Following the quitting of CWC from the government last week, there is a stir in the political arena of this country. While there are talks that efforts are made to bring back Thondaman and his colleagues into the fold of the government, it is difficult to say the course that CWC will take in the immediate future.

While some sources of the CWC say that they will remain as a separate unit in the opposition and function independently, another source indicates that they will remain in the back benches of the government ranks without accepting any ministries.

There is speculation as to how the other minority political parties such as Sri Lanka Muslim Party and the Upcountry People’s Front will react following the cross over of the CWC.

Upcountry Tamil leaders such as Thondaman and Chandrasekaran justify their joining parties in power and holding portfolios on the basis that they want to serve their people. While no body can question their right to make decisions according to their objectives and experience, it is their duty to look back as to how such strategies have helped to improve the quality of life of the estate Tamils whom they represent.

We wish to record here that late Saumyamoorthy Thondaman, the grand-father of Arumugam Thondaman, the present Leader of the CWC, organized valiant struggles by the estate force with prudence dedication and determination even when he had been a member of the cabinet. Those were his political strategies. But the present leaders have, on the other hand, sapped the militancy of the estate work force.

That is why the present leaders of the Upcountry Tamils are in a dilemma.

An English translation of the Editorial in Thinakkural, a Tamil daily, based in Colombo

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