Another lease of life for grassroots democracy

Democracy is considered to be of numerous varieties but minus the empowerment of all, the word is a mere slogan. It is this empowerment which democracy, captured in its essence, is all about. Accordingly, states could not rest content until they ensure the consolidation of democratic institutions in the remotest grassroots.

In the case of Northern Sri Lanka, it is a case of rejuvenating grassroots democracy. Very soon more than some 20 local government institutions will be going to the polls in the province and this is something to celebrate. For, over 20 years, grassroots democracy lay crippled in the region with the raging conflict making the conduct of democratic practices totally impossible. Needless to say, such paralysis dovetailed perfectly with the LTTE’s sinister ploy of keeping the Northern people helpless and powerless. If democracy is empowerment of the people, then its total absence is their complete enslavement and powerlessness. This was what the Tigers sought and the deactivation of democracy was perfectly in keeping with their aims.

However, the current administration under President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has not only eliminated the LTTE and saved the Northern citizenry from its clutches, but has made it possible to revive local and provincial government in the North. These were considerations which never, apparently, entered the minds of previous administrations. At one time we had a District Minister for Jaffna, but we wonder whether this notable ever visited the district. Democracy in the North was allowed to wilt and die.

It is also now history that an administration of the early eighties looked the other way while democratic institutions were savaged by some marauding goons from the South who were allowed to run amok in Jaffna, in the wake of a travestied democratic exercise in the district. That was the time the revered Jaffna Public Library was allowed to go up in flames. From then on, it was a question of throttling the province into a state of complete powerlessness and backwardness.

These are the reasons why the resuscitation of grassroots democracy in the North needs to be warmly welcomed. Voting for their law makers is an inalienable right of the Tamil people and with the holding of polls to the 20 or more local government bodies, the path is being paved for the steady empowerment of the people of the region. We call on the state to ensure that more and more is done to nourish this process of empowering the people because by doing so, progressive steps are being taken towards redressing the legitimate grievances of the people concerned.

We are given to understand that elections to the Northern Provincial Council too are within sight and take this opportunity to mention that all systems need to be in place to ensure a perfect exercising of the franchise. Besides, the polls should swiftly pave the way for equitable growth and development, for, without the latter, going through the motions of voting would be in vain.

There is more acceptance of the view even among the major political actors of the North that a political solution to the conflict needs to be sought within the framework of a unitary and united state. This would make it easy for the state to evolve a solution to the conflict, since a huge hurdle in the conceptualization of a solution has been overcome.

Ideally, this idea must catch on in the North. Hopefully, the upcoming polls would be contested on this and connected issues, and a new generation of political leaders would come into being in the North who would be willing to negotiate with the state on the basis of the unitary state concept.

If the latter condition is met, the onus would be on the state to ensure that an acceptable solution is found to the conflict quickly. We do not think that any more tarrying would be in Sri Lanka’s interests. If foreign conspiracies of the kind that manifested themselves in the form of the controversial Darusman Report and the damning Channel 4 film are to be resoundingly defeated and the enemies of the country made to eat humble pie, then a just solution is the conclusive answer.