister of Agriculture condemned any such thought in no uncertain terms. That is why we say that we want this right of self-determination.

How ironic, in this context, that the Governor-General should say in his Speech:

"In keeping with the accepted foreign policy, this delegation played an active role in the promotion of peace and friendly relations between nations, the settlement of disputes by negotiation, and the demand for the freedom of subject peoples"-[OFFICIAL REPORT, 13th June, 1957; Vol. 28, c. 4.]

I do respectfully ask whether these principles have no application in the domestic sphere, whether we should not promote peace and friendly relations between the various communities in this country, whether we should go on secretly encouraging such events as those which_happened in June last year when Tamil shops were looted, when Tamil people were assaulted and when, as my good Friend the hon. First Member for Colombo Central (Mr. Keuneman) pointed out, people became such beasts that they could even bite off one's ear.

Yesterday my good Friend the Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Food referred to cowdung and, if I remember right, right, to to donkeydung being thrown at people. I do not know where he got the idea of donkeydung, but he did refer to it. But does not my good Friend know of incidents that occurred which were even more disgraceful? This business of raising sarongs during the satyagraha on 5th June has been referred to even earlier on the Floor of this House, but does he know that on June 5th last year one of our satyagrahis, who was wearing one of those palmyrah hats, had it pulled out by one of the champions of the "Sinhala Only " policy who urinated into it and put it back on the head of that satyagrahi? My good Friend the Minister is protesting about a cowdung

[Mr. Vanniasingam] incident. I do not know from where he got this piece of news, but I shall return to this subject a little later in another connection. Suffice it to say at this stage that the promotion of peace and friendly relations must also be sought at home.

I have already dealt with the question of settlement of disputes by negotiation. We wrote to the Hon. Prime Minister on this point and got the reply, "No". The Hon. Minister of Agriculture, however, would invite us to discussions, but in the same breath he says, “We are not prepared to consider all this." He is only prepared to discuss. You talk of friendly negotiations, "friendly relations between nations and the demand for the freedom of subject peoples," when in this very country you are seeking to enslave the people who won freedom along with you. Is this justice, is this fairplay? Here in this country strenuous efforts are being made to subjugate, enslave and destroy the Tamil-speaking people by the show of force. Treason or no treason, we are determined to fight this new imperialism that is rearing its ugly head in this country. Time was when we used to speak of the "White Man's Burden". Now, I believe, it has become fashionable to speak of the "Sinhalese Man's Burden" in this country. We do not want the Sinhalese man to bear this "burden".

I remember, Mr. Deputy-Speaker,

the Hon. Prime Minister, when he was Leader of the Opposition, spoke on the Floor of this very House and referred to the Tamil language as one of the lowest of Indian languages." I suppose it is in a desperate attempt to civilize those "uncivilized people" who speak the ""lowest of Indian languages" that he and his Colleagues have thought it fit to to impose the Sinhalese language on them so that the civilizing influence of their language and culture might at least have an impact on the "barbarous" people that we

are.

Yes, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, my good Friend the Hon. Minister of Agriculture said that he has done even

As long as we are not asking for a separate State, as long as we say we will rule ourselves in our own areas, what difficulty is there? We are not asking for subsidies, we do not want your various Ministerial missions and visitors to dispense favours to us. No; we say, let there Tamil-speaking people reject this be a plebiscite. Of course, if the

idea, it will be a different matter. Then there will be no question of satyagraha, no question of division or partition, of where the Tamil or the Sinhalese State begins and where it ends. There will be no such trouble at all. But if on the other hand it is the wish of the Tamilspeaking people to rule themselves in their own areas, I ask you in all earnestness, does it lie in your power to say "No, we are going to control, subjugate and enslave the Tamilspeaking people and keep them in bondage in a unitary State" ?

Let our Colleagues, therefore, once and for all keep in mind these facts.

Let them not think that the Tamilspeaking people are prepared to allow the present state of affairs to continue. We know how to look after ourselves. Let me appeal to parties on both sides of the House, to the leaders who ought to guide and shape public opinion in this country, to treat this matter as a national issue and not as a party issue, for we ourselves are not treating it as a mere party issue.

For the last nine years we have been demanding a federal form of government, and have been popularising our demand amongst the Tamilspeaking people. It is because we have reached a stage where we feel that this intolerable state of affairs cannot

5

go on any longer that we have painfully decided to take the action we propose to take. That is why we say, Grant us a plebiscite." If the plebiscite goes against us, there is obviously no question of a satyagraha at least on the issue of federalism.

So that this one major problem is very easily solved by a simple plebiscite. Please remember that there is a school of thought which demands an independent Tamil Nad. The hon. Member for Vavuniya-it is rather unfortunate that he was bundled out in the fashion that he was; the time allotted to Independent Members had been consumed by other speakers, and he had perhaps a just grievance which he aired in a wrong way-the hon. Member for Vavuniya is a firm believer in an independent Tamil State.

Please remember that there are a number of persons who advocate an independent Tamil Nad. If you resist the federal demand and drive the Tamil-speaking people to despair, as a result of the trouble, turmoil and bitterness that ensues as a result of any kind of direct action that is taken, peaceful co-existence, even as two linguistic states within a federal framework, might become utterly impossible.

