Northern Province Chief Minister reiterates his call for a federal constitution

Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran on Saturday, blaming the Sri Lankan government for adopting a “dominating, domineering and hegemonic” attitude towards the Northern Province, reiterated his call for a federal structure.

In an hour-long interview with The Hindu at his residence in Colombo, Chief Minister Wigneswaran said the Tamil people’s problems have been around for the last 67 years and they have been telling the government that the unitary structure of the constitution is faulty.

“One of the primary things that we are mentioning to the government is that the structure of the constitution is faulty. If you have a unitary constitution, the power will be in the hands of one community,” he said.

“The unitary constitution is structurally faulted. We would like to have a federal constitution.”

Wigneswaran noted that nowhere in the world has anyone who has taken to federal constitution ever wanted to separate.

“Quebec did not want to separate. Scotland did not want to separate. All these different types of cantons in Switzerland are wanting to be together. In India, it also is the same thing...,” he pointed out.

“We have got to say truth as it is what the problems are. If we do not understand the basic problems of our people, the fundamental problems that really led our youngsters taking up to arms, if we do not understand, explain and tell these things to people , ‘look, this is the cause for all what has happened.’ If you are going to allow those causes to persist, don’t you think that these things can happen again?” he questioned.

When asked why he opposes the government’s program of 65,000 houses in the Northern and Eastern provinces, the Chief Minister said the Central government did not discuss the details of its housing project for the Northern and Eastern Provinces with the provincial administration and people’s representatives in the North.

“We are completely kept in the dark. The dominating, domineering and hegemonic attitude on the part of the government is irking us. It is not to our benefit...,” he said.

Wigneswaran pointed out that with the Rs. 2.1 million the government is going to spend on each house, they can build three houses if not two. “Instead of 65,000, we can make 130,000 houses,” he said.

Asked why he did not invite industrialists to set up housing units in the province and offer incentives, the Chief Minister said a proposal to have a twinning program involving Jaffna town and Kingston and Surbiton borough of the U.K. did not even get a response from Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

Eventually, the issue was resolved by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to whom he had represented recently. The Chief Minister felt that “there is still certain amount of suspicion with regard to anything that we take from outside”.

Asked whether he came to an understanding with Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Chief R. Sampanthan, the Chief Minister said the “misunderstanding” arose over the formation of the Tamil People’s Council (TPC). Once he explained to the TNA leader that the TPC would be complementary to the TNA and would not convert itself into a political party, Sampanthan was “quite satisfied”.

Speaking about the plan for economic development of the province, Wigneswaran said a multilateral needs-based assessment study was being carried out and a 10-year-action plan would be prepared. The UN, World Bank and the Asian Development Bank were among those organisations which would be involved.