Arumugan Thondaman, a politician who was loved the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, suddenly passed away recently.

The emergence of his son Jeevan Thondaman, from the background of family politics, has been the subject of much political attention.

Therefore, we decided to talk to him since he was the subject of attention by the public. These are his thoughts and opinion on various matters.

Jeevan you were not in Sri Lanka for a long time. In fact, the people did not know that Arumugan Thondaman has a son?

Yes. I studied in India. It's been three years since I arrived in Sri Lanka. It was very difficult say goodbye to my father. During his last journey on earth, people started talking about me. I'm sad about that conversation. What I didn't do was circulated on social media. I'm really disappointed about that.

Like many countries in the world, Sri Lanka is battling with the Coronavirus pandemic. A lot of people came to honour your father, people are talking about it?

We never asked the people who love my father to come to honour him. We knew the situation of the country. We were supported by the army, police and even PHI officers. All those who came to honour my father, were adhering the health regulations. There was a distance of one meter and a protective mask was worn. All guidelines were followed.

Social media has circulated a news that your father had fallen from the stairs and died. What's the truth?

I saw the story circulated on social media that my father died after falling from the stairs. I am sad to see such lies; I don’t know why they do that. Nothing like that happened. My father suddenly had a heart attack. It must have been about two seconds. Unfortunately, he died suddenly.

You have two sisters. One sister works as a doctor in the State of Oman. They say that your sister has come to pay her last respects to her father in violation of quarantine laws?

Oman is also a country hit by coronavirus. My sister is a doctor there. She also can't get out of there. Every daughter and son would love to be near their parents at their last moment. My sister didn't get that chance. She is very sad that she couldn’t pay her last respects to her father. And she was very upset about the rumours about her. Also, I must say that they have posted a photo of my brother-in-law Sendil Thondaman's wife with me and have said that it is my sister from Oman. That is not my sister from Oman. That is the wife of Sendil Thondaman. Everyone knows who that is.

They say that you took political advantage from your father's funeral?

Several vehicles were blocked when my father’s body was taken for the public to pay their respects. The police worked hard to ease the traffic. That is why I walked for two hours and got into the car and pleased with the people to leave us and let us proceed. Two minutes later I got in the car and thanked the people. It was not expecting anything in return or with an ulterior motive.

And I have to say that I have no interest to appear in the media. It's been three years since I arrived in Sri Lanka. I spent two years working silently with my father for the people who love him. If I wanted to appear in the media and became famous, I would have done so earlier. I don't need that.

Are you coming into politics to take Dad's political vision forward…aren’t you the hope of the Tamil people?

Just because my father did politics doesn't mean I have to be a politician. I believe that people will do the right thing without changing parties, just like they did with my father. I have not yet decided on what I want to do. I want to serve the people like my Father. Not to appear in front of the media.

Harshani Weeraratne