Elangai Naganathan

With the end of the war in sight Sinhala opinion on the next step of the Nationalities Question (or “ethnic issue”, if you will) is firming up. At best it is in favour of the implementation of the 13th Amendment with the Concurrent List being devolved without conditions. At worst it is for the unitary state intact and inviolate.

I have had intimations from several quarters some of them being my very dear friends that Sinhala opinion is hardening on this issue. “Well”, they seem to say “you Tamils have tried your worst to destabilize our Sinhala state and our position in it as the de jure and de facto rulers of the country. Terrorism and conventional warfare have failed you. Now take what is offered and be done with it”.

The Nationalities Question, however cannot be put away so easily. I know that the term “nation” is denied by many sections of Sinhala opinion to the Tamils of the North and East. Instead “community” is offered as an alternative. “Nation” it seems is a concept reserved for the Sinhala people in Sri Lanka. This school concedes that the Tamils the world over are by the standard definition of the term entitled to nationhood, but their land space for exercising that claim is Tamilnadu – not Sri Lanka.

An interesting feature of this belief is that ironically its most vehement proponents are precisely the leaders of those communities whose inhabitancy of the island does not go back further than the 15th century. I refer to the K, the S, the D and all those artisan communities scattered over the south and west of the country whose “ge” names are redolent of a Dravidian origin and who began settling in this country in the latter stages of the Kotte era. The iron laws against miscegenation installed in the Sinhala social system have guaranteed that these latter – day additions to the Sinhala stock remain as pure-blooded and red-blooded Tamils as ever their forebears were. They may have been acculturated but not assimilated.

There is, therefore, a paradox in the Sinhala persona. The pluralism of Sri Lankan society is more complex than generally thought to be. It is intrinsic in the very concept of “Sinhala”. Who, indeed, is a “Sinhala”? As we have seen, there are several levels of Sinhala and some of them are vicarious if not spurious, but contain elements that are proportionately  ferocious in their Sinhala-ness.  This is the central dilemma facing particularly the more educated members of this group and which some of them have sought to sublimate by an intense anti Tamil paranoia.

This is true of the “Gang of Four” who broke up the consensus of the Special Panel on Constitutional Reform by their minority dissenting report and by carrying tales about the functioning of the panel to their leader. But as we have seen their role as presidential advisors-in-extra-ordinary is in question. Are they “Sinhala” ? Therein lies the rub. All this, however, begs the question of whether this group of advisors or their leader want a settlement of the question, whether constitutional or otherwise.  

The Tamils of the North and East may be “down” now, but they are not “out” yet. Bodily they maybe overcome, but in spirit they are not defeated. Like the Jews after 40 years in the desert of the Negev, the present generation of Tamils in the North and East have emerged after 30 years of warfare as hardy and warlike people, like the Sabras of Israel. Some Sinhalese may believe that the fragmentation of the Tamil body politic in the East today, is an omen for the rest of the Tamils, providing the government with more pawns for its political chess board. But this view ignores the most important stake – holders in the game, namely, the Tamil people. With the onset of normalcy the Tamil man thus far voiceless will once again take charge of his political destiny. Quite simply the Tamil man, woman and child will place their trust in the Grand Old Party, the Federal Party or its successors of today, as they did in the last general elections at which they freely voted in 1978, having returned a full slate for the TULF from all the Tamil constituencies, thus making Mr. Amirthalingam Leader of the Opposition.

“But what about the Muslim factor?”  some may be heard to ask. This approach ignores the realities. Firstly, both in the north and east, relations between Muslims and Tamils have always been good. In fact the retrenchment of the LTTE from the political scene erases the last barrier between the two parties by permitting the 5 lakhs of Jaffna Muslims who have been IDPs for the past two decades to return home. The Muslims not only of Tamilnadu but of all South India have traditionally enjoyed good relations with their Hindu neighbours. The Sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda and their feudatories straddled across much of present – day Andra Pradesh and Karnataka, extending to Tamil Nadu as well eg. the Nawabates of Arcot and the Carnatic. Tamil is a recognized language of the Holy Koran and its commentaries. It is taught at the famous Al Aqsar university in Cairo. Prominent Muslims both lay and clerical have been reputed for speaking Tamil as eloquently as the best Tamil speakers. Interested parties seeking to create discord between the Tamils of the North and East and the Muslims will be sadly mistaken.

The more relevant question is where will military victory leave the Sinhala people and government. The tide of anti-Sinhala sentiment is rising high in Tamilnadu and will reach the proportions of a tsunami. The favourite hunting ground of any South Indian state on the rise has been Sri Lanka – South India’s back yard.  That syndrome remains unchanged.

