Tamil Progressive Alliance becomes multiethnic

By P.K. Balachandran

The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), a conglomeration of parties representing Indian-origin Tamils in Sri Lanka, will be fighting the February 2018 local body elections in some districts as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), a multiethnic grouping.

TPA leader and Minister for National Languages and Dialogue, Mano Ganeshan, told the media that the UPA, which will be known in Sinhalese as the Ekamuthu Pragathisheeli Sandhaanaya, will field non-Tamils also.

Explaining the reasons for the switchover, Ganeshan said that the TPA was keen to be part of the Sri Lankan mainstream by promoting cooperation and understanding between the Sinhalese, Muslim, Tamil and Indian-origin Tamil communities.

“We are all part of a single Sri Lankan family and the UPA is an expression of it,” he said.

The UPA will field candidates in 14 councils in the districts of Colombo, Kandy, Ratnapura and Matale but will fight under the United National Front’s banner in other districts in the south of Sri Lanka. The United National Front (UNF) is a conglomeration of parties under the leadership of the United National Party (UNP) headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

However, Ganeshan added that the TPA had not been abandoned. Its registration as a political party was pending with the Election Commission.

“Of the mandatory waiting period of four years, the TPA has completed only three. Therefore, we have another year to go before we can contest under the TPA banner. As of now we can contest as UPA,” he explained.

This is not the first time that a minority party has chosen to become a multiethnic party. In 1999, when M.H.M. Ashraff was the head of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), he formed the National Unity Alliance (NUA). NUA contested the 2000 and 2004 elections as part of a larger alliance led by then President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

However, infighting between the NUA and the SLMC, which was one of its constituent parties, led to the NUA’s dissolution in 2010. There was a tussle for leadership between Ashraff’s widow Ferial and aspiring leader Rauff Hakim.

Though there were some Sinhalese in the NUA, it was essentially a party composed of Muslims from the SLMC.