federalidea.com

By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe

Sinhala Buddhist supremacy remains the basic character and essence of the Sri Lankan state, even though there have been some grudging recognition of Tamil also as an official language. This defining character of the state contains several decisive political implications and explosive consequences. One fateful implication is that Lanka is exclusively the land of the Sinhala Buddhists. That is to say, only the Sinhala-Buddhist nation has an exclusive claim to the land and the right to form a state. It implies that there is but one nation, and that is the Sinhala-Buddhist nation. All other identities are to be tolerated as alien ethnic minorities.

This definition of the Sri Lankan social formation effectively negates the historically evolved character of all other identities as distinctive nationalities. It denies equality of status to the Tamil nation living predominantly in the north-east, the Tamil nationality living predominantly in the hill country and the Muslim nationality living in non-contiguous areas throughout the country. It also denies equality and dignity to the Hindu, Christian, Islamic and other ethnic-religious communities. This definition effectively subordinates all other identities to the hegemony of the Sinhala-Buddhist nation and its state.

The truth is that this ideology is based on a gross falsification of history. The Tamil people have also cohabited the north and the east historically from ancient times. This is an indisputable fact.Sri Lanka is equally their home. The fact that they are numerically a minority does not negate the fact that they too have an equal claim to regard Lanka as their traditional homeland.

However, even though having to grudgingly acknowledge the fact that the Damila people of the north and east have also cohabited this land from ancient times, this ideology claims that they were always subordinated to the dominance of the Sinhala-Buddhist centralised unitary state except when occupied by Dravidian “invaders.”

The interpretation of external (alien) invasions by Dravidian kingdoms is a modern invention. The fact is that at that time, Lanka was part of a larger political, economic and cultural region connected by two dominant trading centres — Mathurai and Thambapanni. There was as much integration and multi-cultural linkages between South India and Lanka than there was separateness.

There were political, economic and cultural linkages that interpenetrated to form a distinct regional identity formation. Invasions and occupations as well as cultural interpenetration through cohabitation and marriage among various kingdoms and empires occurred as an internal phenomenon. The Ven. Mahanama, author of the great historical chronicle — the Mahavamsa, nowhere refers to ‘alien’ invaders and particularly in the case of the Dravidian King, Elara. Indeed, he recounts with great care, detail and concern how the Sinhala King, Duttagamini, decreed that the highest respects be accorded to this Damila king, whom he had vanquished through direct combat.

The notion that historically, the whole of Lanka was ruled under one unitary state is also a gross fabrication. Tamil kingdoms existed independently in the north and so did the various tribal chiefdoms throughout the Wanni and elsewhere. In fact, there existed several independent Sinhala kingdoms that had different dynastic lineages such as in Ruhunu, Maya, Pihiti and Malaya.

The last kingdom of Kandy was ruled by descendents of the Damila Nayakkar dynastic lineage. Even these kingdoms were not unitary in character but functioned as loosely held confederations. It is true that even under the reign of kings such as Dutugamunu and Wijeyabahu who reigned over the powerful states of Anuradhapura, and King Para- kramabahu in Polonnaruwa, these states remained a form of a loose confederation of independent kingdoms and chiefdoms. Even in these times, the various units retained their distinctive character and independence. Tamil kingdoms and chiefdoms remained Damila in structure, character and form, with their own distinctive language, religion, laws, customs, norms, rituals and social practices. There was never a unitary Sinhala-Buddhist state that exercised undisputed hegemony over all others. The centralised unitary state is a creation of British colonialism forged through blood and betrayal. It is defended only by those who seek to perpetuate archaic colonial hierarchies and privileges.

It is true that the Sinhala-Buddhist identity has played a distinctive role in the formation of the Lankan social order. This truth is readily acknowledged. A glance at the historical landscape would attest to this fact. But recognition of this truth does not negate the fact that the Tamil people have also lived in this land since ancient times and have contributed integrally to the formation of a shared Lankan civilisation.

It does not negate the fact that they have shared territory, tilled the soil, shed their blood, sweat and tears to nourish this land. It cannot negate the fact that the Damila nation, formed as part of the great Dravidian civilisation also forms a distinctive cultural tradition. The Muslim people came later, married and settled in this land. They too made this land their home. They also contributed towards the formation of a shared Lankan identity.

