Nationalisms

 

An annual commemorative event to remember Thiyagi Thileepan at University of Jaffna this year. 

By Dr. Selvy Thiruchandran

The recent interpretations given by journalists and others for the Tamil voters in the north and east voting for the National People’s Power (NPP) and not for Tamil nationalists prompted me to write this to express my take on those views from a more pragmatic point of view. 

Before getting into the crux of the matter, I wish to make a detour in order to take note of the subject of the title of this article. Why do I say nationalisms instead of nationalism? 

In Sri Lanka, we have two nationalisms, one of the majority Sinhalese, popularly known as Sinhala Buddhist nationalism, and the other Tamil nationalism. Why do we speak of Buddhist nationalism? And why didn’t a Tamil Hindu or Tamil Saivite nationalism arise? 

Conceptualising nationalism

Nationalism essentially means devotion to the interest of a particular nation. In countries under the political and economic domination of colonial powers, aspirations arose out of not only domination but also of oppression. 

In Ceylon and lately Sri Lanka, the sense of nationalism that arose during rebellions and protests against the Portuguese and British by the Sinhalese could be taken to mean Ceylonese nationalism during colonial domination. But this kind of nationalism was temporary and short-lived. 

In my view, nationalism should also be understood as inward looking and include the aspirations to cleanse the nation of its evils such as inequalities and denial of equal rights and status to all its subjects. 

The Indian nationalist movement, apart from its virulent anti-colonial stand, also paid a great deal of attention to the caste issue and gender discrimination and oppression. E.V. Ramasamy (popularly known as the Periyar, the great man) linked the caste issue to his brand of nationalism. The Indian National Congress advocated for the abolition of ‘sati’ (burning of widows on the funeral piers of their dead husbands) and advocated widow remarriage, which was then prohibited by shastras and social injunctions. 

Kumari Jayawardena has demonstrated how nationalism and feminism arose simultaneously in many South Asian and East Asian countries through her book ‘Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World’.

In Ceylon/Sri Lanka, we do not see such a convergence with nationalism (I stand to be corrected on this). 

The Jaffna Youth Congress may be an exception with its demand for ‘poorna swaraj’ (complete self-rule)’. Not being in favour of the piecemeal legislative mechanisms proposed by the Colebrooke and Donoughmore Commissions, it took up issues relating to caste oppression and gender equality, such as abolition of the dowry system. 

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had also paid some attention to these two issues. The Tamil nationalists from the Federal Party onwards turned a blind eye to social evils. This analysis summarises my view of conceptualising nationalisms and their inadequacies of expression.

The rise of Tamil nationalism

We, however, still have other negative concepts of nationalism in Ceylon/Sri Lanka. History has witnessed how counter-nationalisms developed. Sinhalese majoritarian discrimination and even oppression, enacted through various legislative measures to render the Tamils as second-class citizens, such as standardisation and ‘Sinhala Only’ (in 24 hours, an ill-considered, politically unsavoury, and provocative idea), were meant to maintain a superior class of Sinhalese citizens, giving them opportunities and choices to climb the socioeconomic ladder. 

The various communal riots from 1958 to 1983 – a few even planned and executed by the political set-up – and the heinous act of burning the Jaffna Public Library drove the Tamils to nationalism, growing and increasing in its content and application as counter to the calculated oppression inflicted upon them. 

This nationalism culminated unfortunately in the rise of the LTTE, which took merciless violence as its weapon against Sinhalese chauvinism and oppression. A missing point in this whole scenario is that it was not the Sinhalese state alone that legislated against the Tamils, but how some Sinhalese people also joined in attacking innocent Tamils, murdering them and burning their properties. 

Over time, there developed a kind of misology among many Tamil nationalists against any kind of reasoning against this stand on the Sinhalese, even when there were attempts to please the Tamils. There were (and still are) many Sinhalese people sympathetic to the grievances and sufferings the Tamils underwent. Finally, the Tamils were driven to the LTTE as their saviour.

This is perhaps an unhappy chapter in the history of our country. The majority of Tamils have become deaf to the human rights violations and wrongdoings of the LTTE and blind to their ultra-violent means of dealing with dissent. This then became the Tamil nationalism of the Tamil nationalists until the LTTE was militarily defeated, but the lingering presence of the LTTE was still to continue to be seen in some quarters.

The NPP as an alternative

The question that now begs an answer relates to why and how it happened that the majority of the Tamil people rejected the Tamil nationalists and voted for the NPP. Have they abandoned their Tamil nationalism? Instead of answering the question relating to whether they have abandoned this ‘nationalism,’ I will attempt to answer the question as to why it has happened.

To answer this question also, we have to delve into history. For several decades, the Tamil nationalists were unable to solve their problems which ranged across many issues – economic, political, and social. Seeking out the Indian Government, which was presented as a major saviour, didn’t help in moving towards solving this problem. 

Lastly, the most important reason that compelled the people to reconsider relying any further on the Tamil nationalists was the intense internal quarrels and feuds among them – the divisions that had become a public scandal. They were believed to be self-serving politicians seeking their own interests of clinging to power at any cost. 

Civil society interventions at times did not help to resolve the problems of infighting and quarrels. All these had been going on for some time, rather than just shortly before the elections. 

The voters finally decided to give up and try some other means and the NPP provided a golden opportunity. Credit should also go to the NPP for its charismatic leader and the nationalist programme it put out. The Tamils are now ready to try out something that seems an option.

Concluding my thesis, having given the reasons for people shutting out the Tamil nationalists, I do not buy the theory that the Tamils have given up their ‘nationalism’ – it will raise its head and history will repeat itself. If the NPP ceases to follow a non-discriminatory agenda, one could expect to see Tamil nationalism raising its head.

Most importantly, what the Tamils have realised, in my view, is that there will be no solution to their problems unless and until they unite with the Sinhalese and think in terms of a national programme, and obtain the support of right-thinking liberal and Leftist Sinhalese politicians. 

I supported the NPP for two reasons. The first was on account of its having abandoned violence as a problem-solving device and entered the mainstream parliamentary process. Secondly, I was impressed by a national outlook not subscribing to the so-called Sinhala Buddhist ideology. 

Perhaps there are many Tamils and Sinhalese who also think likewise and are hoping for a happy nation to evolve, shelving nationalisms underground.

(The writer is a former Commissioner of the Right to Information Commission and holds a PhD in cultural anthropology)