Why, despite my best efforts, I cannot be happy for the NPP win

Federalism or devolution of power isn’t just for the north and east of Sri Lanka but for ALL of Sri Lanka to be governed in a sensibly decentralised, efficient and representative manner. It is this conversation that we need to revive and rebuild in Sri Lanka today if we are to undo this fundamental flaw that makes it so this country cannot be equally claimed by all its citizens and the minorities remain second class citizens

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake

Neelan Thiruchelvam

By Manimekalai

For the past few weeks, I have struggled with the fact that I am not able to muster any joy or hope for the sea change that an NPP victory could mean for “Sri Lanka”. There is the standard scepticism about anyone who comes into a position of power – that they may not execute their promises. It is possible that the renegotiation of the IMF deal is not at all or only marginally better than the last Government’s deal making. It is possible to establish a radically different relationship with the IMF, but it requires political vision and courage which, only time will tell, if the NPP has. 

There are indications that they will indeed abolish the Executive Presidency. And they could possibly have a majority in parliament if they are able to ride the wave of the presidential victory. This will enable them to bring any systemic changes. But then again, this too requires political will and courage. Time will tell. 

Meanwhile, we have already witnessed the Government giving in to IMF terms without any drastic changes made to it thus continuing the status quo of “economic recovery” that marginalises the poor further. We have heard the police flex their muscle and declare that the Yukthiya program, that is to address drug related criminal activities, which is in effect a means for state sanctioned human rights violations of ordinary citizens, will continue. A retired Naval Commander implicated in war crimes has been appointed the head of the Ports Authority and the list goes on. 

While my sadness deepens with all of this, it emerged mainly about the fact that AKD’s vote share in Tamil-speaking majority Jaffna, Vanni, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Nuwara Eliya is only 15%. Only 2% more than Ariyanenthiran whose votes accumulated based on the ever-popular vacuous idea of ‘Tamil’ whose meanings are unclear1. It is the idea of ‘Tamil’ mobilised by different versions of cultural nationalism whose parameters in terms of actual policies, nature and extent of representation of actual people connected to the Tamil language, the specific history of the individual leader, etc. have remained unclear. This abstract notion is so powerful now that it no longer needs Tamils with guns to enforce it. It is strongly established as the only solution to any unfairness that may be meted out to Tamil speaking people wherever they 

may be. 

AKD secured a vote share in these areas that is an entire 10% less than former president Ranil Wickremesinghe. Many in these areas were either voting against him or voted for him as he had bought the support of local politicians, who themselves lack any semblance of integrity such as Pillaiyaan, Viyalendran and Thondaiman among others. ITAK weathered some storms within the party and eventually declared their support for Sajith Premadasa and now claim that the people voted for him based on their instruction. He garnered a whopping 42% in these districts – almost the same as AKD’s national vote share. 

Many legacy votes to the UNP may have gone to Sajith Premadasa along with people’s desires to vote against Ranil. Unlike the Rajapaksas, the nature of support for Sajith Premadasa does not feel like one emerging from fear. So, my sadness is with the fact that a person CAN become the president of this country with such abysmally minimal vote share from ALL of the regions where minority communities live – namely the Tamils, Tamil-speaking Muslims and the Malayaha community. His victory then is entirely from the votes of the Sinhala speaking majority. 

Presence of the NPP in the north and east

The NPP is fielding candidates in the north and east in the upcoming parliamentary elections mostly through the specific connections made in the last few months/years with specific people. The NPP is not showing signs of a broader or deeper engagement even as campaigning gets underway. While it is still too early to say for sure, it is safe to say, there is not a sea change in the past few weeks in terms of the presence of the NPP in the north and east. 

Ordinary Tamil speaking people, who are very used to the system that brought him to power, are ignoring the fact that he won based on majority votes alone and focusing instead on his promises to rid us of corruption – a universally palatable promise, as it can have a real impact on ordinary peoples’ everyday lives. While this is bringing some positive opinions towards them, it still seems unlikely that this will translate into votes given the complex terrain of Tamil, Muslim and Malayaha political parties who are all fielding candidates and campaigning intensively on their home turf. 

Returning to the Presidential elections, a victory based on votes from the dominant linguistic community alone is not new to Sri Lanka. In fact, it is the norm. This is so normalised that the numerous articles, in Sri Lanka and otherwise, barely mention this fact when they speak of his victory in the elections. It is not mentioned because it is the system that does not require to be noticed or stated. What is saddening is that AKD – the figure of radical change for “Sri Lanka”; the leader who has defeated the political and economic elite; the leader of “the people”; the non-corrupt, honest leader, etc. – even he and his party are just yet another Sinhala party for the Tamils, Muslims and Malayaha people. 

