The Jaffna
Youth Congress and its Legacy
Handy Perinbanayagam 100th
Birth Anniversary Commemoration
The Kokuvil Hindu College
Old Students’ Association
Ramakrishna Mission Hall,
Colombo
March 28, 1999
Santasilan Kadirgamar
I consider it a great privilege to be able to
participate in today's proceedings on this historic occasion. It is in many
ways appropriate that this function is organised by the Kokuvil Hindu College
Old Students' Association. Handy Perinbanayagam found fulfilment in his final
years as a teacher in this college. I have observed the devotion and enthusiasm
with which you have organised this function not only here but also in Jaffna
and London. I have no doubt that his name will be honoured for generations to
come at Kokuvil Hindu College. We have to make sure that the ideals he stood
for are also passed on to coming generations. It is also appropriate that we
meet in this hall. Handy Perinbanayagam belongs to a great tradition in Indian
and Lankan history that has roots in the legacies of the great emperors Asoka
and Akbar, the reform and revivalist traditions associated with Rajaram Mohan
Roy, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and Gandhi. This is a tradition that is based on
compassion and understanding among persons of all faiths, the pursuit of
reality without narrows bigotry, intolerance and violence that is endemic
today. Swami Vipulananda of the Ramakrishna Mission was an active participant
in the activities of the Youth Congress. Handy Perinbanayagam paying a tribute
to him (in the Kesari 25.9.47) said that he was a person to whom they turned
instinctively for leadership and guidance.
This is an occasion on which we remember not only
Handy Perinbanayagam and his multi-faceted contribution to this country, but a
whole generation of his comrades that constituted the Jaffna Youth Congress.
They have all passed away with only one exception Mr. Duraisingam. He remains
the last and vital link with that unforgettable generation of leaders who made
a vital contribution to the task of education, and the social and political
life of not only Jaffna and the Tamils of this country but to the whole Island
to which they rightfully belonged and served with distinction. They made a remarkable
contribution to Jaffna's intelligentsia and shaped the thinking of a whole
generation of men. The indelible stamp of the Youth Congress was evident in the
men of this generation who had come under its influence. In 1933 the students
of Jaffna College paid this tribute to Handy Perinbanayagam.
Already many homes in our country and many walks of
life are filled with men who have loved you, followed you, and honoured you,
learned your great language, caught your clear accents and made you their
pattern to live and to die. Your example is ever a call to the generations to
come to live the good life. (see K. Nesiah. S. Handy Perinbanayagam - A
Valedictory Tribute. Edited by S. Sivanayagam and S. Ratnapragasam. Ceylon
Printers, Colombo. May 1960).
Personal
reflections
I had the privilege of knowing and interacting with
several members of that generation. In fact the name Handy Perinbanayagam as
mentioned above was a household word in our time. I heard his name as a child
in my Seremban days, during the Second World War in Malaysia under Japanese
occupation, then the Federated States of Malaya. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had
strengthened the Indian Independence League and had built up the Indian
National Army. The cadres of the IIL marched through the streets of the major
cities of Malaya shouting Gandhijiku Jai, Nehrujiku Jai, and Netajiku Jai. My
father, though a pastor of the Methodist Church, was a member of both the
Ceylonese Association and the IIL in Seremban. He had been a founder member of
the Jaffna Youth Congress in 1924 (then the Students' Congress) and had been
the editor of the Ceylon Patriot, a secular weekly (founded in 1861 in Jaffna)
which became the voice of the Youth Congress. It was published by the
Lankabhimani Press. The paper having ceased publication in the 1930s, the press
continued to provide service to the people of Chavakachcheri and the
Thenmaratchy division under the able managership of Abraham Moses (from Kerala)
until the early 1960s. Francis Kingsbury also knew as Alagasundra Thesihar,
Lecturer in Tamil at the University College, and his successor the first
Professor of Tamil in the University of Ceylon, Dr. Kanapathipillai published
most of their books in this press. The Thirumakal Press published the
Eelakesari under the ownership of Mr. Ponniah. He was popularly known as
"Eelakesari Ponniah" and was a close friend of Handy and the Youth
Congress members. The Eelakesari, a weekly, for all practical purposes became
the voice of the Youth Congress in Tamil, and remains an important and vital
source for historical information on this period. In publishing the Handy
Perinbanayagam Memorial Volume in this press the editors consciously
acknowledged the support given by this press to the work of the Congress. In
addition the Hindu Organ and the Morning Star also gave wide coverage to the
activities of the Congress, at times critical but very much positive and fair
in their reporting.
