Clash of Two Powerful Nationalisms

by T. Sabaratnam, The Bottom Line, Colombo, April 29, 2009

Moderate Tamils who believe in a negotiated settlement for the Sinhala-Tamil dispute are worried. The followers of Thanthai Chelva (S.J.V. Chelvanayakam) feel completely devastated.

The results of the Central and North Western Provincial Council elections showed clearly the Sinhala Buddhist and Tamil chasm and this columnist expressed his worry on February 18 with the headline: ‘Poll show the country divided.’

Saturday’s (April 25) poll for the Western Provincial Council demonstrates that the Sinhala-Tamil polarisation is almost complete.

The Daily Mirror headlined its editorial comment on Monday: ‘The Grand Polarisation,’ and warned that the ethnic divide will be strengthened further when the Southern Provincial Council election is held. It said: “From the point of view of the government… there is absolutely no need to change its nationalist ideological posturing…”

The government propaganda machine concentrated its campaign on the “wiping out of terrorism” and asked the people to endorse it by giving it an unprecedented mandate. The Sinhala people, especially the rural people have given it.

The ruling UPFA obtained its highest percentage of votes (75.89 %) from the Horana polling division, second highest (73.25%) from Bandaragama, and in Bulathsinghla (72.04%) and Agalawatte (71.03%) it scored over 70% of the votes polled. They are from the Kalutara District where 87% of the population is Sinhalese.

In the Gampaha District where the Sinhalese constitute 91% of the population the UPFA polled over 70% of the votes in the following polling divisions: Minuwangoda (73.47%), Attanagala (72.94%), Gampaha (75.29%), Mahara (73.32%) and Dompe (75.2%). In the Colombo District where Sinhalese form 76% of the population the UPFA polled over 70% in the rural polling divisions of Kaduwela (70.38%), Maharagama (71.24%) and Kesbawa (71.02%).

The UPFA won comfortably in most of the polling divisions where pockets of Muslims (Beruwela) and Christians (Negombo, Wattela and Dehiwala) live. This was possible because sections of Christians who always stood by the UNP shifted their support to the UPFA’s war effort and because the dispirited UNPers did not vote.

The UNP retained only five Colombo city polling divisions – Colombo North, Colombo Central, Colombo West, Colombo East and Borella. Of these the UNP scored the highest percentage of 61.62 in Colombo West. In the other four polling divisions, it managed to get around 50% of the votes only.

UNP Executive Committee member Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene said the Tamil and Muslims prevented the UNP from losing all the seats. Others including UNP Spokesman Lakshman Kiriella have kept silent about it. Instead, Kiriella spent his time at Monday’s press briefing playing with statistics to downplay the government’s electoral victory. He argued that only 39.4% of the registered voters had endorsed the government policy and the remaining 60.8% of the voters had voted for the opposition or refrained from voting.

What were they doing without mobilising their voters? Plotting? I spoke to several Tamils who did not vote and they told me that they are fed up with the UNP. They said the ‘reformists’ who are trying to oust Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe do not sympathise with the Tamil cause. They told me they do not trust Karu Jayasuriya, who joined the government to strengthen the war effort or Rukman Senanayake who never speaks about accommodating Tamil aspirations. For them Sajith Premadasa is no option.

The Tamils who voted for the UNP did not do so out of love for that party. They voted for Ram because of the service he did for the Tamil people and they voted for Mano Ganeshan’s three candidates, Praba Ganeshan, Kumara Kuruparan and S. Rajendran because he stands by the Tamil people. They rejected the other UNP Tamil candidates and the CWC and Upcountry People’s Party candidates who contested in the UPFA list.

CWC candidates T. Sellasamy and Vasantha Rohini and the UPA candidate K.T. Guruswamy polled around 3,000 votes each. The WPC polls have demonstrated that the revolt against these groups is enduring. Tamils have rejected the UPFA Tamil candidate T.C. Rajaratnam, a very popular person, because of their opposition to the government’s war policy. He polled only 1,292 votes.

The mandate the Sinhala people have given to the Mahinda Rajapaksa government to finish of terrorism has, as I have pointed out before, had produced an equal and opposite reaction among the Tamils. In the Western Province they demonstrated it by voting for the UNP or by abstaining. In Tamil Nadu Tamil nationalism released an emotional wave in support of the concept of creating a separate state called Eelam.

Last week I quoted from the ADMK election manifesto which said that the party would work for devolution of power to the Tamil majority provinces in Sri Lanka and would press for a separate state of Eelam, if that effort failed. That promise had fired the enthusiasm of the Tamil enthusiasts in Tamil Nadu and the Tamil Diaspora who for the first time see a possibility of the creation of a state for the Tamil people.

The ADMK Leader had seized upon that enthusiasm as a vote catcher and told an election rally in Erode on Sunday that the only way to make the Tamils live with equal rights and dignity is to create the state of Eelam. She said if she was able to determine the formation of the government in Delhi she would take the necessary steps for the creation of the state of Eelam. Tamil Diaspora has welcomed Jayalalitha’s statement and has assured her its support.

This new enthusiasm and the proposed propaganda campaign by film stars against the Congress in the 16 constituencies it is contesting in Tamil Nadu has created a difficult situation for Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram and the Manmohan Singh administration. Karunanidhi conducted a strike on Friday and fasted on Monday morning demanding the declaration of ceasefire in the Wanni. He ended the fast after Delhi assured him that Sri Lanka had declared a ceasefire.

In Colombo, Army said it had not declared a ceasefire but will not use heavy weapons or combat aircraft. The JVP had called that a betrayal and Vaiko has said Delhi was doing double acting and Karunanidhi was performing cinema stunts.
Two powerful nationalisms have been released among the Sinhalese and the Tamils and Colombo and Delhi will find it difficult to manage them.