Undeliverable Political Settlement For The Tamils & Bankrupt Politics Of TNA
Kumarathasan Rasingam
The political history of Tamils who inhabited the island before the arrival of Vijaya in 543 BC, a legendary prince, still to be proved by real and documented evidence, has been tarnished with the record of betrayals, pogroms, genocide and massacres in the hands of successive Sri Lankan Governments since 1948.Numerous articles and books have detailed these events locally and internationally. The International community including the United Nations watched these hearts wrenching human tragedies with their mouths shut, eyes closed allowing and encouraging the Sri Lankan Government’s to execute the agenda of militarization, Sinhalaization, Buddhisization with ease and unhindered, through state legislations and machinery. The United Nations Human Rights Council and International Community with a pricked conscience sprang into action after the genocidal war conducted by Sri Lanka from 2006 to 2009 which harvested more than 70,000 lives, with approximate 60,000 disappeared, 90,000 war widows and 200,000 disabled and 10,000 orphans. In between The armed struggle of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam [LTTE] was also crushed who were branded as terrorists while omitting to label Sri Lanka’s state terrorism, which is not comparable to the terrorism of rebels as a state is duty bound to protect its own citizens irrespective of race, religion or caste, and not indulge in terrorism.
From 1948 to 1956, Sri Lankan citizens enjoyed the democracy and its freedoms without any hatred, hostility or any bias based on religion, language or race. All of these plunged into irretrievable depths with the passage of Sinhala Only Act in 1956. Capturing political power was one reason while asserting the power of rural folk was another reason as Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by SWRD Bandaranaike achieved the above goals while laying the groundwork and foundation for the growth and breeding of communalism, chauvinism and hegemony. The victims were the minorities, particularly the Tamils who bore the brunt of these ferocious dehumanizing weapons.
Sri Lanka’s major parties SLFP and UNP rely heavily on the votes of Sinhalese rather than the votes of Tamils and Muslims. Gestures of good will, reconciliation and respect are extended at occasions to lure their votes. History shows that all measures and steps so far taken to ensure equality in all respects like language, religion, state employment were brought down to nil effect.
To the credit of Sri Lanka, it can be proud to boast as a country which has followed and never breached the norms of democracy via free election, and associated democratic rights. However the darker side of Sri Lanka’s face of democracy is dotted with black marks and stains, as the democracy has only served the interests of majority community and the ruling Governments who have successfully exploited it to foist, thrust and carry out their agenda of Sinhalization, Buddhisization and later Militarization.
The seeds for the above were sown from the time of ‘Mahavamsa‘ a chronicle [myth] wrote by Mahanama Thera in 6th century AD, when hardly any other books were written to detail the true history of Sri Lanka either in Tamil or Sinhalese. Mahavamsa’s author mentioning about Lord Buddha’s wish to choose “Sri Lanka as a suitable country to preserve Buddhism” which is unsubstantiated laid the foundation for the birth and growth of Mahavamsa mindset to achieve this goal and make it real.
“Mahavamsa” chronicle provided the gateway to “Mahavamsa” mindset which in turn acted as the springboard for the rise of inimical political agenda, slogans and Sinhala Buddhist nationalism. These can be summarized as follows:
[1] Communalism, racism and majority hegemony.
[2] Covert and overt execution of the agenda of Sinhalization and Buddhisization and Militarization from 1948.