I
In our Seremban days in the frequent narrations of
events and personalities in India and the Lanka of the 1920s and 30s, we heard
stories of the Youth Congress and Gandhi's visit to Jaffna in 1927. In these
narratives the name Handy Perinbanayagam figured prominently. Books and
pictures of Gandhi, C. F. Andrews, Tagore and Vivekananda found an honoured
place in our home. I myself went to the Vivekananda School to study Tamil, and
we participated in festivals in the Hindu temple in Seremban. In my family we
have had a long tradition of Hindus becoming Christians and in one prominent
case a return to Hinduism. C. W. Thamotherampillai and his son Francis
Kingsbury are notable examples. Hence I need not say how deeply I value this
occasion and my presence here. It brings back profound memories of persons and
events that shaped our lives.
I once had an interesting exchange with the Revd.
Celestine Fernando who was university chaplain in my university days and a good
friend in later years. He had some harsh words on some southern politicians who
had discarded Christianity and changed religions. I asked him what he thought
of Handy Perinbanayagam. He got visibly angry and said that there was no
comparison and emphasised that Handy did it with integrity over a period of
years.
I myself once engaged Handy Perinbanayagam in a
discussion on his religious views and found it enlightening. Without going into
further details we would do well to recall what three men who knew him best,
Orator Subramaniam, A. S. Kanagaratnam and N. Sabaratnam said on behalf of the
Handy Perinbanayagam Commemoration Society.
He was born of Christian
parents and as he went through college and adult life he took great interest in
the Student Christian Movement. As a thinker he could not agree with the
orthodox Christian churches and in time drifted away from them towards the
religion of his forefathers. To the end he held that the tenets of Christianity
and Saiva Siddhanta were close enough to be regarded as one.
We returned to Lanka in April 1946 in the very first
ship the "Arundale Castle" a troop-carrier improvised to carry the
first batch of returnees, categorised as war refugees from Malaya. Contemporary
times are not the first time when our people have been rendered refugees. The
schools in Jaffna opened their doors freely to the Malayan returnees. I went to
Jaffna College where the name Handy Perinbanayagam was writ large. Practically
every teacher here had been associated with the Youth Congress under Handy's
leadership, though he himself had quit the college to pursue a brief career in
the legal profession and a brief fling at parliamentary politics. At Jaffna
College I met Siddarthan and Saravanapavan, Handy's sons who have remained
close friends since then. Several years later when I got married by some happy
coincidence I found that my wife was not only a contemporary of Selvi Thiruchandran,
Handy's daughter, but also a close friend of hers and also of Orator
Subramaniams' daughter Gnana, presently Mrs. Puvanarajan. Mr.C.Subramaniam
(popularly and affectionately known as Orator among students and friends alike)
was the other stalwart of the YC, who together with other former members of the
YC formed the Handy Perinbanayagam Commemoration Society. They published in
1980 the Handy Perinbanayagam Memorial Volume that included the history of the
YC and selections from his speeches and writings.
In the early 1970s Mr. Perinbanayagam expressed an
interest in writing the history of the YC. He invited me to help him in this
task. He was at that time residing in Colombo. I was travelling between Colombo
where I was teaching and Jaffna where my family resided housing then as now
being a major problem in Colombo. He dictated his reminiscences on the few
occasions we met. I have used the notes from these sessions and a later
handwritten piece by him in writing the history of the YC. I had to leave for
Japan in 1973 in pursuit of my higher education. By the time I returned he was
too ill for any further reflection. But I remember one comment he made when I
asked for documents hand written or published. He had none and his answer was
as follows: "All my life I have practically lived a camp life, moving from
place to place, from house to house." This was true of most members of
that generation. Yet we know how well read and educated they were. They did not
seek material advancement or the comforts of life that have become common place
today, but gave all that they had to students, fellow teachers and the
community.
