By Veeragathy Thanabalasingham
Colombo, November 30: What is the future of Tamil nationalist politics in Sri Lanka? This question, which has arisen in the wake of the recent parliamentary elections, should not be viewed simply in terms of the future electoral prospects of Tamil parties. It is a question related to the anxiety about the prospects for the fulfilment of their legitimate political aspirations of the Tamils.
Tamil nationalist political parties that have represented the Tamils of the North and East in parliament for more than fifteen years since the end of the civil war have suffered a major setback in the parliamentary elections.
It is difficult to expect that these parties, which have never shown any interest in introspecting on the reasons why past struggles for the political rights of the Tamils have not been fruitful, will look back and correct their political path.
As a result of the Tamil parties splitting and contesting elections as different factions, the parliamentary representation of Tamils from the North and East has been weakened even more than before. Tamil politicians had ignored the warnings given in advance in this regard.
The Ilankai Tamizharasu Katchi (ITAK), which had six seats in the last parliament, cannot be complacent after winning eight seats this time. The ITAK should view its electoral performance against the backdrop of the fact that a Sinhala-dominated national party (National Peoples’ Power) has won more seats in all five electoral districts in the Northern and Eastern provinces for the first time in Sri Lanka’s electoral history.
The NPP led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won a resounding victory in the Tamil areas without making any promises about a substantive solution to the important issues facing the Tamils, including the ethnic issue.
Politicians and observers, like blind men feeling an elephant, are making various comments about the NPP victory. The leaders of the NPP interpret the support given to them by the Tamils as a rejection of Tamil communal politics i.e. Tamil nationalism. Sinhala Buddhist hard line nationalists in the South are also trying to portray the defeat suffered by some Sinhala Buddhist hard line politicians as a defeat for Sinhala communalism.
At the same time, some Tamil politicians are comparing the votes received by all Tamil parties in the North and East with the votes received by the NPP and argue that the Tamils have not rejected Tamil nationalism. When it comes to elections, the seats they win are what matter. There is no point in trying to establish that Tamil nationalist sentiment is alive among the people by adding up the total number of votes of the parties that lost the elections.
Just as the electoral defeat of certain politicians in the South cannot be said to be a defeat of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism, the defeat of Tamil nationalist parties in the North and East also cannot be described as a defeat of Tamil nationalism.
President Dissanayake vowed in his policy statement to the new Parliament, that he will never allow the politics of racism and religious extremism to reappear in Sri Lanka. But he will never be able to achieve that goal without finding a solution to the long-standing problems that were created by the same racism.
It can never be said that the Tamils voted for the NPP accepting its positions on the ethnic issue. Likewise, the failure of the Tamil parties cannot be interpreted as a sign that the Tamils are ready to join the national stream abandoning their long-standing key demands related to their political aspirations.
Looking at the pattern of people voting for the NPP from Point Pedro in the North to Dondra in the South, it is understandable that the Tamils, like the Sinhalese, were waiting for an opportunity to reject the traditional political parties.
The Tamils had no choice but to turn to the NPP because there was no proper political force among the Tamils that could lead them on a pragmatic and prudent political path suitable to the present domestic and global political climate.
Another reason for the dislike of Tamil politicians is that they do not think and act in a manner that is in line with the demands of the situation and simply chant emotional Tamil nationalist slogans without paying attention to the various livelihood problems faced by the war-affected Tamils.
There are Tamil politicians who said that when the people’s uprising broke out in South Sri Lanka two and a half years ago amidst an unprecedented economic downturn, it was not a problem for the Tamils. Certain Tamil politicians said in parliament that if the wealthy among the Tamil diaspora were allowed to invest freely in Sri Lanka, there would be no room for economic problems.
Tamil politicians could not understand the recent change in thinking among their people. In fact, people directly told Tamil politicians in many places in the North that they would vote for the President’s party in the parliamentary elections. But, as usual, these politicians ignored these warnings.
In the early stages of the campaign, the Tamil parties did not understand the danger they were in. It was only in the final stages that they realized the change in the situation and launched fierce attacks on the NPP. Before that, not only other Tamil parties but also those within the ITAK were in an over drive in the campaign to defeat M.A. Sumanthiran in order to “save Tamil nationalism” from the danger.”
Despite repeatedly pointing out that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the flagship party of the NPP, had adopted policies and carried out actions that were against the political aspirations of the Tamils in the past, the Tamil parties were unable to win the people over to their side to the extent desired.
It seems that Tamil politicians think that the Tamils were angry with them and supported the NPP only because they had contested the elections as different factions. Judging by the comments they have been making over the past few days, it seems that they believe that if they unite again, the Tamils will give them overwhelming support as before.
A few days ago, the leader of the Tamil National People’s Front ( TNPF ) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, announced that he was ready to work with other Tamil parties based on the political settlement proposals put forward by the now defunct Tamil People’s Council (Tamil Makkal Peravai), a formation of Tamil civil society organizations and political parties formed ten years ago. The other Tamil parties have not yet responded to his overture.
Similarly, the leader of the ITAK parliamentary group, Sivagnanam Sritharan, also announced that he is ready to unite again and work with other parties as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). That too has not been answered. A few other politicians have also spoken about the need for reunification.
Even if the parties were to unite again, it is doubtful whether they will be able to rebuild trust among the Tamils. The Tamils will certainly view any attempt to unite with suspicion. What explanation will the Tamil politicians give to the people for showing a renewed interest in unity other than personal rivalries?
Based on the experiences so far, there will be nothing more futile than expecting unity or a unified approach among the Tamil parties. Beyond the differences in policy, egoism and personality rivalry between the leaders have been the main reasons for the decline of Tamil politics.
The leaders of the armed Tamil extremist movements, who were several steps ahead of the moderate political leaders in this regard, committed fratricide on a large scale. Such a perverse trend continues even now in different forms without bloodshed.
Above all, today’s Tamil politicians should reflect on whether the policies and approaches they have adopted over the past fifteen years have helped move even an inch forward in the direction of finding a political solution to the ethnic problem.
Although it is the government’s responsibility to provide a political solution, Tamil politicians should think deeply about whether their actions so far have given the Tamils hope that they will have a future if they continue to live in their land.
If Tamil nationalism is to be preserved, the Tamils’ territory must be preserved. For that, people must live in that territory. No nationalism can be preserved without people and land.
A significant section of Tamils will not want to continue living here if they do not believe that they and their future generations will have a better future if they continue to live in the North and East. A door-to-door survey by politicians would help them know how many Tamils are willing to migrate to North America or Western Europe. What is there to save nationalism in a land without people?
It is learnt that Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and the ITAK parliamentary group, who met the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo, Santosh Jah, separately after the elections, emphasized the need for India to put pressure on the new government in Sri Lanka on the ethnic issue. They must realize that without a strong political movement among the Tamils, their demands will not be heeded and the international community.
The Tamil parties should also consider how effective the approaches they have adopted so far, based on the hope that the international powers, including India, will put pressure on Sri Lanka, have been. They should also explore the possibilities of dealing with the new government differently, instead of continuing the approaches they had adopted in the past.
With the NPP government announcing that it will bring in a new constitution, a great responsibility awaits Tamil parliamentarians. If they fail to act with foresight and political wisdom to meet the demands of the situation, the Tamils will be left as a people who will not gain anything even after unimaginable sacrifices in their decades long struggle.
Finally, the Tamils have also taught a lesson to certain forces within the Tamil diaspora who had given money to parties and groups with the aim of controlling Tamil politics here.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in Colombo)
