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Merry-go-round - The Tamil story II

The 1972 Republican Constitution promulgated by the United Front Government led by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike which was the first to cut off the apron strings which bound Sri Lanka to the British monarchy has often been charged in hindsight with neglecting the aspirations of the Tamil people and what is more serious driving them to demand a separate state. The charge has often been made by Tamil and Left opinion alike that by recognising the unitary character of the state and according to the foremost position to Buddhism, this Constitution had been responsible for alienating the Tamils.

However what has to be borne in mind is that this Constitution was framed under different historical circumstances. The Tamil insurgency was still in the womb of history and it was the insurrection led by the JVP in 1971 which was in the foreground of the mind of the constitution-makers. Of course a Constitution is not framed for the short-term but it is inevitable that the dominant political and social forces of a given time should influence its framing.

While the Tamil insurgency was yet to explode the dominant Tamil politics of the time was pathetically reactionary. The Federal Party even went to the extent of supporting a resolution proposed by Mr. J.R. Jayewardene urging the right to private property.

However what is more important is that there was nothing in that Constitution which militated against the rights of the Tamil people. On the contrary the Directive Principles of State Policy which were a revolutionary breakthrough which were incorporated and recognised for the first time in that Constitution were flexible enough to accommodate any of the just rights of the Tamil people and address their reasonable grievances.

However the 1978 Constitution of President Jayewardene which was introduced after hasty tinkering with its 1972 predecessor after the emergence of the cry for a separate Tamil state and after the TULF had become the principal Opposition party did nothing to address the grievances of the Tamil people which the UNP itself had recognised and itemised only the previous year.

There was no attempt at even a modest decentralisation of power. When after the anti-Tamil riots which followed the Government's advent to power and the failure to put down the action of armed Tamil youth through military means the Government did introduce District Development Councils it was too little too late. Even the bona fides of this scheme were brought into question when mass rigging took place at these elections allegedly led by some Cabinet Ministers and a ballot box was discovered under a bed at the Subhash hotel, a popular hostelry of the time.

The rest of the story we dealt with in these columns on Tuesday and Wednesday.

This brings us to square one. The only viable alternative to a separate state is the Constitution proposed by the PA which is still on the table and which the Government believes the generality of the people in the South will accept as a reasonable alternative.

The LTTE has rejected this and this appears also to be the stand of the Tamil National Alliance. The UNP meanwhile hugs its Interim Administration to its bosom and assures the Mahanayakes that under a UNP regime Little Red Riding Hood will be quite safe from the Big Bad Wolf. So where do we go from here?

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