Today even the few documents that were preserved
have been lost in the never ending war that we have been through. Many of us
have lost a life times collection of valuable books, documents, letters,
pictures and audio-tapes painfully collected over the years in our homes in
Jaffna at the hands of anti-social elements from a variety of political
persuasions, who have scant respect for learning, culture and the pursuit of
what is good, true and of lasting value to society.
Sometime after Handy Perinbanayagam died, a memorial
meeting was held at the Vaidheeswara Vidyalayam in Jaffna, at which I had the
privilege of speaking representing the younger generation. Orator Subramaniam
presided and the speakers included the late Prof. Arasaratnam from Australia.
In 1980 we released the Handy Perinbanayagam Memorial Volume at a well attended
meeting at the Vembadi Girls' College. Once again Orator presided. That meeting
was probably the last occasion when the surviving stalwarts of the YC met under
one roof. Senator Nadesan another founder member of the YC was the key speaker.
He was so carried away by the occasion and the contents of the book that he
held forth for an hour and a half. So much so that the two other main speakers
the late Prof. Kalilasapathi and I had to cut down our speeches to a brief five
minutes each. I am happy to have been given substantial time to make-up for
what I lost on that day nearly 20 years ago! I no longer represent the younger
generation! But we do have a message for them. Today it is about the lives and
times of the first youth movement that emerged in Jaffna, and the endeavours of
persons who left a lasting legacy of permanent value. What then is that legacy?
The Legacy
That legacy has to be seen in the context of the
events, ideals and achievements of the men and women of the YC generation.
Handy Perinbanayagam is best remembered by the gathering here today as the
principal of Kokuvil Hindu College, and for the outstanding contribution he
made to education and public life not only in Jaffna but in the whole country.
I do not intend to dwell on the contributions he made to numerous causes. I
focus today primarily on Handy Perinbanayagam as the founder-leader of the
Youth Congress and his place in history in this capacity. The Jaffna Youth
Congress originally named the Students' Congress was founded in 1924. It
remained a potent force in the political and cultural life of the Tamils for
over a decade. The YC was primarily Jaffna's response to the Gandhian
nationalist movement in India. The influence of the Indian National Congress
and Gandhi were felt most in Jaffna.
In June 1924 Handy Perinbanayagam sat the BA examination
and assumed duties as a teacher at Jaffna College. Prior to this he and a few
friends had planned the founding of an organization for national independence
and the Students Congress came into existence in December 1924. From the very
beginning the SC had an all-Island perspective, rose above parochialism of any
sorts, was committed to national unity, political independence, and the social,
cultural and economic betterment of the whole of Lanka. A conscious effort was
made to embrace young people of all races, creeds and castes. The aims of the
congress were clearly laid down in the resolutions passed at the very first
sessions in 1924.
The congress should work for the betterment of the
motherland, that no distinction be made on religious or racial grounds, that
annual sessions consist of representatives from all races and creeds, that no
sectarian issues be raised, that members strive to remove the curse of
untouchability, to cultivate the study of national literature, art and music
and to develop and promote writings and publications in the national languages
of fiction, history, biographies and works in the sciences. It was resolved
following Gandhian practices to patronise as far as possible locally
manufactured goods and eschew foreign products. Though no resolution was made
on dress the above resolution implied the wearing of the national dress,
preferably khaddar. Several members of the Youth Congress wore the national
dress for the rest of their lives. The others did so as frequently as possible.
