The Tamil diaspora, including organisations such as the Global Tamil Forum in Britain, expressed support for Anura Kumara in the 2024 presidential election. The main reason for this was to counter India’s influence over the Tamil population in the Northern and Eastern provinces. Following the NPP’s victory in the North during the 2024 general election, the Tamil diaspora became highly encouraged.
Even more encouraged than the Tamil diaspora was the Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka. He said that the Tamil people living in India’s “backyard” had made the correct decision at the election.
Immediately after Anura became President, the Global Tamil Forum issued a statement, extending its congratulations on his victory. Previously, the Global Tamil Forum had never congratulated any president in such a manner. Below is an excerpt from that congratulatory message.
“GTF is hopeful that President Dissanayake will take meaningful steps to address these longstanding grievances of the Tamil people that have virtually made them feel citizens of secondary importance in their own country.
We are encouraged with the NPP manifesto which assures speedy completion of the constitutional drafting process initiated during the Yahapalanaya government (2015-19), and the sharing of political and administrative powers with local government institutions, districts and provinces, so that all people could participate in governance through the new constitution.
GTF representatives, together with the Sangha for Better Sri Lanka (SBSL), presented the Himalaya Declaration (HD) to Dissanayake last December and were encouraged by his response.”
The Global Tamil Forum released this statement because, unlike previous governments, it believed the NPP government would provide a solution to the issues faced by the Tamil people. However, the decision by the Global Tamil Forum and the Tamil diaspora to express support for Anura without studying the history of the JVP is a historical mistake. The JVP is not only a party that opposed Provincial Councils but also one that assassinated politicians who favoured Provincial Councils. It was the JVP that exerted pressure on the Mahinda Rajapaksa government in 2009 to end the war. It was also the JVP that mobilised the southern public in opposition to the Norwegian peace process in 2002.
Without studying this history, the Tamil diaspora expressed support for Anura Kumara to break India’s and the TNA’s political dominance in the North. They believed that by fulfilling the promises given to the Tamil diaspora, the NPP would end the Indian and TNA dominance in the North and East. Anura’s initial decision not to attend the war remembrance ceremony was also made to please the Tamil people who supported him. However, he later reversed that decision and participated in the commemoration. JVP Secretary Tilvin Silva stated that the 13th Amendment was unnecessary and that what the Tamil people needed is not power devolution, but economic solutions.
Recently, when Tilvin Silva arrived in London, the Tamil diaspora there staged a large protest. It is possible that they targeted Tilvin believing that Anura was failing to fulfil the promises made to the diaspora because of Tilvin’s influence. In any case, the Tamil diaspora has now made the same mistake that Prabhakaran made in 2005 when he decided to bring Mahinda to power.
