My dear Vijay

I write to you not as a politician or an academic, but as a Sri Lankan who has lived through years of pain, and as someone who has witnessed firsthand the devastation of war. I also write as someone who has admired you as an actor, as a man loved by millions for your humility, your charisma, and the way you connect with ordinary people. Now, as you prepare to step into politics, I feel compelled to share a few words with you, not out of anger, but out of deep concern and hope.

- Vishnu Vasu Author and Documentary Filmmaker [e-mail]

A war that nobody won

We fought a war in Sri Lanka for 30 long years. A useless war. Ultimately, no one won. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their loved ones. The property was destroyed. A whole generation was scarred, broken, or lost forever. The numbers still haunt us. There were an estimated 89,000 war widows in the North and East after the conflict. Most of them were young women, suddenly left with children to feed, households to run, and a lifetime of grief to carry. They faced not only poverty, but also social stigma and isolation.

And it wasn’t just the Tamil community that suffered. Sinhalese families in border villages lived in fear of bombs and massacres. Muslim families were driven from their homes, uprooted from the lives they had built. The war consumed everyone. Pain did not discriminate.

What did Tamil Nadu do?

But what hurt us deeply was this: while we were suffering, what did the politicians of Tamil Nadu do? They lit torches and marched on the streets. They staged fiery protests. They raised funds. They gave shelter and training to militants. They spoke loud words in assemblies and parliaments. But did they ever come to our villages to wipe our tears? Did they ever build us a school or a hospital? Did they ever sit with a grieving mother or an orphaned child?

No, my dear Vijay. They played politics with our pain.

You, Vijay, are not just another politician

The children we lost

This is what cuts me the most. The world knew, Human Rights Watch, UNICEF, journalists, and aid workers all knew that the LTTE was taking children. Children were dragged from classrooms. Some were taken at night, kidnapped from their homes. Others were picked up while walking to school. Parents who resisted faced threats, violence, and even detention.