National resurgence among the English educated class, with a few exceptions, in
its social, cultural and linguistic dimensions happened in the south in 1956
and thereafter. Even then it happened for public consumption several members of
this class having a dual life style, one for political purposes and the other
for their domestic life aping the west. In Jaffna and among most Tamils there
was no need for a 1956 upsurge with its donning of the national dress, kiributh
breakfasts and high profile visits to temples. A genuine national and cultural
revival free of hypocrisy had taken place in Jaffna in the 1920s. Some of these
men had discarded their western attire, as students, in the Gandhi led bonfire
of western clothes in 1921.
Handy Perinbanayagam once related a memorable event
in his life. In 1922 he had passed the London Inter-arts and was given the
singular honour of delivering the prize day oration at Jaffna College, that
year also being the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Batticotta Seminary
the precursor of the college. Handy persisted in wearing the national dress.
Principal Bicknell to whom he was deeply attached insisted that he wear suit
and tie. Handy refused to do so. Very early in life he demonstrated his
commitment to his convictions. It was, he said, a painful decision to make. The
honour went to Lyman Kulathungam who incidentally wore the national dress for
the greater part of his life.
Annual sessions of the congress were held spread
over three days in different parts of the Peninsula. The 1924 sessions were
held in the city of Jaffna, at Keerimalai in 1925, 1926 and 1928, at KKS in
1929, and at Thirunelveli (Thinnaveli) in 1930. The seventh annual sessions in
1931 - the year of the boycott - was a colourful and grand affair. The annual
sessions were held in a specially erected pandal on the Jaffna esplanade.
Srimathi Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, the chief speaker and president-elect for
the sessions was taken in a procession from the Thattartheru junction to the
venue in a carriage drawn by three white horses headed by several bands of
musicians and youth clad in khaddar and wearing Gandhi caps. They carried the
red, green and saffron flag of the YC symbolising the unity of all communities
in the island. The 1931 sessions witnessed the largest ever gathering at any
annual sessions. The proceedings began with the singing of 'Bande Mataram' and
renderings of Subramaniya Bharathi's songs of freedom.
The name change from Students' Congress to Youth
Congress took place at this
sessions. In
1931 the YC reached its zenith in moulding public opinion in Jaffna. Sessions
were held in 1932, 1933 and in 1934 which was the last well attended sessions.
Thereafter sessions and meetings were held periodically until the early 1940s.
Lectures at the annual session and meetings of the
YC were delivered by eminent scholars, educationists, writers and persons with
cultural attainments. These included prominent personalities from India such as
Gandhi, Nehru, Rajaji, Satyamurti, Kalyanasundra Mudaliyar and Kamaladevi
Chattopadyaya. At practically every session Sinhalese young men who were to
become future political leaders graced the occasion with their presence and
speeches. These included D. B. Jayatileke, P. de S. Kularatne, G. K. W. Perera,
A. E. Goonesinha, George E. de Silva, E. W. Perera, Francis de Zoysa K.C., C.E.
Corea, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and S. W. Dassanaike. Even J.R.Jayewardene is
known to have participated at one meeting. Leaders from other communities
included T.B.Jayah and Peri Sundaram. In later years prominent leaders from the
left movement such as Dr. N. M. Perera, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, Leslie
Goonewardene, Selina Perera and others appeared on the YC platform and
frequently interacted with Handy and his colleagues. Among Tamil participants
were many notable scholars, teachers, writers and persons involved in public
life. The list consisting of a galaxy of personalities is too long to be
included here. (See Handy Perinbanayagam: A Memorial Volume, Thirumakal Press,
Chunnakam, 1980. Second edition edited Santasilan Kadirgamar, Kumaran Printers,
Colombo, 2012.)
Mahatma Gandhi in Jaffna
It was the YC that invited Gandhi to visit Ceylon in
1927. In the south older men took over once Gandhi responded to the invitation.
In Jaffna it was Handy and the YC that organized the visit which witnessed the
first mass gatherings of people in tens of thousands which according to
eye-witnesses were unprecedented and included celebratory scenes of enthusiasm
free of divisive and partisan politics, the likes of which were not seen for
decades to come.
