By Meera Srinivasan/The Hindu
Colombo, November 7: Regardless of the decisive change in Sri Lanka’s national politics — with the election of Anura Kumara Dissanayake in September this year — the country’s Tamil people will need strong representation in Parliament to assert their rights and long-neglected demands, according to prominent Tamil politician M.A. Sumanthiran.
A senior lawyer and two-time legislator, he is contesting in the November 14 parliamentary elections from the northern Jaffna district for the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), a party that has for decades been the main Tamil voice in the Sri Lankan legislature, including through the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that it led since 2001. In the last Parliament [2020-2024], the grouping had 10 MPs, six down from between 2015 and 2019.
The grave economic crisis of 2022, which led to a historic people’s movement that ousted Gotabaya Rajapaksa from office, has substantially altered Sri Lanka’s political and electoral landscapes. Traditional parties and several longtime politicians have been ejected. “The ITAK is telling voters that there has been a change at the Centre, a third force has come to power. If the new dispensation brings in far reaching changes in governance structure, the Tamils need strong representation in Parliament to assert our rights as a distinct people living in the north and east of the country,” Mr. Sumanthiran said. Observing that the Tamil people have been agitating for their political rights for 75 years he said the ITAK, which is the “main Tamil party”, has been a proponent of a federal solution.
Meanwhile, the party has also been grappling with many challenges, ranging from internal differences to the breakup of its broader alliance that was held together by ITAK veteran Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, who passed away in July this year at 91. The TNA has disintegrated, with the ITAK’s former partners —People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) — breaking away to run on a separate platform called the Democratic Tamil National Alliance (DTNA). The Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), which earlier split from the TNA, has also joined this Alliance.
Asked if the ITAK has weakened consequently, Mr. Sumanthiran said: “No, in fact I think we have strengthened our position. We are a more decisive force now. There is clarity and coherence about how we will work with the people and assert our demands, rather than have a confused leadership and constituents pulling in different directions.”
Concerns of Tamils
Fifteen years after Sri Lanka’s civil war ended, Tamils continue to demand accountability for alleged war crimes and the elusive political solution. Further, the region is yet to see meaningful economic revival, where the youth have decent livelihoods or jobs to channel their skills. The region is still highly militarised, and locals have been protesting land grabs by state agencies, including the archaeological and forest departments. More recently, they are also faced with a fragmented Tamil polity. There are 28 seats to be won across the five electoral districts in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Over 2,000 are running for these seats, according to the Election Commission. All contenders are campaigning hard to court disillusioned voters yearning for a change in their lives. Many voters contend that if the national leadership has repeatedly let down Tamils, the Tamil polity has not been focussed and successful enough in pushing their struggle.
On what Tamil voters, especially youth, are demanding, the former MP said Tamil youth are looking for economic progress through good jobs in the war-affected region, where unemployment is high. “They are hoping that our local economy will thrive and give them hope and reason to stay back and work here, rather than migrate elsewhere”, he said. After Sri Lanka’s economy crashed in 2022, young people across the country have been desperately trying to leave the country looking for better paid work overseas. The pressure is even greater in regions that have endured abject poverty and deprivation, in the hill country across the island’s Central and Southern Provinces, and in the war-battered north and east where residents seek development that speaks to their specific needs after the setback of a three decade-long war.
All the same, the youth who are demanding jobs and economic empowerment have not abandoned the Tamils’ enduring demands for a political solution. “They are also asserting the fundamental claim for our nationhood as a separate people,” Mr. Sumanthiran underscored. “The demand is not an either [development], or [political rights],” he said, emphasising that both are inextricably linked.
Democratic governance, he said, invariably translates to the “rule of the majority”, referring to the Sinhalese who are the numerical majority on the island. “The challenge has always been convincing the majority community that granting equal rights to a numerically minority community does not take away their rights.” Observing that the Tamil leadership had “failed to do this in the past”, Mr. Sumanthiran said the ITAK has now “refashioned” its candidates’ list to address this challenge.
On the performance of President Dissanayake’s National People’s Power [NPP] government so far, Mr. Sumanthiran said: “It has been a mixed record. The government made some very good appointments, including the Governor to the Northern Province. However, they appear to be going back on some of their key promises, like repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which is very disappointing”.
In the September presidential elections, the ITAK backed Mr. Dissanayake’s chief rival, then Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa. However, some of its members including Mr. Sumanthiran have openly expressed willingness to work with President Dissanayake on issues like eliminating corruption. Although the government is yet to clearly spell out its specific proposal for power devolution, the NPP manifesto has pledged to take forward the drafting process of a new constitution that began in 2015. “That would be a very welcome move, because that draft has a sound framework for a political solution,” Mr. Sumanthiran said.
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