The recent Bombay bomb attack has shown that Central India is as vulnerable as the North. Pakistan is a ticking time bomb waiting, to explode at any moment. She is implacable as long as the right of self determination of the people of Kashmir is denied. The Congress Party’s resolution for Hindustani as the sole national language, instead of Hindustani and Urdu as the joint national languages of independent India created Pakistan. Urdu has been and still is in South India the lingua franca. It is the old story of “Two languages one nation; one language two nations”. When will the Sinhala ruling class ever learn?

The days of North Indian hegemony are numbered. Indian helplessness for two whole days with her 200 commandos facing just 12 Islamic youth in the Bombay bomb attack is unworthy of a great power. The Union of India will not survive such shocks and surprises for long. An Irredentist movement in the North and East of Sri Lanka will find a spontaneous echo in Tamil Nadu. That is about the last thing India will want to happen. The general reaction of the Sinhala people, particularly the government and its select advisors, to the end of the war will create a “Sudetenland” situation that can have but one ending, the fragmentation of the Sinhala state”.

There is also the factor of the Tamils of Indian Origin as they now style themselves. Proud of their Indian origin, they are no longer interested in identifying with the Sinhala state. The inhuman statelessness into which they were thrust by the repulsive Sirima – Shastri Pact has left behind bitter memories on both sides of the Straits that will come to haunt those responsible namely the SLFP and the Indian Congress, respectively. The new generation of the Tamils of Indian origin is burning its boats with the Sinhala unitary state and with it the baggage of its erstwhile power – hungry and money – grasping leaders. The Tamils of Indian origin have an international dimension, as their membership is to be found everywhere in the world. They have held several hugely successful congresses in different cities of their diaspora and are politically alive and active. They are a double-edged sword that could cut both ways – into the Indian Union and the Sinhala unitary state as well.

Unlike the Tamils of the North and East, who similar to the Sudeten Germans are demographically compact, the Tamils of Indian Origin, like the Germans of West Prussia and Poznan, are scattered, but where concentrated are found in the best tea -growing districts of Maskeliya and Nuwara Eliya. Every South Indian state in its expansionist phase has exhibited a fascination for practising a ‘Lebensraum’ in Sri Lanka. In fact the immigrant South Indian communities referred to previously may well represent the vestiges of previous experiments of a similar nature. In the context of the weakening of the Centre and the strengthening of the States in India, an ambitious South Indian leader may well avail of the opportunities latent in the “Sudetenland” and “West Prussian & Poznan” situations simmering in Sri Lanka, to execute an “Anschluss”.   

What can the Sinhala people and their government do in such a situation? Their only hope lies in an “Ausgleich” in the fashion of the celebrated instrument of that name of 1867 by which the stability of the Austrian empire was guaranteed by invoking the principle of Equalization on the basis of Parity, unconditional and unqualified.

An Ausgleich has the supreme advantage of being flexible and adaptable. There is no need to stick to the Dualist Austro – Hungercan model.  It can be Triplist or Quadruplist. Such an adaptation would firstly meet the claims of the Muslims and Tamils of South Indian Origin, not to mention the Kandyans. Secondly it would provide a stepping stone to a broader union with South India, of which the Sinhala people will be the best beneficiaries. After the Sethu Samudram Scheme is implemented there will be nothing left to take of Sri Lanka. From being a “back yard.,” she will become a  “back water” as well. The historic ports of the North and East will rise again and flourish; Those of the South and West will fall into desuetude.

The comprador, Import – Export economy installed by the British favouring the South and West will be shut down. The land – owning and capitalist classes that it nourished will be finished.

Under the classic Dual Monarchical model it was possible for the P.M. of Hungary, Count Felix Andrassy, to be Foreign Minister of Austria – Hungary. We can be guided by this precedent in devising a Dual or Triple Sovereignty in this country. An overarching level of government will be needed to provide a focal point for the union of the states, as was furnished in Austria by the Hapsburg emperor. Such a position could be rotational between the states. One could even contemplate a moveable capital – one time Kotte, other times Kandy, Maskeliya, Jaffna, Batticaloa or even Chennai. The possibilities, are limitless. For that matter, the Ausgleich template would serve the Union of India too, if the need arises.

Let the panel of experts be speedily reconvened and a quick constitutional revision be put in place, if the Sri Lanka state is to survive, let alone be stabilized. Let not the moment of triumph being savoured by all levels of Sinhala society and government. be turned into a moment of truth for them. 

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