While the people of “Sri Lanka” were offered radical change and hope after months of the NPP’s ground level work there, those in the north, east and malayaham voted as they usually do – without any hope or conviction, to whomever is the ‘okay’ choice, in a sea of bad choices. Since the Aragalaya, when AKD and the NPP even became a sort of known name in the north and east of the island, they could have initiated small and quiet conversations in the north, east and in Malayaham. This work would have been difficult. It would have to have been done quietly and consistently. It would have involved a profound willingness to admit their lack of knowledge and the existing massive mistrust of the JVP among Tamil speaking people. 

Why was the same not done with Tamil speaking people?

As per what seem to be their ideals followed in the rest of the country, they would have had to reach the Tamil people directly without the middlemen politicians who claim to be our representatives. This means they would have had to make themselves vulnerable by naming their Sinhala-ness, the dominance of their ethnic identity in this country and their complete lack of knowledge about the history/discourses/ideas/dreams of the Tamil speaking people of this island. This, we know now, from this abysmal showing in the elections, was not done. We watched as they did precisely this in “Sri Lanka” – the south and west of this island. Consistent conversations and rebuilding of lost trust in the south was one of the most inspiring parts of the NPP’s rise over the past few years. This kind of mobilising by a left leaning party at the ground level, especially among youth and women is not being done by any such parties anywhere in the subcontinent at this moment. It was beautiful to watch. 

Why was the same not done with Tamil speaking people?!!!

The obvious answer to this is the fact that the Executive Presidency system makes it strategically irrelevant who the people in the majority Tamil speaking areas vote for. Further, the work of approaching Tamil speaking people for the NPP would have required difficult processes of coming to terms with past histories of the JVP with one generation, and possibly building a fresh new image of the NPP with a younger generation for whom the 70s and 80s are not active or even known histories. All this would have meant they will have to realise, state and work through their lack of knowledge and limitations as a primarily Sinhala party. It turns out that the President and his party for all the ‘tectonic shift’ in politics that he is said to have initiated, is no different from any other politician in this regard. 

Federalism and devolution of power 

Discussions of federalism and devolution of power are not foreign to Sri Lanka. They have been underway since independence. Neelan Thiruchelvam was assassinated by militant Tamil nationalists for his vision in this regard. 

The centralised system of voting in Sri Lanka, with overemphasis on the votes of the majority community, make the votes of minority communities largely irrelevant in the exercise of acquiring political power in the form of the executive presidency. This also means that no person from the minority community can ever access such power unless they are able to bridge seemingly impossible divisions among communities. 

I have spent my entire adult life as a Tamil person working against Tamil nationalism – researching and proving the ways in which the category of ‘Tamil’ has been used by those powerful among us – who are self-appointed representatives, with or without guns – to manipulate the feelings of ordinary Tamils to give up their land, life and even children, to fight for a hollow and abstract construction of our identity. I will continue this fight for the rest of my life. 

But today, the embodied feeling of this unfairness and injustice makes me realise, for a fleeting moment, why such rage/sadness exists among us as a people connected to this language and feeds this hollow identity of ‘Tamil’ on this island, and its ripples among Tamil speaking people everywhere. I hate that I am pushed, against my best senses and ideals, to understand, even for a fleeting moment, this patriarchal, manipulative, dishonest use of my identity that I have loathed and spoken against for so long. That is what this majoritarian system of electoral politics has done to me. 

Not surprisingly, all conversations on federalism or devolution of power have been seen through the lens of a ‘solution to the ethnic problem’ and so either supported or opposed by both Sinhala nationalists and Tamil nationalists alike. It is, however, simply a robust way of sharing power across an area of land that is seen as being part of one nation state. No power, in a democratic society, must be centralised in one person or one place or one form of government. All places and people within a nation state must be represented in governance, must experience the state as approachable in order to fulfil their basic needs and must be able to access the government equally. 

So, federalism or devolution of power isn’t just for the north and east of Sri Lanka but for ALL of Sri Lanka to be governed in a sensibly decentralised, efficient and representative manner. It is this conversation that we need to revive and rebuild in Sri Lanka today if we are to undo this fundamental flaw that makes it so this country cannot be equally claimed by all its citizens and the minorities remain second class citizens. 

Dance of hatred has begun

It is this fundamental flaw that has been, is being and will continue to be weaponised by non-state cultural nationalism. The Tamil nationalist discourses have already begun in the north and east painting the NPP as a threat to ‘Tamil identity’. In the east, a defence of Tamil identity is also spewing of hatred against Tamil speaking Muslims. So, this dance of hatred has begun as part of the political campaigns for parliamentary elections. Any demands being made to the Government have Tamil politicians speaking in the register of ‘acknowledging Tamils as a nation’, without, as always, explaining which Tamils, how and why we are a ‘nation’. 