Mahatma Gandhi arrived in
Jaffna on the 26th of November 1927 in the Governor's saloon attached to the
Jaffna train to be welcomed by a "seething mass of humanity" outside
the railway station. In his farewell speech in Colombo, Gandhiji had said,
"Somehow or other I feel that I am going to a different place in going to
Jaffna." At his very first meeting in Jaffna he again said, "Having
come to Jaffna I do not feel that I am in Ceylon, but I feel that I am in a bit
of India. Neither your faces nor your language is foreign to me." He
touched on the burning issues of the time such as caste, prohibition, revival
of ancient culture, Hindu-Christian relations, the place of Jesus among the
great teachers of the world, communalism, problems of aping the west and
nationalism. His dominant theme was however to draw attention to the starving
millions in India. "I know that all the monies I have received from boys
and girls, will bear greater fruit than the monies received from old and wise
men. Your money comes with the stamp of innocence upon it, and it goes also to
some of the millions of men and women who are innocent, not deliberately
perhaps, but because they cannot be otherwise." (Santasilan Kadirgamar, The Jaffna Youth Congress in Handy
Perinbanayagamk : A Memorial Volume, Thirumakal Press, Chunnakam, 1980.)
Commenting on the religious controversies of the
times he emphasised that the "purpose of men of all faiths should be to
become better people by contact with one another, and that if that happened the
world would be a much better place to live in ... I plead for the broadest
toleration, and I am working to that end. I do not expect the India of my
dreams to develop one religion, that is, to be wholly Hindu, or wholly
Christian, or wholly Mussulman, but I want it to be wholly tolerant, with its
religions working side by side with one another."
Dreams and Visions
Speaking at Gandhiji's 25th death anniversary
remembrance meeting Handy said, "Gandhiji was in politics then; so were we
in Ceylon. Today India and Ceylon are steeped in politics. But there is a
difference between the politics of those times and of today. The politics of
those days were aspirational. Visions and dreams loomed large then. Today's
politics are factional and pragmatic. They are also grosser and grimmer. The
post-independence history of the two countries bears witness to this
truth."
Delivering the welcome address at the reception to
Shri Jayaprakash Narayan in 1969, Handy having apologised for linking his name
with that of the distinguished visitor said, "We dreamt dreams and saw
visions. Our dreams and our visions were focused on the freedom of our
countries and the rich blessings that it would bring to their peoples."
The question of communalism figured prominently at
the 1928 sessions of the Youth Congress. Nadesan reflected the dominant
sentiment in his address. In attempting to meet the argument that the Sinhalese
majority is likely to dominate and further their own position at the expense of
the other races under conditions of self-government, Nadesan said that after
long years of subjection to foreign rule the chances were that the majority
community at the beginning of self-government would use power for narrow and
selfish ends; but some years of experience in self-government would teach them
that the strength of the nation required that every community in the country
needed to be developed to maximum power. He ventured to express the hope that
the parochialism would cease and that people would think of the nation first.
Self-government, he said, was the only remedy for their ills.
In the 1930s the ideal set before the country by the
Youth Congress and nationalists in the South was a free and united Lanka. The
Youth Congress was fully committed to a Ceylonese nationalism. When 1956 came
it brought to the men who once belonged to the Youth Congress more than to
anyone else in the country, a sense of defeat and disillusionment. Handy noted
with regret that they had looked forward to "a land teeming with goodwill
and blessedness." He added:
Language which is the bone
of contention today was peacefully settled by both Sinhalese and Tamils. Before
long however bloodshed, premeditated murder and migration were the order of the
day ... All this was the vision of an idealist yesterday. What of tomorrow? A
peaceful Sri Lanka no longer dreaming of fantasies but wanting the present
travail to end is the urgent need.( Handy Perinbanayagam: A memorial
Volume.)
The Jaffna Boycott of 1931
I wish to use this opportunity today to place on
record as forcefully as possible, though briefly, one issue on which the YC has
been unfairly and in some cases maliciously misrepresented - that is the
Boycott in Jaffna of the first elections to the State Council in 1931. A
comprehensive piece on this must await another occasion.
