Sri Lanka: Lessons from a divided nation

Sri Lankan politics since 1948 has taken many roads, with its Sinhala nationalism being intact. But for the first time in the post-independent history of Sri Lanka, it has chosen the arterial path - Sinhala nationalism as a potential cover for ethnic chauvinism and absolutism.

There is only one way the politics in Sri Lanka can move forward with little room for return. The only exit road in this one-way is the potential turnaround that Sinhala politicians are capable of delivering through a familiar call for restoring democracy.

Five fears have long gripped Sri Lanka: fear of survival for other communities, including the Tamils, Muslims and Christians, fear of excessive militarisation and ethnocentrism of the Sinhala polity, fear of authoritarianism combined with centralisation of power, and fear of economic collapse.

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It is essential to recognise that the people of Sri Lanka have not been able to address these fears due to ethnonationalism, and ultimately the debt crisis has revealed the extent of damage in the system. This is a systemic crisis, and the management of the present economic situation requires credible political leadership and an inclusive approach to governance. It is time we begin to evaluate the impact of corruption, authoritarianism, and ethnic chauvinism not only on the overall polity but also on the steady process of exclusion, denial and the complete disappearance of accountability mechanisms in the system.

Sri Lanka has been going through the revolving phases of authoritarianism, feudal elites rule with the majoritarian ethos of democracy, ethnic chauvinism in the name of Sinhala nationalism, ruthless fascism through enforcing oppressive fear and coercion among the Sinhalese, organised State violence against the Tamils and growing discrimination of Muslims.

This is the gamut of democracy that Sri Lanka revolves around, with little reflection on the consequences or impact on its fragile polity. Sri Lanka has been a rogue state with no respect for the rule of law or accountability towards its own people and the international community while drafting a new constitution and introducing amendments to empower the president or prime minister with more powers depending on the shifts in loyalties of power horses in the political spectrum remains a national pastime for over seven decades now.

Although Sri Lanka possesses a robust civil society, Sinhala chauvinism and mob psyche make up the core values of political culture and as the bedrock of Sinhala polity. The high and low tides of these eternal core values serve as a constant phenomenon in association with other overwhelming contemporary issues (like the Easter Sunday bombings on April 21, 2019), producing the electoral results as the Sinhala politicians manoeuvre the political arithmetic and compete in the name of democracy.

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The role and authority of the Buddhist Order are critical to the political functions of either stirring or taming the eternal core values such as Sinhala chauvinism and the mob psyche. This is a function of mutual interest to the basis of the coalition and mutual patronage between the State and Buddhist Order in Sri Lanka.

What Adolf Hitler did alone, and as leader of the Nazi Party, the Rajapaksas as a family have done it collectively, complementing each other and their positions of power. A family of power clones like cloned phones with different quality components accompanied by the functions of hackers. Adolf Hitler rose to power as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and then as Fuhrer in 1934. He was the head of the government, head of the State and head of the party.

After consolidating the power and functions of the State, he converted the Weimer republic into Nazi Germany through his autocratic and totalitarian methods without wavering from his core aim of the elimination of Jews. Eelam-IV war is a revelation of the Sinhala-Tamil ethnic conflict prevailing in Sri Lanka and the brutal military solution forced upon the Tamils.

The genocide of Tamils, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Sri Lankan government and its leadership in May 2009 is a testimony to the core objectives of the Rajapaksas. Successive Sri Lankan governments from 1995 to 2009 have spent US$4 billion in pursuing a brutal military solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government continues to spend more money on the military without a political resolution to the ethnic situation and further aggravates the religious polarisation of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka.

The seeds of authoritarianism, feudal family ties in power and absolutism of power have taken deep roots and spread like cancer in Sri Lankan politics with more vindictive and narrow outcomes. The successive mandate for the Rajapaksas since 2005 and their unabashed demonstration of family rule combined with their dark bands of ruthless violence, criminalisation and absolutism are revelations of deeper malice and frustrations in the polity.

The genocide of Tamils, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Sri Lankan government and its leadership in May 2009 is a testimony to the core objectives of the Rajapaksas.

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The fascism of Mussolini and Nazism of Hitler had attributed certain unique functions and hollow supremacy to the State while they enjoyed all the powers as sovereign heads. Similarly, the criminalisation of politics by the Rajapaksas with functions like genocidal violence against the Tamils, disappearances of Sinhala dissent, white van culture, corruption, constitutional amendments, and ruthless absolutism generate fear and obedience from all.

There was only one Hitler in Germany, and also the fact that Hitler did not have any family or even children to claim his legacy. The phenomenon of Sinhala chauvinism combined with the absolutism of the Rajapaksas wrapped inside the mask of Sinhala nationalism informs the deep malaise in the system.

The refusal of Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign; the confidence of Mahinda Rajapaksa in asking the people to be more patient when people are wandering without food, medicine, fuel and educational kits, and the inability of the opposition to offer a credible alternative leadership at this critical stage are conditions familiar to Asian democracies. But the realities are close to home in India for us to neglect the lessons from the current economic situation. While India may be able to absorb the economic crisis because of its inherent and multiple qualities, it is important for us to develop and address the political, socio-religious, and ethnic conflicts in a more inclusive manner.

We are also faced with threats to our polity due to growing intolerance, majoritarianism, religious divide, lack of sufficient political empathy and understanding of the Kashmir dilemma beyond the Pakistan factor; disparities in income and development, marginalisation of the poor, the red corridor, State-sponsored corporate capitalists with control and power to define the course of the economy, centralisation of power, human rights violations in the Northeast, including the refusal to withdraw the AFSPA, authoritarian ethos, partisan media, corruption, lack of political accountability and the absence of minimal remorse to acknowledge the failure of public policies with the devastating impact upon the people and economy like the sudden demonetisation drive, the steady privatisation of public properties including ports, airports and railways and the gradual appropriation of public space and silencing of civil society in politics.

The fundamental difference between India and Sri Lanka is the nature, spirit, and the working of our respective constitutions. We, in India, are deeply indebted to the vision, commitment and integrity of the drafters of the Indian constitution towards the principles of pluralism, diversity and inclusiveness as our political culture. The preamble of the Indian Constitution is both the spirit and process of our polity. Therefore, it is more important now than ever before to uphold and defend the idea of India and the vision of the drafters of the constitution.

(Prof Ramu Manivannan is a scholar-social activist in the areas of education, human rights and sustainable development through an initiative called "Multiversity")

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