Tamils resort to nationalism to shore up eroding political base
A
Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil prays for her relatives who died in fierce
fighting between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels in Mullivaikkal in Sri
Lanka last year. Pic: AP.
By 30th September 2016In its list of demands, the ‘Eluga Thamil’ (Tamils Arise!) rally in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, on Sept 24 included phrases that form the bedrock of Tamil nationalism – ‘Tamil nation,’ ‘sovereignty’ and the ‘right to self-determination.’
This is because the Sri Lanka government and Tamil politicians
supporting the regime are deemed ineffective in preventing the Tamils’
political power base from eroding, and supporters of the rally believe
that nationalism is the bulwark against such attrition.
The rally was called by the Tamil Peoples’ Council (TPC), a loose
coalition of political parties, civil society organisations and
religious bodies co-chaired by the chief minister of the Tamil-majority
Northern Provincial Council (NPC) C. V. Wigneswaran.
“Elected representatives cannot deliver the goods unless backed by a peoples’ movement,”said Wigneswaran, explaining the purpose of Eluga Thamil.
The circumstances that gave rise to Eluga Thamil echoes events in the 1970s.
In 1972, Sri Lanka’s Parliament, sitting as a constituent assembly, was
debating a new Constitution. The Tamils, who are the minority in Sri
Lanka, put forward demands for a Federal Constitution to
share power with the majority Sinhalese. The Sinhalese, however,
favoured a unitary state that concentrated political power in a central
Parliament.
Failure of their efforts to convince the Sinhalese on federalism eventually led to Tamils demanding secession through
peaceful, non-violent means in 1976. The suppression of this was gave
rise to armed separatism that ended in May 2009 with the military defeat
of main rebel group, the LTTE.
Following the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2015, a national unity government was
cobbled together, pledging to work according to principles of good
governance. Although in the opposition, the Tamil National Alliance
(TNA), the largest Tamil parliamentary party, provides the regime support, especially on matters of national reconciliation.
Good governance, however, has not delivered much to Tamils, either in
protecting their rights or ensuring security. Sections of the Tamil
population that believe this is due to the eroding power base of the
Tamils were an important element that called for Eluga Thamil.
One of many weapons wielded by successive governments in Sri Lanka to
diminish the Tamil political power base has been changing demographics
in the Tamil-dominated Northern Province, where Tamils are 88 percent, and in the Eastern Province, where Tamils and Tamil-speaking Muslims are a majority.
Changing demographics were underway by the 1950s, principally through the state-sponsored settlement of Sinhalese –
known as colonisation schemes – in areas where Tamils were the
numerical majority. It was believed that Sinhala settlers would vote to
ensure fewer Tamil legislators would be elected from these areas,
thereby reducing Tamil representation in Parliament. It would also give
local government control to Sinhalese. Moreover, large pockets of
Sinhalese could threaten the physical security of Tamils through riots
and pogroms. This strategy continues even today.
Demographic changes through settlements have been compounded by two
other projects. One is using the almost exclusively ethnic Sinhala
military to undermine civic life in
the Tamil areas. This is by the military holding large areas of land
both private and public. Although some land is being returned to Tamils,
it is at a much slower rate than desired.
The second strategy is for the military to own businesses, ranging from wayside kiosks to hotels in Jaffna.
This has led to frequent complaints by Tamil entrepreneurs that they
face unfair competition. Further, militarisation has disempowered
civilians from taking charge of their lives.
Holding on to land and running businesses within a militarised
environment has led to the continuation of an unstable society with large numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and
an unsure future for entrepreneurs who want to invest in the North.
These conditions make populations politically apathetic, as well as
serves as an important push factor for outward migration. This, in turn,
negatively affects the Tamil political power base.
This is why Tamils feel they are not in control of their politics and
asserted the right to self-determination at the Eluga Thamil rally.
Another issue connected to fears of changing demographics and the
eroding Tamil power base is the complaint of the Tamil identity being
challenged by building Buddhist temples in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans are 70 percent Buddhist –
who are almost all Sinhalese – and a large majority of the military is
Buddhist too. The building of temples is a tangible way of advertising
Sinhala-Buddhist control of the areas where they are built.
The Eluga Thamil rally challenged ‘Buddhisation’ by emphasising the
‘Tamil nation’. Nationalism is certainly controversial, but a mass of
people live in northern Sri Lanka are bound by ties of language, culture
and shared history. That doesn’t deny differences exist within Tamil
society based on caste hierarchies, religious differences and
patriarchy. But faced with attacks on social coherence by the
introduction of cultural symbols they disapprove, Tamils have turned to
nationalism as a bulwark.
As in the 1970s, Tamils believe that a way to minimise adverse changes
in demographics, social coherence and insecurity is through a Federal Constitution where
at least a modicum of control could be retained by Tamils in the North
and East with Tamil-speaking Muslims by sharing power.
Although the TNA’s election manifesto calls for a Federal Constitution with a merger of
the Northern and Eastern provinces, there is suspicion that the
structure of the state under the new Constitution would not share power
effectively with the provinces. This is due to the implacable opposition
of the Sinhalese to federalism. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said there was no need “to change the unitary character of the Lankan state”.
Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Pic: AP.
These statements have not hindered the TNA’s hierarchy from believing
that working without public protest against the government is the best
way to forge a Constitution that is beneficial to the Tamils.
Speaking on the Eluaga Thamil rally, TNA spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran was quoted as saying,
“It is not appropriate … to launch a protest … when the party was
holding discussions with other political parties in the country on the
proposed new Constitution.”
However, a significant group of TNA senior members, including Wigneswaran, chose to disregard the party line.
This is because three questions vex those who believe the TNA will not
negotiate meaningful federalism with the government: Why the secrecy
shrouding negotiations; how would the Federal Constitution pass a
constitutional assembly, a large majority of which is Sinhalese
parliamentarians who reject federalism; and how will a draft
constitution pass in a referendum where 70 percent expressing an opinion will be Sinhalese?
The Eluga Thamil rally is the expression of Tamil frustration witnessing
the bases of their political power being compromised in favour of
perpetuating Sinhala hegemony, as TNA members in the committees of the
constitutional assembly appear to pussyfoot on pushing for a meaningful
federal constitution.
In the minds of the organisers of the rally and their followers, the
only way to keep their political power base intact is by resorting to a
mass movement based on Tamil nationalist sentiment.
The question is whether the organisers of Eluga Thamil have the vision,
determination and stamina to continue to press their demands through a
mass movement in the event the government and the TNA fail them, or if
this spark is destined to only sputter and die.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not reflect the views of Asian Correspondent
