"Life has to be designed by your intellect and not by emotion"

 An Interview with Justice C. V. Wigneswaran

by NILANTHA ILANGAMUWA

My recent interview with the newly elected Chief Minister for the Northern Province, Justice Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Wigneswaran, was somewhat controversial. Justice Wigneswaran needs no introduction. He is a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, judge and politician. He was a magistrate and a judge of the District Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court and was elected as the Chief Minister of the Northern Province after the Province held its election in 2013.


Wigneswaran is a news maker in meaningful sense. Many people believe that he is someone who can make a difference. He entered one of most corrupt and deteriorated political systems existing under the pretext of democracy. However, he remains enthusiastic and maintains his ideology in an effort to create something meaningful.



I must express my appreciation that he talks honestly and expresses himself with a deep understanding about the root causes of the problems that we face as the nation. He is a politician (administrator) without illusion. What I personally took away from this interview is the fact that he is a combination of peace and justice. "Life has to be designed by your intellect and not by emotion," he said.


Politics in Sri Lanka is a cynical manipulation of power and the lack of justice. I have no idea how long society will benefit from the politics of Wigneswaran as the state is doing its best to eliminate the intelligentsia in society. It will come as no surprise to anyone that he claims his life is under threat.


Please see below the full text of the interview:


Nilantha Ilangamuwa (NI): There is traditional saying in Tamil that goes, "You can’t drink thick porridge if you want to keep your mustache clean." You have entered politics in order to make your life more meaningful. Justice Wigneswaran, you are one of the most respected jurists in the country. You turned to politics under the Tamil National Alliance banner. But, as we know, ‘politics’ in the Sri Lankan sense is deteriorating rapidly in practice and has actually claimed many lives leading to social disorder in the country. So, do you think that you made a wise decision becoming a politician?


C.V. Wigneswaran (CVW) : Why don’t you look at this positively? Because a former Supreme Court Judge has taken up to politics could it not mean that the deterioration that you mentioned might get stemmed? I have seen positive developments around me. There is a humane attitude being shown even by those who criticized earlier just for the sake of politics. We have to all do our part – we cannot sit on the sidelines and moan. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.


I am not sure about my decision being wise or not. But I certainly will not be a party to any vice! I have faith in Divinity. He who brought me into this must take the responsibility for me. If he prefers to call me early so be it! Why worry? God bless you!


NI: I believe that you have made your position clear on the problem that we have argued and counter-argued over the course of many years. Recently you commented, "We do not want our own homeland; we only want power-sharing within a united country". Are you really sure that fighting for the establishing of a homeland in order to enjoy total freedom from the central government is wrong?

Read full text of the interview at
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=98488