Then the hill country Tamil workers were conscripted by the British colonial power as a plantation labour force. They too shed their blood, sweat and tears to nourish the land and the people of Lanka. They too made Lanka their home. The people of Lanka, made up of all these nationalities, have contributed in building the foundations of the modern Sri Lankan nation.

There is not a single person in Lanka who can claim that they descend from a pure race. The Aryan/Dravidian racial dichotomy is a perverted construct of British colonialism. These concepts scientifically refer to ancient linguistic families and traditions which themselves have been formed through cultural interpenetration.

Yet, these concepts and definitions are being used by ignorant chauvinist ideologists to project racial superiority and hegemony. We have all evolved from a shared multi-cultural tradition. This is the source of our pride and strength as a nation. It is not true to claim that Lanka is exclusively the property of the Sinha- layas. Nor does the status of the Sinhala-Buddhist nation as the preponderant majority, nor recognition of its unique and distinctive contribution constitute a basis for exercising any form of hegemony. It forms the basis for a pluralist political order and culture that derives its essence and purpose from the richness and strength of its diversity.

The argument for exercising the hegemony of a Sinhala-Buddhist unitary state is promoted by a group of highly privileged chauvinists who wish above all to preserve and perpetuate their power and privilege even at the cost of destroying our shared traditions and foundations in a bloody theatre of perpetual war! This is the ideology enshrined in the Mahinda Chinthana.

The Mahinda Chinthana is a product of a particular history. It is the culmination of the state and nation building project crafted by the British as a prerequisite for transferring state power to its chosen and trusted lackeys in the form of the indigenous ‘comprador’ capitalist ruling class.

This local comprador ruling class is comprised predominantly of the most powerful, wealthy, high caste Govigama Sinhala feudal landlords and capitalists groomed by the British to replace them, in partnership with Tamil and Muslim compradors. This comprador ruling class is mainly represented today by the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) are in the game of rivalling them as the sole defenders of the unitary Sinhala-Buddhist comprador state, as their way of seizing state power. All these parties have staked their claim to state power as the one, true defenders of the hegemonic, chauvinist, unitary Sinhala-Buddhist state.

All of them have taken turns in upholding the hegemony of the Sinhala-Buddhist state and in ruthlessly suppressing the national-democratic rights of the Tamil and Muslim nationalities and other communities, including the hill country Tamil nationality. Mahinda Chinthana is a culmination and crystallisation of the ideology and politics of this comprador ruling class. It is a culmination and a crystallisation in that the Mahinda Chinthana and the present regime openly avows and advocates a centralised, unitary, theocratic, fundamentalist Sinhala Buddhist state surpassing all others.

It seeks to institutionalise this fundamentalist, theocratic state in a manner that qualitatively surpasses all previous regimes. However, it is merely following in the tradition of all other regimes that have ruled before. All successive regimes and their various coalitions, without exception, have acted to intensify the suppression of the national-democratic rights of the national minorities while propping up the centralised, hegemonic chauvinist, comprador state and the ruling class.

The nearly six decades of neo-colonial politics of division and supremacy, of systematic and intensifying subordination and violent suppression of fundamental human and democratic rights, have brought us to the threshold of yet another decisive historic conjuncture.

Either we can dismantle the centralised, hegemonic, chauvinist, feudal-colonial unitary state and begin constructing a modern, democratic pluralist state that belongs to, and is shared by all nationalities and communities of Lanka and achieve peace — or we can choose to hold on to the unitary state and live in a perpetual state of terror, horror, misery and war while the country continues to decompose and disintegrate under a defunct and corrupt state and political system imposed on us by the colonial power, and perpetuated by the global imperialist order.

The Tamil nation living predominantly in the north-east have the right of national self-determination to decide their future, as does the Sinhala nation. Neither the Sinhala nation nor its state has the right to determine their future nor dictate their destiny.

And so it is with the hill country Tamil nationality and the Muslim nationality and all other ethnic-religious communities. Voluntary union is the basis for building a modern, democratic state and a united people. The state has the supreme obligation and responsibility to present the constitutional framework for sharing this land as equal and integral partners of the one indivisible people of Lanka.

It is infantile to define the problem simply and exclusively as one of militarily defeating separatist terrorism. This is an expression of Neanderthal minds and of bankrupt politics of the worst kind. The real challenge is to present a set of constitutional proposals that will make division and separatism unnecessary and impossible, where all nationalities and communities will find common refuge and joy in being part of the one indivisible and invincible Lanka!