Reality Check

Since Gotabaya Rajapaksa seized the reins of power as the President of Sri Lanka, the island nation has been embroiled in a dangerous wave of majoritarian politics fuelled by the Sinhala Buddhist nationalist ideology. It is difficult to isolate this trend from the country's checkered history of ethnic-based internal strife. The shrinking political space for religious and ethnic minorities under the Rajapaksa clan heralds the revival of Sinhalese hegemony in Sri Lanka. Political analysts have also raised concerns about the resurgence of the Sinhalese-dominated exclusionary system that resulted in the Tamil insurgency in 1976. After the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) was defeated in 2009, the threat of a separatist insurgency in the country has waned. The ruling elite, who are governing the country through policies of elected authoritarianism, appears to be taking advantage of the situation and resurrecting old political divisions. The 20th Amendment, which was passed in October 2020, has acted as a catalyst for this process as it seeks to concentrate power in the hands of the president and strengthen Sinhalese domination.

At this critical juncture, Sri Lanka’s ruling elite needs to reassess its political priorities and forsake all ethnic-based battles. While over a decade has passed since the Tamil insurgency was quashed in Sri Lanka, the memory of the conflict remains fresh in the hearts and minds of the country’s Tamil populace. The extent of the simmering hostilities can be gauged from the criticism levelled against a forthcoming biographical film on the life of former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan. It has been many years since the former professional cricketer voiced his support for the government that carried out the Tamil genocide. Yet, his problematic allegiances have been forever embossed in public memory. Although the conflict ended a long time ago, the battle lines remain drawn in advance and it isn’t easy to remain neutral on the matter. Sri Lanka’s Tamil population has already been edged out of the mainstream through incessant reminders that they are migrants from Tamil Nadu, India, instead of being a sub-national minority. Any attempt to weaken the political rights of the Tamil populace and support a nationalist agenda that establishes the hegemony of Sinhalese-Buddhists will only widen the extent of polarization.

However, the ruling elite aren’t entirely to blame for the mistreatment of the Tamil populace in Sri Lanka. A vast majority of Tamil political parties have struggled to reach a political consensus on how to tackle the surge in Sinhalese nationalism. More often than not, their attempts to persuade the government to address their demands have been somewhat piecemeal. Even so, their inability to have their demands met is aligned closely with the ignorance shown towards them by previous Sinhalese-dominated governments. The 13th Amendment of Sri Lanka’s constitutional framework is in desperate need of revision. In an explainer published in The Hindu, Meera Srinivasan believes the 13th Amendment is the only provision that has Sri Lanka facing “long-pending Tamil question” at its epicenter. The provision guarantees the option of devolving powers to the provinces, which is an integral solution amid the spate of Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarian politics. At its core, the 13th Amendment permits the creation of provincial councils. But these councils struggle to operate autonomously and are subject to interventions from the centre. In addition, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, have little to say on the matter at this stage.

The fear of majoritarian politics appears all the more distressing because the Rajapaksas are closely affiliated with the country’s military. The armed forces, which are dominated by the Sinhalese majority, are vehemently opposed to any attempt to devolve powers to the provinces. General Kamal Gunaratne, who played a critical role in securing Gotabaya’s 2019 electoral win, has been appointed as defence secretary and the chairperson of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka. A quick glance at Gunaratne’s accomplishments reveals that he was pivotal in the final stages of the conflict against the LTTE. The president’s decision to appoint him as the head of a national regulatory agency and defence secretary reflects the burgeoning role of the armed forces in the political domain. As a result, any effort to facilitate decentralization policies in the island nation may either be reversed or put on the backburner.

The growing suspicion surrounding the Tamil population’s demand for the devolution of powers indicates the extent to which Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalism is supported by notions of a unitary state. The 20th Amendment will lead the country a step closer to this system of governance, albeit at the cost of removing checks and balances on the president’s powers. It remains to be seen whether the status quo will bode well for the economy. For now, the rose-tinted view of the revival of Sinhalese-Buddhist dominance seems to be the order of the day. Once nostalgia falls away and reality checks lead to rude awakenings, the situation might be quite different.