It will be recalled that at one stage, Mr. Jinnah wanted only 14 points. The majority Party in India-the Congress were not prepared to concede the 14 points; they were not prepared to be generous to the to the minorities, though Mahatma Gandhi advised them to be generous. That refusal drove Mr. Jinnah from one step to another until Pakistan became an accomplished fact.

I ask my hon Friends on both sides of the House, "Is it your desire to create conditions very similar to those that obtained in that country?" As one who believes in the essential unity of this country, it is an agonising thought that the Government and other responsible leaders on either side of the House are not prepared to consider Federalism as a serious solution, though I have absolutely no hesitation or doubt that 95 per cent at least of the Tamil

speaking people would vote for Federalism if you are prepared to consider a linguistic State. I am willing to have that put to the test.

as

Please consider whether you should, by your obduracy, by your obstinacy over this matter, create a situation where this country would be inevitably divided India and Pakistan were. A plebiscite, and an agreement to negotiate what powers will be transferred to the Provincial Government and what powers will be retained in the Centre, is quite practicable and feasible.

Of course, charges have been made, and the Hon. Prime Minister in one of his press conferences referred to the fact that we have not defined our federalism sufficiently clearly. If we have not done so, if we have not defined our federalism, it is because, as you know, no two federal governments are alike, and each country fashions the type of federalism that suits its needs.

It is therefore a matter for negotiation and settlement, not a matter for one man to say, "I will do this and everybody else must accept it." It is a matter on which we are prepared to negotiate and settle, but please concede the principle and have it out by a test. That is all we ask. If, ultimately, as a result of your persistent refusal to concede our demands, a separate State results, you have only yourselves to thank.

What objection can there be to a plebiscite by which people are afforded that right of self-determination.? Is it your position, I ask of every one who is opposed to federalism, that the Tamil-speaking people in this country should be held in subjection under a unitary Constitution, even against their will? the Tamil-speaking people themselves, at a plebiscite, opt not to have a Tamil State, the question of satyagraha on federalism is solved.

If

Reference was made by the Hon. Leader of the House to the incidents at Mannar. He said that the minority Tamils in Jaffna were denied the rights to hold a meeting. My good Friend the Minister of Agriculture and Food referred to cowdung, but

[Mr. Vanniasingam]

the funniest part of the matter is that he gloated over the disturbances at two meetings held at the Town Hall in Colombo. He said that the L. S. S. P. were unable to hold a meeting, and that there were disturbances at the meeting organized by the Communist Party, that there would have been deaths, trees would also have grown up over the graves, of the dead because there was opposition, in this part of the country, to the Sinhalese Only policy.

In this part of the country they kill and bury people for opposing the Sinhalese Only policy, but in our part of the country we are perhaps a little less violent. We only give you cowdung. Of course, I have already said, times without number, that we deplore the incident, but may I say that perhaps those people who threw cowdung at various people rendered unto Ceasar the things that were Ceasar's. They perhaps thought that the Ministers who, in spite of the protest of the Member for the area, came on a " Thik-Vijayam "—the Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Food may not be aware that the visit was advertised as a "Thik-Vijayam" of the Ministers a victorious, triumphal march over territory newly conquered-deserved nothing better. [Interruption] Yes, you were not aware of it. If you were, you would not have condemned the people as you did.

What is more, when some flags were waved, the Ministers shouted, "Stop the jeep"; they jumped off the jeep. Of course, the pulling up of shirt sleeves has been denied. I do not want to refer to that, but another Minister has said that because the atmosphere was getting hot, he rolled up his sleeves. Yes, Sir, the atmosphere was indeed getting hot! The Minister challenged the people. It was fortunate that the people who were enraged and provoked did nothing worse.

It will be recalled that in June last year, my good Friend the Hon. Prime. Minister himself stated on the Floor of this House that the very presence of the satyagrahis on the Galle Face

Green had provoked the crowd to do certain things. The presence of some unarmed people, quietly seated on the Galle Face Green, in protest against what they thought was an injustice to them, is provocation, but here the very people who had deprived a people of their language rights, come in the teeth of opposition, come against the wishes of the elected representative of the area, come on what is described as a conquering, triumphal, march, with police bayonets and rifles to buttress their courage, with the might of authority behind them, and if people protest, as quite naturally they would, they are blamed.

Mr. Speaker: Your time is up. Please keep to your agreement.

Mr. Vanniasingam: Yes. There are a number of important matters. You know, Mr. Speaker, that the main Debate has centred round our satyagraha campaign and I must certainly reply to some of the allegations that have been made.

Dr. Perera: Honour your agreement.

Mr. Vanniasingam: Yes, I will try to.

Yesterday the Hon. Leader of the House said that we spoke of the Tamil-speaking people and that now we speak about the Tamil people. Immediately I retorted that we still represent the Tamil-speaking people. Simply because somebody has broken his election promise, a written pledge which he gave to the Party, and crosses over to the other side, the matter does not end.

The Hon. Minister of Education will tell his Cabinet colleagues that at Kalmunaikudi, a hundred per cent Muslim village, black flags had been hung up at the place where the meeting was to be held, and when the black flags were removed the Muslims themselves put up black flags and it became impossible for the hon. Minister to hold a meeting at that place. The Hon. Minister will tell his colleagues that it was a Muslim who threw a sandal at him. I do not say that justifies the actions in this matter