Candidates for the August 17 parliamentary elections in the Jaffna District are still vying with each other to please voters who have hardline political pursuits. The United National Front’s 26 page manifesto – The Five Point Plan for a new country in 60 months” – notwithstanding, its candidate Vijayakala Maheswaran has added one more pledge.

In a leaflet distributed in Jaffna this week, Ms. Maheswaran has declared she would, if elected, ensure that the visit of Mahatma Gandhi to Jaffna on November 26 and 27, 1927, would be commemorated every year. A good thought indeed to remember a great Indian leader who won the hearts of people the world over.

However, it also coincides with two other dates which those not only in the Jaffna peninsula but also the entire country are familiar with. The slain leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Velupillai Prabhakaran was born on November 26. What of November 27? That was “Maveerar” or “Great Heroes” Day observed by the LTTE. It is on this day that the guerrilla leader delivered his “annual address” when they held sway for over 26 years. Successive Governments and the Colombo-based diplomatic community awaited that “address” to glean what the LTTE’s policies were in the year ahead.

The previous UPFA Government banned all observances on November 26 and 27 in the North and East to commemorate guerrilla cadres who were killed. The Police and the military were ordered to crack down on them.

Last week, the Sunday Times (Political Commentary) reported how Ms. Maheswaran refused to hoist the Sri Lanka national flag. The account said: “There was a distraction on Friday morning. Vijayakala Maheswaran, UNP candidate and a former Deputy Minister, refused to hoist the Sri Lanka national flag saying she had “never done so.” This was when she turned up at the Hindu College playground where the Jaffna Premier League cricket tournament is now under way. Kathiravel Sebwal, who once contested on the SLFP ticket for the Northern Provincial Council, is the organiser of the tournament.

He told the Sunday Times, “I gave the first opportunity for Vijayakala Maheswaran to hoist the Sri Lanka national flag. She refused saying she had not done so before.” I later asked Hindu College Principal Iyampillai Thayanandarajah and he hoisted it.

Vijayakala could not be contacted. Several calls to her mobile phone were answered by a female aide who said she was at different meetings and could not respond to telephone calls. This is notwithstanding her party’s unwavering commitment to a unitary Sri Lanka. Her refusal raises many questions including her allegiance to the unitary status of the country and how she would swear an oath if she is elected. It is clear she is also playing to the sentiments of the hard line elements to win votes…..”

After her refusal to hoist the flag, Ms. Maheswaran was cautioned by the UNP leadership in Colombo from taking up any stance that went against party policy. It also saw a statement issued from Colombo in her name where she declared she never supported the Eelam cause.

Courtesy:Sunday Times