‘Jaffna’ back in cultural centre’s name alongside ‘Thiruvalluvar’ after anti-India fury

The iconic Jaffna Cultural Centre has again got “Jaffna” back in its name following widespread protests after India was accused of silently changing its name as the Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre.

The building’s re-naming on January 18 in honour of the Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvar without any discussion with the Tamil community triggered a volley of anti-India sentiments not seen in a long time in Jaffna.

Political activists and Jaffna residents were aghast that the word “Jaffna” was dropped when the centre was meant to be a hub to preserve and foster the rich traditions, arts and aspirations in the Tamil heartland.

India blamed

Although the renaming was announced by Santosh Jha, Indian’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, and Sri Lankan Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs Minister Sunil Senevi at an event in Jaffna, the blame for the previously unannounced decision was laid squarely on New Delhi.

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One of the first to raise his voice was former Sri Lankan minister Douglas Devananda who wondered whether the name change was influenced by any “hidden agenda aimed at eroding the cultural identity of the Tamil people”.

Highlighting the historical and cultural importance of the term Jaffna, he underlined the centre’s significance as a testament to India’s commitment to supporting Tamil cultural heritage.

Tamil leaders flay change

Devananda, who had discussed the establishment of the centre with then Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2010, asked the Indian envoy and others to provide an explanation for the unpopular decision.

Amid mounting criticism in Jaffna even among those seen as pro-India, the dominant Tamil political party, known by its acronym ITAK (Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi), first held an emergency meeting and then submitted a memorandum to the Indian consul general in Jaffna condemning the move.

Jaffna’s Tamil media reported that the ITAK told the Indian diplomat that dumping the word “Jaffna” was an insult to the Tamil people and demanded an early review of the name change.

Minister pleads ignorance

Jaffna’s Tamil media too was livid. It underlined that no Tamil leader or party or representative was consulted before the decision was taken.

That this was true became evident when Sri Lankan fisheries minister Ramalingam Chandrasekhar – who is from President Anura Dissanayake’s party and had attended the January 18 meeting -- admitted in Jaffna that he was unaware of the name change until the deed was done.

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Like everyone in Jaffna, Chandrasekhar made it clear that no one had any objection to Thiruvalluvar, whose best-known work Tirukkural is considered an exceptional work of Tamil literature. The book is a collection of couplets on ethics, politics, economics, morality, statecraft and also love.

The Jaffna hub

What Tamils don’t appreciate is the axing of the word “Jaffna” from the centre, the minister said. He felt that it would have been better if the name had remained the Jaffna Cultural Centre.

The centre, whose building is the tallest in Jaffna and which Tamils view with pride, was established by the Indian government and opened in 2023 by then Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The idea for it was conceived by the earlier Manmohan Singh government.

The centre is a state-of-the-art structure which houses multiple facilities, including a museum spread over two floors, a modern theatre-style auditorium for about 600 people, and a public square that could also be an amphitheatre. After the Jaffna municipality said it had no money, the Indian government decided to finance the centre for five years.

A BJP idea?

Well-known Sri Lankan journalist DBS Jeyaraj was the first to reveal that the decision was part of a project by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that had promised in its 2024 election manifesto to open Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centres globally “to showcase Bharat’s rich culture”.

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This is why, he said, the decision was kept a secret until January 18.

“Once again, Tamils were being told indirectly that they have no say in matters concerning themselves and have to submit unwillingly to decisions made by the governments of India and Sri Lanka without consulting them,” Jeyaraj said.

Expatriate attacks decision

A Tamil expatriate in the United Kingdom who occasionally meets Indian diplomats was equally aghast.

“Why did they have to do this?” he told The Federal over the telephone. “And keep it a secret too. This is completely ridiculous.”

A Jaffna journalist who did not want to be named said Indian diplomats in Jaffna as well as Colombo were completely taken aback by the backlash in the Tamil society and were unable to explain why the name was changed.

Indian diplomat defensive

“One diplomat I met said something feebly in support of the decision but he was very uncomfortable the way the step had given birth to such anti-India feelings,” the journalist added.

When the new name’s plaque was unveiled, there was also criticism that the name in Tamil was given at the bottom while the names in English and Sinhalese occupying the first two slots.

Finally, ‘Jaffna’ is back

Faced with a public backlash, the centre was on Friday (January 24) quietly renamed again – as the Jaffna Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre.

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The Jaffna journalist told The Federal: “This mess should have been avoided in the first place. Even if the decision was made in Delhi, Indian diplomats in Sri Lanka should have opposed it. At a time when China is actively courting Tamils in Sri Lanka, this is a controversy that has definitely hurt India’s image.”

Jaffna, the cultural heartland of Sri Lanka’s Tamil community, is part of the larger Jaffna district where Tamil separatism took birth and took a heavy toll in the island nation for a quarter century. Jaffna is also the birthplace of a very large section of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora community.