The leaders of the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) believe that challenges to the government will arise mainly from communal and ethnic political forces. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who formally opened the first session of the new Parliament on November 21 and delivered his government’s policy statement, vowed that the politics of communalism and religious extremism would never be allowed to rise again.
He said that the parliamentary elections have shown a strong opportunity has now been created to build national unity, which has been a long-cherished wish in our country and that despite the different political ideologies, government will not give in to communal politics again.
Following that, Prime Minister Harini Amarasooriya, who opened the parliamentary debate on the President’s policy statement last week, warned that the government will not hesitate to suppress any attempt by defeated political forces to incite communalist divisions for political gain.
Similarly, several ministers, including the Cabinet Spokesperson Nalinda Jayatissa and Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara and NPP politicians said that there is no place for communal and religious politics in the country anymore. According to them, “The people have voted for the NPP, regardless of ethnic and religious differences. It is the prime responsibility of the government to prevent racism and religious extremism from being used for political agendas.”
This firm stance by the President and the government against ethnic and religious extremism, which have been a curse to Sri Lanka, is very gratifying. It was also evident that as an indication of government’s determination, immediate legal action was taken against those who posted on social media with the aim of inciting communalism, using visuals of events that took place during the recent Maveerar Day commemorations in the North and East.
Unlike previous elections, the last presidential and parliamentary elections did not witness communal propaganda by the main political parties. It is understandable that the government is keen to ensure that the situation continues. The leaders of the NPP see the overwhelming support given to them by the people throughout the country, including the North and East, as a mandate for building national unity.
But, the success of the government’s “declared war” against communalism and religious extremism entirely depends on the extent to which the leaders of the government show interest in finding practical and substantive solutions to the problems created by communalism and on the extent to which they are able to win the trust of the majority Sinhalese for that purpose.
At the same time, communal forces are waiting for opportunities to rise again. The overwhelming electoral victory of the NPP and the defeat of certain hard-line nationalist politicians cannot be construed as the defeat of communalism in the country. Those who understand the nature of communalism and its history in Sri Lanka will have no confusion about this.
Some Sinhala hard line nationalist politicians who could not tolerate the permission given by the government to the people of the north and east to commemorate their loved ones who lost their lives during the war, condemned the government.
Earlier, when the government took steps to remove some military camps in Jaffna and hand over the lands to the rightful owners, politicians like Namal Rajapaksa, the national organizer of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP ) warned that its actions would jeopardize national security.
However, unlike the previous rulers, the leaders of the NPP espcially the Minister of Public Security, Ananda Wijepala, justified the government’s action by insisting that the Tamils have the right to commemorate their relatives who died in the war.
This healthier attitude of government leaders should gradually extend to efforts to find a political solution to the national-ethnic problem.
In particular, the current situation, which government leaders describe as a golden opportunity to forge national unity beyond ethnic and religious differences, should also be used to gradually erase the deep-rooted opposition in South Sri Lanka to the legitimate political aspirations of minority communities, especially devolution of power.
Although the 13th Amendment, which was introduced to establish Provincial Councils following the July 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord, has been in the country’s constitution for 37 years, there is a mental barrier among the main political forces in the South not only to implementing it, but also to speaking about it among the Sinhala people.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the flagship party of the NPP, had opposed the 13th Amendment from the beginning, but over time it contested in elections and participated in the provincial council system. Although the position of the southern Sri Lankan polity is that the Provincial Council system was imposed on Sri Lanka by India, governments have been unable to abolish it.
If the Provincial Councils system had not been introduced as a result of an Accord with India, would we have ever seen any substantive devolution arrangement in Sri Lanka? In the history of the Tamils’ struggle for their political rights, all agreements entered by Tamil leaders with governments in the past were torn up due to the opposition from South Sri Lankan communal forces. The fact is that the Provincial Councils system has been left until today only because it was brought about as a result of Indian intervention.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake would not have forgotten what he said a few months before becoming President that if the Tamils wanted the Provincial Councils system as a solution to their problems, he had no problem in accepting it. The government no longer needs to consider the position of the Tamil political parties and their leaders, who have failed to lead the Tamils through a viable and sensible path after the end of the civil war, on the 13th Amendment and the Provincial Councils system.
