Nationalism, a decisive force of the modern and international politics is one of the most ambiguous terms existing due to lack of and difficulty in forming a proper definition. This difficulty is mostly rendered by the general acceptance of nationalism being a political movement. As a political movement with its known flexibility, it has embraced a variety of positions, from claims on democracy to the defense of most extreme forms of authoritarianism. This has deepened the ambiguity of the term. In 1950s in Asia and in 60s in Africa, nationalism was seen as a feature of the anti-colonial struggle. Originally, nationalism was entirely a product of the political history of Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. In Europe, nationalism was an attempt to make the boundaries of the state and those of the nation coincide, a new way in which people came to understand politics. French cosmopolitanism was the new system against which early nationalists reacted. Sri Lanka has experienced and is experiencing a massive surge of nationalist euphoria. This paper recounts the expansion of Sinhalese nationalism in the post-Independent Sri Lanka. It verbalizes the emergence of nationalism as the bigwig and the exclusive resort by pulling at the immunity of other political forces in the present day context.

Sinhalese nationalism goes back to the British period, when it was a part of anti-colonial struggle highlighted by Buddhist revivalism. Tamil and Sinhalese politicians, at first fought hand in hand to gain national freedom from the British. After the Independence, anti-colonial sentiments were transformed into those of anti-minorities. Anti- Tamil sentiments surpassed other antagonistic outlooks towards Muslims, Burghers and Males. Majoritarian politics practiced by the Sinhalese politicians alienated Tamil politicians who wished to participate in political activities in Independent Sri Lanka. Political isolation experienced by the Tamils expedited the growth of Tamil nationalism and consequently instigated a Tamil separatist struggle. All the respective governments which were formed after Independence launched different kinds of projects under different banners to pacify the ethnic majority in terms of employment, land and language. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is marked as the pioneer to recognize the power of nationalism as a political weapon: populist politics as means of disguising their incapability to address crucial problems while assuring political victory. His discovery was embraced by most of the politicians who followed in line in varying degrees. More political parties emerged such as JVP, JHU and JNP which are reliant on their sole weapon- on hard-line Sinhalese nationalism as means of winning elections. Those who assert themselves as radical liberators such as JVP and LTTE directly contributed to the formation of ground for Sinhalese nationalism to flourish and sustain. It has reached the climax today. Today, this use of nationalism has become a fashion, an epidemic.

As indicated above, diversity associated with nationalism, presence of many typologies of nationalism, its manipulate-able character makes it difficult to work with. As one may wander, what’s wrong with being a nationalist? Is it dreadful to be proud of one’s country, language, race, culture? To be or not to be a nationalist is a right of the individual and whether one accepts or not, every individual is a nationalist at a stage of her/his life. However, once it crosses the limits of the individual and becomes a foundation for deprivation, divisiveness, and destruction and detrimental to others, even nationalism becomes a negative phenomenon. Rabindranath Tagore, poet-cum-Nobel Laureate who once was an Indian freedom fighter only to get disheartened by seen the negative aspect of nationalism postulates, “with the growth of nationalism, man has become the greatest menace to man” (Creative Unity, 1922). He continues to illuminate on the evils of nationalism as follows.
“Crowd psychology is a blind force. It can be utilized for creating a tremendous amount of power. And therefore rulers of men, who, out of greed and fear, are bent upon turning their peoples into machines of power, try to train this crowd psychology for their special purposes” (Creative Unity, 1922).
In The Home and the World, his anti-nationalist, anti-revolutionary novel, Tagore brings out obsession of nationalism which is a source of war, hatred through two of his characters Nikhil and Sandip. Nikhil, though a patriot would not place nation above truth and conscience states “I am willing to serve my country; but my worship I reserve for Right which is far greater than country. To worship my country as a god is to bring curse upon it” (29) whereas Sandip, a charismatic but unreasonable, to whom any action in the name of the nation is right, regardless of truth and justice, declares, “country’s needs must be made into a god” (61), and one must “set aside . . . conscience . . . by putting the country in its place” (224) (The Home and the world, 1915).

Nationalism of realpolitik is a highly exploited tool in Sri Lanka. Under the regime of Mahinda Rajapakse, nationalism has accumulated another vicious dynamic: it has been successful in spreading its tentacles and plaguing morality, good governance and above all one’s freedom. It has taken the form of an epidemic. With the ascendance of nationalism as the root of electoral victories, all Sri Lankan politicians are attempting to incorporate features of nationalism into their political agendas. They try to cater to the majority. UNP, one of the two biggest mainstream parties after loosing a series of elections at a stretch, is moving towards nationalist policies with the hope of winning elections in future. In the meantime, Tamil politicians have started to flock around the ruling government. This is despite the fact that ordinary Tamil people have started to refuse Tamil politicians who have amalgamated with the UPFA. This growing distance unveiled in the recent Provincial Council elections in Central and North Western Provinces when not even a single candidate representing ethnically minority groups was elected from either of the two Provinces. Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, even though a novice in practicing democratic politics, has understood the Sinhalese nationalist forces behind Sri Lankan politics. He joined with the SLFP accepting a ministerial portfolio stating that the “present government will be in power for decades and Tamil politicians in small political parties should rally around President Mahinda Rajapaksa…” (in an interview with Sunday Observer, March 01, 2009). He set a bad example.

To trace the words of Tagore again, “[w]e can not but hold firm faith that this Age of Nationalism, […] is only a passing phase in civilization, and those who are making permanent arrangements for accommodating this temporary mood of history will be unable to fit themselves for the coming age, when true spirit of freedom will have sway” (Creative Unity, 1922). Even supposing nationalism is temporal, the damage it causes is irreparable. Example set by Karuna Amman by joining with the SLFP and measures taken by other political parties such as UNP to grip elements of Sinhalese nationalism would alienate the moderates. It would create a political imbalance in the country. Tamil politicians would be irrelevant in the face of Tamils, leaving them little option but to resort to militancy. Gross price of compliance and cheap politics would be too high to pay!

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