The
following resolution was unanimously adopted by the annual sessions in 1931.
This Congress holds Swaraj
to be the inalienable birthright of every people and calls upon the youth of
the land to consecrate their lives to the achievements of their country's
freedom." This was followed by an amendment to the resolution which read,
"And whereas the Donoughmore Scheme as embodied in the recent
Order-in-Council militates against the attainment of Swaraj this Congress
further pledges itself to boycott the scheme and authorises the executive
committee to devise ways and means for enforcing the boycott. (The Jaffna Youth
Congress in Handy Perinbanayagam: A Memorial Volume.)
Following an enthusiastic campaign the leaders of
the Youth Congress succeeded in persuading prospective candidates and senior
and seasoned politicians in not submitting nomination papers for the four seats
in Jaffna.
Several well-known historians and political scientists
both Sinhalese, Tamil and foreigners having made a superficial study of what
happened have either misrepresented or failed to place on record effectively
the real reasons for the boycott and the context in which it happened. Most of them did not go into the primary sources
available in English and Tamil, nor took the trouble to visit Jaffna and
interview the men of the Youth Congress who lived right into the 1980s. These
men could have enlightened them on this highly publicised event. I hope contemporary
historians will take note and never again repeat a canard that has been
picked-up again and again by interested parties to vilify the 20th century
history of the Tamils in this country, from the perspective of subsequent
events. 1924 to 1934 constitutes a remarkable, bright and spectacular decade in
the history of this country when the Tamils under the leadership of Handy
Perinbanayagam and the Youth Congress took a strong anti-imperialist position,
stood for freedom from British rule, the eradication of social-disabilities,
and for national unity rising above communal, sectarian or parochial issues. As
late as 1966 Handy himself placed this on record.
Many responsible Sinhalese
leaders have persistently read a communal significance into this decision, and
the boycott that followed. I remember I had to put the late S.W.R.D.
Bandaranaike right, when, at a conference where both of us were present, he
suggested that the boycott was inspired by communal motives. The latest
offender in this regard is Mr. H.A.J. Hulugalle, who in his biography of D.R.
Wijeyawardene, repeats the slander. Nobody who has watched our lives and noted
the price that we have paid for our consistent devotion to the ideal of a
United and Free Ceylonese Nation, can accept this view. The boycott was
launched because the Donoughmore Reforms fell far short of complete
independence. (A Tribute to C. Subramaniam. The Skantha, April 1966, p.31.
Thirumakal Press, Chunnakam.)
The Daily News, all along a supporter of the Youth
Congress and a strong critic of the Donoughmore Reforms welcomed the boycott in
Jaffna. Having criticised the candidates in the rest of the country for lack of
political principles, the editorial on nomination day commented that the
"one relieving feature in this soporific performance is contained in the
news from Jaffna … Public opinion in Jaffna" said the editor, "is a
potent thing. Those who defy it do so at their peril. Ever the home of virile
politics, Jaffna is determined to see that the public spirit of her citizens is
equal to any crisis." (Ceylon Daily News, 4 May 1931) The historians who
have misrepresented the above boycott failed to grasp the strength of public
opinion in Jaffna as understood by the Daily News, which at this juncture brief
though it may have been was staunchly behind the Youth Congress.
Philip
Gunawardene from London wrote,
I longed for the day when
the youth of Ceylon would take their place by the side of the young men and
women of China, of India, of Indonesia, of Indo-China, of Korea and even of the
Philippine Islands in the great struggles of a creative revolution against all
the mighty forces of old-age, social reaction and imperialist oppression.
During the last few years the Jaffna Students' Congress was the only
organisation in Ceylon that has been displaying political intelligence ...
Jaffna has given the lead. They have forced their leaders to sound the bugle
call for the great struggle for freedom, for immediate and complete
independence from Imperialist Britain. Will the Sinhalese who always display
supreme courage, understand and fall in line? A tremendous struggle faces us.