The other option that Tamil speaking people have is to place their hopes in the NPP and ‘Anura’ as he is someone, we ‘accept’ as chosen by “Sri Lanka” (read mostly Sinhala people) and hope he will do us all good by addressing the ‘common’ issues such as corruption and the economic crisis even if he leaves our second-class citizenship untouched. The choice is between giving in to the venom of different iterations of Tamil nationalism or the slow-release poison of second-class citizenship. The foundational condition of a third path, of being made equal citizens of this country, through equalising all citizenship powers and devolution of powers to local governance is not yet on the horizon. 

So now what? The NPP made the choice of being essentially yet another Sinhala party ensuring that they garner the majority Sinhala votes in order to win while not in power yet. This worked and they are now in power. So, I wait against my best sense and experience that screams to me that political choices made by parties when NOT in power will only become further solidified once they acquire power. Nevertheless, I wait. I wait for someone in the NPP to go beyond promises of ‘I will work for those who didn’t vote for me’. I wait for them to acknowledge with unparalleled courage and conviction, that their OWN electoral victory is yet another testament to how the so-called democratic system in this country, is majoritarian and in effect disenfranchises all minority communities. That this system deems everyone, except the Sinhala speaking community, to second class citizenship where even their vote – the most basic and minimal democratic right – does not have the same weight as that of the majority. 

That such a system is primitive, unfair and dangerously close to systematised majoritarian rule. That THIS is the reason why they will abolish the executive presidency and begin the robust and imperative process of devolving power to local governance like any civilised democracy. That they will begin the process of educating the people of Sri Lanka in what federalism or devolution of power can actually look like for ALL Sri Lankans, beyond the irrational screaming about it within the dichotomies of Sinhala and Tamil nationalisms. That federalism or devolution of power, in the least, is about equal representation of all citizens in the country’s government at all levels and about making the government administration more accessible to ordinary people by giving power to governance at the local level. 

Read Babasaheb Ambedkar and Neelan Thiruchelvam and be inspired

I urge you to read Babasaheb Ambedkar and Neelan Thiruchelvam and be inspired. Babasaheb’s vision is one that goes beyond creating a structure for a nation that not only doesn’t ignore or simply tolerates its minorities but is based on the foundation that the acceptance of a government by and the wellbeing of those who are supposedly lesser in numbers and marginalised is the true litmus test of a functional democracy. 

Hear the voice of Neelan as he said: “We hope that a federal system genuinely and sincerely implemented would redress the grievances of the people… This is very important because the justification for the armed struggle (now he might say ‘continuing Tamil nationalism that is about individual or party power rather than the welfare and rights of the people’) arises from a deep sense of grievance. It arouses passion which leads people to sacrifice their lives (now he might say ‘leads people to blindly follow those who claim to represent their ethnic community’). If Tamils (now he may say ‘Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka’) feel that their language is being respected, their culture (he may say ‘cultures’) promoted, their identity (he may say ‘identities’) projected and they can live in freedom and with dignity (now he may explain that ‘dignity involves economic stability’ given the ongoing economic crisis), there is real possibility of (he may have added ‘healing’) lasting peace (he may have added ‘equality’) in this country.”

Our new Prime Minister knows all of this all too well. She is well read and has spent her whole life working for those in the margins of Sri Lankan society. She is a genuinely honest person, and it is a blessing to see such a person in a position of power in our lifetimes. Our President knows the feeling of ‘deep sense of grievance’ and the ‘passion’ that might incite. He knows what it is to be on the margins as a working-class person. So, I beseech them and all those around them to bring your embodied and cognitive knowledge to not just be a radical change within the existing deeply flawed system so you can access power BUT to radically change the system itself, so you hold power with utmost and equal accountability to ALL citizens of this country. For “Sri Lanka” to be ONE COUNTRY in the hearts of its people, not out of fear but out of a felt sense of belonging, there needs to be an understanding that belonging is only possible with radical equality. Change the system to ensure a fundamental substantive equality so that the healing from generations of inequality, unfairness and brutal violence, can at least begin now. It is then that I will begin to feel some 

cautious joy.

Footnote:

1Ariyanenthiran’s backers include Member of Parliament and leader of the Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kootani (TMTK) CV Wigneswaran, Member of Parliament and leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) Selvam Adaikkalanathan, former parliamentarian and leader of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF)  Suresh Premachandran, Member of Parliament and leader of the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) Dharmalingam Siddharthan, former Member of the North Provincial Assembly P. Aingaranesan, former parliamentarian and Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) member N Sri Kantha, leader of the Crusaders for Democratic Party C. Vendan, head of the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Jaffna, K T Ganesalingam, Jaffna-based political analyst and senior lawyer S A Jothilingam, political commentator Yathindra and political analyst Nilanthan.