Unless these Tamil parties change their line of thinking they risk further isolation from the Tamils. The leaders of Tamil parties, who have been regularly telling government leaders and Indian diplomats in Colombo that provincial council elections and the full implementation of the 13th Amendment should be held as a first step towards a lasting political solution, have done nothing more than that.
It is doubtful whether they have learned any lessons from the parliamentary election results this time.
Following the controversy over the comments made by JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva in recent media interviews on the future of the Provincial Councils, the leaders of the NPP have clarified that the Provincial Councils will remain until a new constitution is introduced.
However, for the past six years, no elections have been held for the Provincial Councils and they have remained under the administration of Governors, who are the representatives of the President. It was reported that President Dissanayake told the Ilankai Thamizharasu Katchi (ITAK ) Parliamentary Group that met with him last week that his government would hold Provincial Council elections by the end of next year.
However, it is not known if the ITAK Parliamentary Group insisted that the 13th Amendment be fully implemented. When they broached a political solution based on a federal system, President hinted that all such proposals will be considered when the new constitution drafting process begins.
But cabinet spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa told the weekly press conference last Tuesday that it would take three years to introduce a new constitution and that there would be ample opportunity to hold public dialogues on important issues the including provincial councils and devolution. He also mentioned that they have not taken any final decision regarding provincial councils.
Three years is a long time in politics. There may even be changes in the political situation during that intervening period. The United Front government led by Prime Minister Srima Bandaranaike, which introduced the first Republican Constitution in May 1972, would have brought it earlier had it not been for the 1971 April JVP insurrection. The United National Party (UNP) government led by President J.R. Jayewardene introduced the second Republican Constitution a little over a year after coming to office.
The constitution drafting process undertaken by the ‘ Yahapalanaya ‘ government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe lasted four years (2015-19) and ended with an interim report.
President Dissanayake promised in his election manifesto that the NPP government will complete the constitutional process and resolve the problems. Unlike his rival candidates Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sajith Premadasa, Dissanayake deliberately avoided mentioning the 13th Amendment in the manifesto.
Regarding the NPP government’s plan to introduce a new constitution, an interesting fact is that Dissanayake, who promised the people of the country that he would abolish the executive presidential system, will also remain in the presidency for three years.
Will the government, which claims to be introducing a new constitution, at least make the provincial councils function with the existing powers during the three-year period? The President has told the ITAK Parliamentary Group that provincial council elections will be held by the end of next year. In fact, the provincial council elections are the ones that should be held earlier than the local government elections as elections to PCs have not been held for six years.
The Elections Commission has been forced to hold local government elections as soon as possible in January or February next year, according to the judgment of the Supreme Court in last August. The Tamil parties have not shown interest in approaching the Judiciary against the delay in the provincial council elections.
The government should hold the provincial council elections without waiting until the end of next year, after the local government elections are over. It is important to make the provincial councils functional with full powers before bringing in the new constitution.
How can one expect a new constitution to provide for more powers than those contained in the 13th Amendment, when even those powers have not been fully implemented for 37 years?
There is reason to doubt whether the powers of the 13th Amendment will be fully incorporated into the new constitution. Indian leaders will bring the 13th Amendment and the issue of provincial councils to President Dissanayake’s attention during his talks in New Delhi next week. Let us hope that he will behave differently, instead of saying one thing in New Delhi and another in Colombo, as previous presidents did.
There is no point in President Dissanayake speaking out against communalism without using the current support he and the government is enjoying to take courageous steps to address the deep-rooted opposition of the people of Southern Sri Lanka to the legitimate political aspirations of the minority communities.
But first, NPP leaders must completely remove from their minds opposition to devolution of power, especially the 13 Amendment.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in Colombo)