Boycott of the elections was only a signal. It is the duty of every Sinhalese
now to prepare the masses for a great struggle ahead." (Searchlight,
20-27th June 1931 and quoted in The Jaffna Youth Congress in Handy
Perinbanayaga: A Memorial Volume.)
At the height of the language debate in 1956 when it
was becoming fashionable for Sinhalese spokesmen to attack the Tamils as
reactionary and as opposed to the national struggle for independence it was
Pieter Keuneman who on behalf of the Communist Party of Ceylon put the record
straight in parliament. He recalled the role that the Jaffna Youth Congress had
played and denied the allegation that was made that the boycott took place
because the new constitution granted political power to the Sinhalese. "It
was" he said "the weakness of the movement in the South that was
responsible to a very great extent for the breakdown of the developing national
movement in the North."
We have to distinguish between the anti-imperialist
purpose of the boycott and whether it was a wise decision in terms of political
tactics at that juncture. The latter is debatable. The former cannot. There has
been a tendency to denigrate the men of that generation on account of the
boycott in crass and indecorous language, by scholars, journalists and
nondescript contributors to the press who never shared the anti-colonialist
nationalist aspirations and the cultural ethos of that era or in subsequent
times. Their aims were noble and the boycott was only one episode, though a
much publicised one, in the history of a movement that embraced a variety of
aims and ideals that were of lasting value.
Handy Perinbanayagam's career from 1931 did not go
smooth. Many were the sacrifices he had to make to stand by his convictions be
they political or religious. As one of his admirers put it
"Handy Perinbanayam was
essentially a maker of men. From Vaddukoddai via Law to Kokuvil is a long
story. The path was strewn with endless controversy, and the field proved
fertile for both his detractors and admirers who delighted in the doubtful
pastime of assessing his worth in terms of victories and defeats. But the
unassailable idealist that Handy always was, he was able to inure himself to
any vilification. True to the ideals of the Gita, he acted according to the
dictates of his conscience and left the outcome in the hands of
Providence" (N. Sabaratnam, "A Maker of Men, the Builder of Kokuvil
Hindu" Homage to Guru: S. Handy Perinbanayagam. Edited by S. Sivanayagam
and S. Ratnapragasam. Ceylon Printers, Colombo. January 1978).
More
touching was the tribute paid by his Tamil Congress opponent at the
parliamentary election of 1947. Mr. K. Kanagaratnam said:
He contested the Vaddukoddai
seat in the first parliament along with five others including me and lost. I
must confess that he was undoubtedly the most qualified of the lot both in
point of political knowledge and long training for public service but the party
slogans and mass hysteria snatched the seat from him." (K. Kanagaratnam in
S. Handy Perinbanayagam - A Valedictory Tribute. Edited by S. Sivanayagam and
S. Ratnapragasam. Ceylon Printers, Colombo. May 1960).
Liberalism and
the right to dissent
In evaluating his life and work I do not go into Mr.
Perinbanayagam's role as teacher and educator, except to make a brief comment.
I leave that topic to Prof. Sandrasekeram. The one time members of the Youth
Congress in later years were educators in the fullest sense of that term. They
were makers of men. They were also committed members of the Northern Province
Teachers Association and the All Ceylon Union of Teachers. I have titled this
presentation as the Youth Congress and its Legacy. A liberal tradition
persisted in Jaffna and the rest of the island, among the Tamils from the 1920s
through the 1980s as the men of that generation passed away one by one. It is a
tradition that persists to this day, in the country and within the Tamil
diaspora globally. But it persists with diminished strength, as more and more
people take the easy option of falling in line with dominant trends and forces.
This tradition which stood for liberalism and the right to dissent is rooted in
the history of the Youth Congress and is a legacy of their contribution to
education and to public life in Jaffna. Sections of the Marxist left once
dismissed this as bourgeois politics and culture only to fall back on this
tradition with the demise of the Soviet Union.
Orator Subramaniamr, A. S. Kanagaratnam and N.
Sabaratnam who shared the values of this tradition, apparently bore this in
mind when they put together the selections from the writings and speeches of
Handy Perinbanayagam in the Memorial Volume. These deserve to be translated and
published in Sinhalese and Tamil. Some benefactor should take up this appeal.
