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The first was the nationalisation of the Trinco Harbour, which Tamils saw as a ploy by the Sri Lankan government to Sinhalise the port town. The second was the FPs compromise on compulsory Sinhala for government servants. The third was the repatriation of hill country Tamils and the fourth was the passing of the national identity card bill. Navaratnam and the majority of politically minded Tamil youth at the time were angry that Thiruchelvam had conspired with the UNP in all this for the sake of clinging to his portfolio in Dudley Senanyakes government. And to cap it all, after all the compromises that Thiruchelvam had put the FP through amidst strident opposition from the provinces and the Tamil press, the Dudley-Chelva Pact remained unimplemented. What Thiruchelvam got for the Tamils in lieu in the form of a white paper was rubbished by Navaratnam and his followers as a travesty of devolution. It was a reworked Kachcheri system. Opposition to the ?Thiruchelvam betrayal? saw some FP stalwarts like Senator Manickam and Sivagnanasundaram leaving the party to form an Eelam Liberation Organisation. And then Navaratnam was sacked from the Federal Party soon after he spoke up against the Registration of Persons bill in 1968. This was the period when some Tamil youth like Thangathurai began speak about an armed struggle for Thamil Eelam. After leaving the FP, Navaratnam formed the Suyadchi Kazhagam (Self Rule Party). He and his followers conducted political classes on the right of national self determination for young men in many parts of Jaffna. The Tamil political legacy which Navaratnam represented was the foundation of the Thamil Eelam movement. In his political testament written in 1984 Navaratnam prefigures the Tamil mindset that emerged from this legacy:
Who can say that the Tamils in Ceylon have ever been wanting in a sincere desire and willingness to settle their disputes with the Singhalese by negotiation and dialogue? Who in the world have gone for dialogues again and again in the face of betrayal after betrayal? It is always a fashion to advise disputants to sit round a table and solve disputes by dialogue and discussion, and not resort to violent confrontation and wars. Whether in national disputes or in international conflicts, parties are being constantly advised to avoid wars and negotiate while governments continue to oppress, persecute and even commit genocide? If the weaker side listened to this idealistic advise and waited till the end of time for a solution to its problems there would have been no wars of independence (The Fall and Rise of the Tamil Nation)
Navaratnam?s legacy has been little recognised by many who endeavour to understand the Tamil movement. V. T Thamilmaran who contributed significantly to the public debates that eventually led to the ISGA was one of Navaratnam?s young disciples. In Valvettithurai and Pt. Pedro, the politics of the Navaratnam School was propagated by Venugopal Master, a school teacher. He was the Suyadchi Kazhakam?s candidate for Pt. Pedro at the 1977 elections. He is Pirapaharan?s political mentor, the man who shaped the political outlook of the young rebel when he set out to wage an armed struggle against the Sri Lankan state. (If anyone wants to understand the Tamil mindset epitomised by Pirapaharan and men and women of his generation, I suggest that he or she should read Navaratnams Fall and Rise of the Tamil Nation). Pirapaharan has come a long way politically since he was one of Venugopal Master?s nocturnal students. At fifty, his biggest political achievement is the confluence of the Chelvanayagam and Navaratnam Schools of the Tamil movement. The Tamil National Alliance is the manifestation of this political confluence which he has brought about. The remarkable failure of his opponents to plead even an iota political concessions for the Tamils from the Sinhala polity for the last 17 years (1987-2004) has contributed in no small measure to strengthen Pirapaharans political strategies in taking forward his current peace offensive?. Therefore the challenge before the Sinhala polity today is to politically engage the man who fasts on his birthday and never forgets to keep his powder dry
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