What Rajapaksa's win means for Sri Lankan Tamils?
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Ever since Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s political outfit Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) emerged victorious in recently held parliamentary elections, there are muted apprehensions of the island nation returning to a militaristic, centralized approach to governance.
Since Rajapaksa is popularly identified with the majoritarian politics of triumphalism, his re-election is expected to undermine human rights and individual freedom of minority groups, especially because the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Colombo have not only consolidated the ultra-nationalistic constituency but also catalyzed witch hunts against Muslim activists and dissidents — most of whom are native speakers of the Tamil language.
CV Vigneswaran, renowned Sri Lankan Tamil leader and former chief minister of Northern province, told me categorically: “Looking back at their past records, there is no hope for the preservation of human rights in this country. Instead, acknowledging the problem and acting on it can contribute to the creation of peace, which is indispensable for promotion and protection of rights.” Hoping that the enormous responsibility attached to the huge mandate will tone down Rajapaksa, who has so far refused to acknowledge the ethnic crisis, Vigneswaran wants an honest restart to the reconciliation process between the country's Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority. “Only the war is over, but the conflict still remains. The root causes are still there and operating. Genocide is being continuously perpetrated against our people in various forms. Peace and harmony without justice is simply impossible ... justice is prerequisite to the establishment of peace through transition.”
According to Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, founder of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, over-emphasis on a disciplined, law-abiding and righteous society is bound to have a deleterious impact on civil liberty. Saravanamuttu feels that dissent will not be tolerated during Rajapaksa’s new term, and introduction of stringent legislation governing non-governmental organizations is expected to be on the cards, in addition to promised constitutional reforms.
Interestingly, the long-standing issues of self-determination, federalism, merger of Northern and Eastern provinces — where the Tamils constitute an overwhelming majority — locating thousands of missing persons untraceable since the 1983-2009 civil war, and ensuring accountability for war crimes seem to have lost traction among minority voters, who are disturbed by an existential crisis of joblessness and dwindling income.
For the past several decades, Tamils have rallied behind a single political entity to maximize their bargaining potential as a community. This election brings a whiff of fresh air, since the bloc vote of Tamil nationalism is fast dismantling.
Seema Sengupta
That precisely explains why populist developmentalism has cut the ground from under the feet of those very actors who have consistently supported the cause of the ethnic minorities.
While Rajapaksa’s SLPP aggressively focused on livelihood in the backdrop of COVID-19 economic downturn, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) — which struggled to achieve for ethnic minorities the right to co-exist with dignity — chose to prioritize self-determination over development. It is widely argued that TNA’s inability to either advance constitutional reform for realizing genuine political autonomy in Northern and Eastern provinces or utilizing the provincial council structure to hasten all-round development is responsible for an alarming erosion in their electoral base.
After the tangible inroads made by SLPP and its allies into the traditional strongholds of Tamil nationalism in the country’s north, many believe this election symbolizes a subtle shift in the political landscape, with the predominant parties traditionally representing the minorities’ interests suddenly losing influence. Vigneswaran, however, vehemently contested the claim of Tamil parties being sidelined in their own fiefdom.
“There are two main reasons for the change in the voting pattern and behavior of the Tamil people,” he told me, as he attributed the failures to bitter bickering among Tamil leadership and tactical deficiency in electoral planning. “People were frustrated with TNA’s activities and wanted to teach them a lesson.” Candidates from Sinhala parties and pro-government Tamil outfits, he said, exploited the economic misery of the people affected by ethnic conflict to buy votes through promises of employment and other material assistance, which in no way can be construed as an organic change in Tamil politics.
To Vigneswaran, this flight of minority voters toward parties aligned with Rajapaksa’s SLPP, trying to showcase development as a solution to the ethnic conflict, is nothing but a temporary phenomenon because the Tamilian people’s struggle for power sharing is motivated by the desire to meaningfully participate in the decisions governing their lives, apart from preserving their identity and cultural heritage.
For the past several decades, Tamils have rallied behind a single political entity to maximize their bargaining potential as a community. This election brings a whiff of fresh air, since the bloc vote of Tamil nationalism is fast dismantling. Only time will tell if the Rajapaksa government adopts a more humane approach to integrate the minorities within the national mainstream emotionally.
– Seema Sengupta is a Kolkata-based journalist and columnist.
