Destroying the Mahaweli and Destroying the New Sinhala Civilization
I read a note saying they are going to repeal the Mahaweli Authority Act No. 23 of 1979 and give land powers to Divisional Secretaries.
The Mahaweli is the largest irrigation project in Sri Lanka. When it was fast-tracked under the 30-year plan, I accept then and now that some oversights occurred for the Tamil people in the North. But today’s rulers can’t even imagine projects like that. The government is struggling for 8 months and still can’t fix the Udarata railway line that had existed for time immemorial.
The Mahaweli is the turning point of the rural economy. Whether we like it or not, the President and the Trade Minister of the country today are leaders produced by the Mahaweli. If it weren’t for those farmer settlements, higher education at university would have been a dream for many. Because parents’ struggle for survival became easier when they became Mahaweli farmers and got 2.5 acres to cultivate in both the Maha and Yala seasons, and even in the off-season. So while there were some shortcomings as the Mahaweli went north, it was the side-effect of the Mahaweli that uplifted Sinhala society. Poor Sinhala people with no land became landowners in the farmer settlements.
The Mahaweli is itself a unique economic program in 2500 years of history, intertwined with the ecosystem. When I drive along the Rhine River valley in Europe, when I travel by train alongside the Rhine, I am reminded of the Mahaweli. The richest cities in Europe are around the Rhine and Danube river basins. Because of the transport and prosperity that came from ancient times. The Mahaweli is like the Rhine to Sri Lanka. There are people who saw Sri Lanka’s poverty before it was fast-tracked. That means Sri Lanka was much poorer back then than it is today.
Both my parents’ sides built tanks. In 1982 I have written about the big project where the two small tanks in the middle — Kadurugasdamana Wewa — and the Ambegahawela were fed by the excess water from all three tanks. That was the day, as a 6-year-old child, that I saw J.R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa in person. That memory made me appreciate, apart from politics, how those tanks were developed alongside the Mahaweli. So the Mahaweli was the biggest economic upturn at the time. The beginning of a new Sinhala culture. There was also a turning point in ’56. Many use it negatively. But Sinhala educated people are in positions today because of that turning point.
What the Mahaweli represents is a valuable political practice from that time. Even though Mrs. Sirimavo planned it on a 30-year plan, the J.R. Jayewardene government did not reject it on political grounds. They put more energy into it, understood its value, and took it forward. Changing the environmental aspects and the project completion target in the 30-year plan was a disadvantage. That’s why Tamil people in the North felt there was harm and change to them. That became a political campaign.
I have secretly logged into LTTE commemoration Zoom meetings. It’s easy for me because of my name. Since Tamils also have those names. I wanted to get an idea of what happens there. That’s how I understood how Wigneswaran and others do politics. Wigneswaran’s son is married to Vasu’s daughter. Vasu coming out to protect the government is not only because of Harshana.
Even the third generation abroad has been thoroughly brainwashed about the claim that the Mahaweli disadvantaged Tamil people and changed things. They have never seen Sri Lanka, let alone the Mahaweli. There are shortcomings in the country’s projects. When you work, shortcomings happen. If anyone had the idea that Tamil people were treated unfairly by it, my view is that you cannot solve that problem by repealing the Mahaweli Authority Act. Transferring land ownership to Divisional Secretaries is not fair. You cannot allow the country’s largest economic project to be abolished based on hatred through an Act within the state mechanism.
Instead of abolishing it, amendments can be made. To correct the change that occurred, a remedial project can be introduced. Southern people can be mobilized to correct that wrong with labor and money. But to abolish and dismantle the Mahaweli Authority Act is a treasonous act. It is kicking away the ladder that Anura and others climbed up. When there are so many options to correct a wrong, making decisions based on hatred is a regressive act. One of the demands of the Tamil-Tiger diaspora organizations that Anura met in France is this. If that is carried out to the letter, then we understand why Lal farmers are being beaten and insulted. We understand who they are trying to please by destroying the Lal farmers.
After independence, all our leaders paid special attention to farming. Because they focused on hunger. Hunger is a primary issue for a country. The Mahaweli is also an energy-centered project for the country. Power and food — the Mahaweli is a project that linked both. Even though Anura and others have the power to make decisions, my opinion is that it will not do justice to the country.
Another thing: responsibility for what happened regarding “Ditha” lay with Lal and Anura. By shirking those responsibilities and acting the way they did at that time, huge damage was done to the reservoirs under the Mahaweli project and to the people around them. Huge damage was done to the farmlands, and to the infrastructure and bridges built under those projects. Adding all of this up, only one small step remains for the LTTE’s hatred of the Mahaweli to be fully satisfied.
Protecting the Mahaweli is the responsibility of everyone, government and opposition. It is the most successful project produced in the last 1000 years. The Mahaweli has made a huge contribution to the economic growth the country has today. Therefore, Anura and others should correct the injustice done to Tamil people, but we cannot allow them to destroy the majority project and the farmer. If the Opposition Leader is asleep, if the official opposition is asleep, we need a new camp to protect the Mahaweli. This is a responsibility that cannot be shirked.
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