By Veeragathy Thanabalasingham
Colombo, October 18: Almost one month has lapsed after the assumption of Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the ninth Executive President of Sri Lanka. During this period, he and other prominent leaders of the National People’s Power(NPP), especially the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP), have been talking proudly about what they see as changes in the country’s political landscape after the regime change.
They describe the decision by many politicians belonging to the previous mainstream parties not to contest the parliamentary elections as a big and welcome change.
President Dissanayake said that the term “retirement” in Sri Lankan politics, which had a history of politicians retiring only if they lost or died, has been introduced by the NPP.
At the same time, Bimal Ratnayake, a prominent leader of the JVP, said that the NPP had achieved a huge victory ahead of the parliamentary elections by ensuring that corrupt and racist politicians decided not to contest the parliamentary elections clearly to avoid defeat.
“We thank the people for putting an end to the politics of the corrupt and the racists by electing Anura Kumara Dissanayake as President. Those politicians did not come forward to contest elections knowing that they would be defeated. The people who voted for Dissanayake have achieved a great feat by removing corrupt politicians from politics,” Ratnayake added.
More than fifty of the members of the dissolved Parliament are not contesting the parliamentary elections in November. This has never happened in Sri Lankan politics. They include former Presidents, Ministers and Ministers of State. Some have even announced their retirement from politics.
Although these politicians cite various reasons for their decision, there is no doubt that they avoided contesting the elections due to the fear that the people would surely reject them. Some have entered the national lists of their parties.
Some politicians have allowed their sons or daughters to contest elections and have stepped aside. This shows that eradicating family politics is not so easy in this part of the world. The Rajapaksas, who have been the exclusive symbol of family-dominated politics in Sri Lanka for more than two decades, will have a clear understanding of what the Sinhalese people really think about them through the Presidential election results.
None of the Rajapaksa brothers are contesting the parliamentary elections. Namal Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s (SLPP) Presidential candidate and national organizer, sought protection in the national list rather than contesting directly. He was unable to win a single electorate in his own district of Hambantota in the Presidential poll.
We find it strange that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who said last week that he has temporarily withdrawn from politics, has even expressed confidence that his party will easily win the upcoming parliamentary elections. The Rajapakses believed that the Sinhalese would support them for a long time and would not mind their abuses for the leadership they gave to the war in which Tamil Tigers were militarily defeated. But it was their misrule that ultimately led to a popular uprising against family political dominance and the mainstream political parties in an unprecedented way in Sri Lankan political history.
Addressing Parliament after Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down as Prime Minister at the height of the 2022 popular uprising, his elder brother and former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa said his brother should have retired from politics when his second term as President ended. Mahinda Rajapaksa has never heeded his brother’s advice till date.
It seems that the leaders of JVP are calling the decision of the Rajapaksas and politicians like Wimal Weerawansa to stay away from the parliamentary elections as the end of communal politics. But communal politicians like Udaya Gammanpila and Sarath Weerasekara, who have been constantly speaking out against the legitimate political aspirations of the minority communities, are in the fray.
The fact that racist politicians not contesting elections or withdrawing from politics is not going to be the end of communal politics. What is important is that the poisonous ideas the racists have planted in the majority population against the political aspirations of the minority communities must be countered.
There is a deep-rooted opposition in the majority community against the rights of minority communities and the devolution of power. There is no point in talking about a new political culture unless there is some change in the mind set. Leaders of the NPP should have the courage to create an understanding in the majority community that a consistently unresonable stand against the rights and aspirations of the minority communities has been an obstacle to finding solutions to various problems including the economic crisis.
The JVP has a bitter history of fiercely opposing all attempts at finding a political solution to the national-ethnic problem. There was no place for the phrase ‘ devolution of power’ in its political lexicon.
It is important to note that rather than holding JVP hostage to its violent past the people of South have brought to power an alliance-led by it to power in their quest for change.
Now the time has come for NPP/JVP leaders to open the way for the minority communities to reach out to the them forgetting negative positions they had so far taken on the national problem. The current historic moment when President President Dissanayake and the leaders of the NPP are popular, is appropriate for convincing the majority community about a healthy change in the thinking in South Lanka on the ethnic question.
A significant section of the society expects that the NPP, especially the JVP, to become somewhat flexible in its stance on the ethnic issue following Dissanayake’s victory in the presidential election. It is said that a sizeable section of the people of the North and East are increasingly showing interest in voting for the NPP in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
But JVP general secretary Tilvin Silva’s comments in an interview given to a private television channel a few days ago indicate that no change is in the offing.
“Tamil people don’t need the 13th constitutional amendment. They only need a solution to their economic problems. Only Tamil politicians are talking about the 13th amendment and devolution of power to retain their power,” he said.
His comments undoubtedly reinforces the skepticism that the Tamil people already had about the extent to which their long-term political aspirations would be accommodated by the alleged change brought about by the people of Southern Lanka by bringing President Dissanayake to office.
Racists who refuse to accept even the minimal political aspirations of the Tamil people have long claimed that it is the Tamil politicians, not the Tamil people, who are asking for the implementation of the 13th Amendment. It was not Tilvin Silva’s invention.
JVP leaders, on the one hand, claim that after the victory of the NPP in the last month’s Presidential election, communal politics will come to an end, while on the other hand, they themselves repeat the old venomous racist rhetoric.
Change does not make sense if the leaders of the NPP who have come to power with the promise of bringing change and creating a new political culture, believe in the same policies that the racists have been espousing to mislead the majority community.
The new political culture President Dissanayake is strving to create is not going to bring any benefit to the minority communities if the favourable conditions for implementation of the 13th Amendment at least do not emerge in South Lanka.
Considering the state of the ethnic relations so far, the proclamation that treating all ethnic communities as equals and establishing the identity of Sri Lankans has only been a slogan. Even government leaders who have unleashed brutal repression against minority communities have made liberal use of that slogan. Only by creating a legal structure that can maintain the cultural identities of the communities and facilitate the fulfillment of their political aspirations will create a healthier situation where all communities accept the Sri Lankan national identity.
For the people of the North and East to become partners in the political journey of change that NPP is trying to bring, a positive signal must first come from South.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in Colombo)
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