The issues he deals with range from topics such as "Whose Schools",
"Parents, Teachers and Schools" to "A Free Press in a
Democracy." His writings and speeches include great personalities with an
international stature like Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan and Ananda Coomaraswamy,
to lesser known personalities. His comments on men and matters were
devastating, but without rancour and bitterness, tinged with a sense of humour.
He had the courage to take on powerful men in politics and in society,
including managers of schools and hierarchies of organised religions. At the
same time he did not hesitate to criticise the leaders of the left who were
personal friends and with whose politics he often sympathised. His comments
always projected values that are humane, universal and permanent. He was a
regular contributor to the Ceylon Teacher’ the Journal of the ACUT, the Kesari
published in the 1940s, the Cooperator in the 1960s and occasionally in the mainstream
news papers.
His views are best summed-up with this quote from
one of his writings titled "The Right to Think and Speak." He wrote,
We have seen that those who
believe in free thought also believe in the inherent vitality of truth which
must prevail in the end; the struggle may be bitter, tragic and long-drawn out;
sooner or later truth is vindicated. Those who live for truth and fight for
truth and refuse to bow their heads to mobs, governments or priestly
hierarchies often rely on posterity to do them justice. (The Right to Think and
Speak. The Ceylon Teacher - Journal of the ACUT Oct. 1953).
In the 1920s and '30s he was a committed
anti-imperialist. In the 1940s and '50s he engaged himself eloquently in the
debate on the national languages as the medium of instruction, on free
education and teachers rights. In the 1950s when the language controversy
dominated the headlines his was a strong and determined voice demanding equal
status to the Tamil language in the face of the Sinhala only cry. He did this
with restraint and dignity refusing to fall in line with the opportunism and
emotional rhetoric that characterised politics on both sides. On the contrary
he could have easily joined the band-wagon and entered parliament. In the 1960s
and '70s he defended press freedom and made representations to the Constituent
Assembly. This liberal approach to politics and the great issues of the times,
the capacity to dissent and disagree and put forward alternative proposals, to
consistently uphold the fundamental, human and democratic rights of the people
is the vital and treasured legacy left behind by Handy Perinbanayagam and the
generation that belonged to the Youth Congress. This is a tradition that we
affirm today. It is a tradition worth preserving. That is the greatest tribute
we can pay to that generation of our parents, teachers and educators.
As
we honour the cherished memory of Handy Perinbanayagam - teacher, educator,
social reformer, statesman, leader and maker of men - I wish to sum up with my
concluding passage from my work on the
JaffnaYouth Congress in the Handy Perinbanayagam Memorial Volume published in
1980, at the risk of some repetition.
The achievements of Handy Perinbanayagam and the Youth
Congress lay in the cultural and educational fields and in the eradication of
social disabilities. The elevation of the Tamil language to a place of honour
happened in Jaffna as early as in the twenties. The practice of having lectures
and meetings in Tamil on not merely subjects of literary interest but on
secular and political matters as well, began with the Youth Congress. The young
men of Jaffna though English educated restored national customs, festivals and
dress to a place of honour in the social life of the community. The
uncompromising stand taken on removing the humiliations imposed by caste was
one of its major achievements.
Above all out of the Youth Congress came a whole
generation of eminent teachers, principals, administrators and builders of
schools. Their efforts in the mid-decades of this century made it possibly for
Jaffna to enjoy the pre-eminent position that it occupies in the sphere of
education with schools that could be the pride of any nation. They remained a
dedicated band of teachers nationalist to the core. Dressed in their spotless
white national costume, they were seen and heard on every big occasion in
Jaffna. They gave a distinct flavour to public life in Jaffna and brought
qualities of integrity and sincerity to several public causes to which they
gave of their time and talents.
...................................................................................................
Published in:
Published in:
Sunday Observer, Colombo, 11 April 1999
Tamil Times, London, 15 May 1999 vol: XVIII No.5 (p.19-26)
