{"id":69844,"date":"2020-08-09T03:13:52","date_gmt":"2020-08-09T08:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=69844"},"modified":"2020-08-09T04:10:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-09T09:10:19","slug":"tamil-progressive-alliance-representing-hill-country-tamils-retains-all-six-seats-from-colombo-kandy-nuwara-eliya-and-badulla-districts-that-were-held-by-it-in-the-last-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=69844","title":{"rendered":"Tamil Progressive Alliance Representing Hill Country Tamils Retains all Six Seats From Colombo, Kandy, Nuwara – Eliya and Badulla Districts Held by TPA in the Last Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

For almost all Opposition parties in Sri Lanka, Wednesday\u2019s general election spelt huge losses in the face of the landslide victory secured by the ruling party of the Rajapaksas. But one group stood out.<\/p>\n

The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), which represents Malayaha Tamils in the island\u2019s Central, Uva, Sabaragamuwa and Western Provinces, retained all six seats in Parliament. While the number is small compared to the coveted two-thirds majority that the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) secured in the 225-member House, it is not insignificant.<\/p>\n

How did the TPA\u2019s MPs make it, despite being part of Sajith Premadasa\u2019s weak Opposition alliance and despite a contest with powerful rivals in the Ceylon Workers\u2019 Congress (CWC) aligned to the ruling SLPP?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Only two of the CWC\u2019s candidates won, including Jeevan Thondaman, son of former Minister and popular politician Arumugan Thondaman, who suddenly passed away in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust is the word. That is the reason. The TPA\u2019s achievements in the last four years have outnumbered all past performances of other parties,\u201d said Alliance leader and former Minister Mano Ganesan, who won from Colombo district.<\/p>\n

Rewarded for work<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr. Ganesan\u2019s colleague V. Radhakrishnan from Nuwara Eliya agreed. \u201cPeople have recognised our work. If they were not happy, we wouldn\u2019t be back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The TPA could not do much to ensure tea estate workers got the minimum wage despite their incessant protests spanning three years, but its MPs appear to have scored in other areas concerning the million-strong community. Development, for instance.<\/p>\n

The Alliance shifted the politics of Malayaha Tamils \u2014 including some 1.5 lakh people employed in the tea estates \u2014 from one of \u201cpatronage to [one of] rights\u201d, according to Palani Thigambaram, a former Minister widely credited with building houses in the estates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked to address our people\u2019s right to land and housing, we helped them get original deeds for the first time. We created a dedicated authority for Hill Country development and the people have appreciated that,\u201d he said, adding: \u201csome people think voters are fools. But the fact is voters know what they are doing. It is important to pay attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trust built over 4 years<\/strong><\/p>\n

But for this trust built over four years, it may not have been easy for the candidates to win, especially from Mr. Premadasa\u2019s Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), which has been on a weak footing since last November\u2019s presidential poll.<\/p>\n

Nine months after Mr. Premadasa lost to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the SJB secured just 54 seats, about 24% of the votes, in Wednesday\u2019s general election. Its parent party, the United National Party has been reduced to a single seat.<\/p>\n

It is both consistent work on the ground and efforts to bring about structural changes that the people have acknowledged, according to B. Gowthaman, a lawyer and civil society activist. \u201cThe TPA\u2019s work especially with land rights and bringing local government authorities to work inside the estates, appealed not only to the workers, but also to the intelligentsia within the community, like teachers and other professionals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While much of TPA\u2019s accomplishments are linked to the Ministries its MPs held, they are not afraid to sit in Opposition now. \u201cWe will play a constructive role in Opposition, keeping in mind the interests of the people we represent. We will also work with all Tamil and Muslim parties along with progressive minded Sinhalese, keeping the Sri Lankan identity in mind,\u201d said Mr. Ganesan, a vocal legislator in the last Parliament.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan For almost all Opposition parties in Sri Lanka, Wednesday\u2019s general election spelt huge losses in the face of the landslide victory secured by the ruling party of the Rajapaksas. But one group stood out. The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), which represents Malayaha Tamils in the island\u2019s Central, Uva, Sabaragamuwa and Western Provinces, …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Tamil Progressive Alliance Representing Hill Country Tamils Retains all Six Seats From Colombo, Kandy, Nuwara – Eliya and Badulla Districts Held by TPA in the Last Parliament’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69848,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69844\/revisions\/69848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}