Secretaryto resign,apartfromraisingthebogeyof a
“MuslimPrabakaran”, were allintended to project
himselfas the onewhocouldact quicklyanddecisivelyto
putdownterrorism.
PrimeMinisterRanilWickremesinghe, whotriedto
makeit seemas if he hadnothingto do withthe direction
in whichthe countrywasheading,is as deeplyambitious
as anyother politician in SriLankaandfancieshis
chancesas a candidate.
TheSinhalamajoritarianpolitywillkeepstoking
anti-Muslim sentiments because it will mean a
consolidation of the Sinhala votes. Both Mahinda
Rajapaksa andSirisena are eyeing thisvote bank.
Wickremesinghe is expectedto woothe minorities, as his
party, the UnitedNationalParty(UNP),has alwaysdone
withnewpromises.
UnlessRajapaksabreaks intothebaseof Sirisena’s
Sri LankaFreedomParty(SLFP)orfindsnewallies,his
candidatewillfind it difficult to win.Sirisenatoo has the
needto keephis old alliesorfind newones. Thatgameis
being playedoutin the country.
Thepresenceof the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh,
theVishwa Hindu ParishadandHindu mathsin Sri
Lanka willadda newdimension to thiselectionbecause
of the re-election of NarendraModiin India.
All these developments arein the shadowof a
superpower rivalrybetweenthe UnitedStatesandChina
in India’sbackyard.Modi’svisitin earlyJuneandthe visit
of U.S.Secretaryof StateMikePompeoin endJune
appear to be guidedby the needto steerthe Sri Lankan
statein a certaindirection.Chinahaspromised and
deliveredtechnicalsupportto SriLanka“tocombat
terrorism”,apartfromkeeping in closetouchwithmost
of thecountry’sleadingpoliticians. TheU.S.is taking
morethana passinginterestin Sri Lanka afterthe blasts,
and is activelyhelping SriLankan investigators in
piecingtogetherthe case.
China’sinterest stemsfromthe factthatSri Lankais
its pivot for the BeltandRoadInitiative in thispartof the
world(seestory on page26).Mostof theChinese
investments,such as theHambantota Development
ZoneandtheColomboPortCityproject,areprotected
fromthe politicalvagaries of the countrybecause of how
China haspositioned theseassets.TheColomboport
expansionis assuredof businessbecauseIndiausesit as a
majortransshipmenthub;thePortCitywill enable
China to movesomeof itsfinancialbusinessesfrom
volatile WestAsiato thesecludedandsecuredman-
made islandin Sri Lanka. BothHambantota andthe Port
CitywillserviceChinese interestsin East,Southand
partsof North Africa,apartfromprovidinga competitive
baseto businessesdesiringaccessto Africa.A stableSri
Lanka is in China’sinterest butis notfundamentalor
critical to its functioning.
Theneedto wintheDecemberelectionwillforce
politiciansto overlookthecriticalneedforcollective
healing of a violatedsociety. Thetappingof grief,anger
andfear,andchannellingthemtowardsa political goal,
which is the rootof identity politics,is second naturefor
thepoliticalclass in Sri Lanka.“Learninglessons”,
“buildingbridges”and“attemptingreconciliation”are
phrasesthatwereusedin thepost-war phasein Sri
Lanka. A decade later,thesearestillreservedfor the
annual intergovernmental showsin GenevaandNew
York. $ButtheterrorismthatwesawinAprilwas
different. It doesnothave anyideology. This
happenedbecause of theindoctrination of some
people. Thereason whythiswentundetected is
becausethisgovernmentwasnotdoing its job.
Onlynowtheyare orderingtheshuttingdown of
institutionsthatwere builtto impart extremist
thoughts. If thegovernmenthadbeenwatchful,
there wasno waythatthiswouldhavehappenedin
Sri Lanka.
If a personis in India,he isfirst an Indian,then
a Tamil[if he is of Tamilorigin]andthenbelongs
to a religion.Butin SriLanka,becauseof the
MuslimleadershipandthesouthernSri Lankan
[Sinhala]leadership, thislogichasbeenturned on
its head....TheyclaimthatMuslimis an ethnicity.
Do you thinkthat the general hatredand fear
of a wholecommunity will makethe Tamils
movetowardsthe Sinhalas at a politicallevel?
Thereis thatpossibility,buttheTamilleader-
ship[theTamilNational Alliance]standsin the
way.Therewasan editorialinVeerakesari[Tamil
newspaper] recently, whichsaidthatthepolitical
rightsanddevelopment shouldgo handin hand.
Thisis whatwe havebeensayingfor thepast 30
years.Wewerecalledtraitorsto theTamilcause
whenwe saidthis.
Havepeoplelost faithin the abilityof
politiciansto turnthe countryaround?
Thatis a fact. People areunhappyaboutthe
southern[Sinhala] rulers because of the economic
downturn, thelackof jobs,thegovernment not
fulfilling mostof the promises it made,andso on.
Theypromisedjobsto 10 lakhpeoplebutwerenot
ableto deliver. They initiallysaidthatMahinda
[Rajapaksa, former President] had amassed
wealth buttheywerenotableto proveanything.
Whatdo you see as a possiblesolutionto the
current problemsfacingSri Lanka?
We needa strongleadershipanda stable,func-
tioning government. Onlythencanthe problemof
terrorismbe solved.EventhoughMahinda Ra-
japaksa founda solution to the TamilTigersissue,
he didnotinspireconfidence in the Tamilpeople.
Thebreak[Mahinda’slossin the 2015elections]is
actually a goodexperience for him. He will nowdo
rightby the Tamilpeople.