"Muttiah
Muralidharan, the controversial spin bowler, is now
bowling against the Sri Lankan government from Prabhakaran�s
end. He has declared publicly that the
Sri Lankan
government has not provided aid to the LTTE-controlled areas
.. (and) said that Prabhakaran is the only Tamil leader who
had given dignity to the Tamils... Murali, like all other
Tamils, climbed
on the back of the Sinhalese and now he is kicking the
ladder on which he climbed after he reached the top..."
"Muttiah Muralidharan, the controversial spin
bowler, is now bowling against the Sri Lankan government from
Prabhakaran�s end. He has declared publicly that the
Sri Lankan government has
not provided aid to the LTTE-controlled areas and Arjuna
Ranatunga, the former captain of the World Cup, has denied as false.
The politics of these two controversial cricketers are running on a
collision course at the moment. After the tsunami disaster
Muralitharan has come out openly as a supporter of
Velupillai
Prabhakaran. At a recent confrontation in the Habarana Hotel he
has revealed his secret his political affiliations with Prabhakaran
� a wanted terrorist by India and the international community.
�Murali�, as he is popularly known, is the only (Indian) Tamil,
in a team of predominantly Sinhalese. After his recent statement
made at Habarana Hotel he is now viewed suspiciously as a political
agent of
Prabhakaran. His statements indicate that he has now abandoned
his neutral political stand and decided to back Prabhakaran�s
anti-Sinhala
racist politics.
Muralidharan, who was heading north recently
with food aid, berated the government of which Ranatunga is now
the Deputy Minister of Tourism, for not supplying adequate food
to the Tamils echoing the LTTE line. He said this in the
presence of other aid workers who had broken journey at the
Habarana Hotel. He was crowing about the Rs. 2 million aid
donated by him to the north and the east because the government
was not providing aid.
However, Ranatunga who is now the Deputy Minister of
Tourism, told the London Daily Telegraph yesterday (January 22,
2005): �A few politicians and journalists have said that the Tigers
refused us access or that we directed supplies away from affected
areas in the north and east (Tiger strongholds). Nothing could be
further from the truth - 60 per cent of supplies have gone to these
regions.�
A member of voluntary medical team, breaking journey at Habarana
Hotel, reacted sharply to Muralitharan�s comments. Having listened
to Muralitharan�s attack on the government and his boast of donating
Rs. 2 million, the doctor had told him that Prabhakaran had done
more damage than two million rupees to the Tamils and to the whole
nation. Angered by this Muralitharan had said that Prabhakaran is
the only Tamil leader who had given �dignity to the Tamils�.
Muralithran�s political reaction shocked the medical team and others
who heard it. He has so far maintained an apolitical stance. He
moves very easily with his Sinhalese team-mates calling them
�machan� � literally, �brother-in-law but accepted generally as a
term of endearment in Sri Lankan parlance. Though other cricketers
too have heard of stories of Muralitharan�s secret links with the
LTTE they had not paid much attention to them. He had been bowling
his pro-LTTE �doosras� without much publicity. His political
sympathies with the banned terrorist organisation are likely to
creation tensions with the other members of the team.
Arjuna Ranatunga who was informed of his bowler�s political comments
has not reacted either way. He has been invited by Muralithatan to
officiate as the chief attesting witness at Muralitharan�s wedding
due to take place shortly. Apart from being friends, Muralitharan
knows that he owes his career in cricket to the bold stand taken by
Ranatunga when the Australian umpires, Darryl Hair and Emerson
no-balled Muralithran for �chucking�. Ranatunga defied these umpires
and stopped play without taking the team off the field.
From that moment Muralitharan�s fate was hanging in the balance. If
Ranatunga accepted the ruling of the Australian umpires and laid him
off Muralithran would not be in the Sri Lanka team. If he was not in
the team he would not be bowling. If he was not bowling he would
never have had the opportunity of challenging Shane Warning and
breaking the record. The entire Sri Lankan team backed Muralitharan
against a massive international media campaign to keep Muralitharan
out of the team.
The campaign was taken as far as the ICC -- the deciding cricket
authority. Even some Tamils in Australia backed Australia at cricket
matches on ethnic lines. These politically motivated spectators were
barracking for the Australians hoping to defeat what they usually
call �the Sinhala-dominated team.� The presence of Muralitharan in
the team did deter them from shouting against the Sri Lankan team.
Muralitharan�s politics is bound to disappoint his admirers in Sri
Lanka who has hailed him as a national hero. Dr. Dasasarth
Jayasuirya, President of the Society for Peace, Unity and Human
Rights, in Melbourne, Australia, told the �Asian Tribune� that
Muralitharan will be suspect as an agent of the Tamil Tiger
terrorist leader, Prabhakaran, wanted by India and the international
community for crimes against humanity and his image will be damaged
for ever if he does not clarify his position.
He added:
�Murali, like all other Tamils, climbed on the
back of the Sinhalese and now he is kicking the ladder on which
he climbed after he reached the top. This is the story of the
Sinhalese. The Tamils have always exploited the resources,
facilities, institutions and all other avenues open to all
communities to advance themselves and once they get to the top
they accuse the Sinhalese of discrimination etc. Besides, if
Murali was with Prabhakaran he would not be throwing �doosras�
but hand grenades at this own Tamil people. Who would have
respected him for joining Prabhakaran and killing his own Tamil
people? Is this is the dignity that Murali is proud of?�
Some admirers of Muralitharan who know him say that
not much attention should be paid to what he says because he shoots
his mouth off with engaging his brain. In fact, one doctor in the
team had told the others to ignore his comments made at the Habarana
Hotel because he is an �idiot�. He is also known to deny statements
that he had made without thinking when he is cornered. |
