From symbol to substance

The fact that a substantial slice of this country’s ‘development cake’ is for the Northern Province proves that the government is not dabbling in mere symbols or mouthing engaging rhetoric when it underscores its commitment to Northern advancement. No less a person than President Mahinda Rajapaksa is on record that the largest allocation of state funds is for the North and this amounts to the government making very plain its intention of bringing the Northern Province out of the economic doldrums.

These developments also prove that there is an effort by the government to move from symbol to substance. While President Rajapaksa’s presence in the North over the past couple of days was of profound symbolic significance, in that it indicated that the political Centre cares tremendously for the once conflict-ridden province, the actual siphoning of the bulk of state funds to the North, more than amply signifies that the government is in earnest with regard to its development plans for the province. That is, the state is going beyond symbolic gestures to substantive undertakings.

However, symbols too possess a high intrinsic value which should not be downplayed. A few days back we had with us in Sri Lanka the former President of India, the well known scientist and philosopher Prof A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. The appointment of Prof. Kalam to prestigious and eminent position of President of India had high symbolic significance in that it indicated, among other things, the Indian state’s strong commitment to national unity. For, Prof. Kalam is a Muslim and his appointment to the position of President, sufficiently indicated that for secular India, citizens of Muslim origin are as important as citizens of other ethnic and religious backgrounds within the Indian Union. Accordingly, the former Indian President becomes a symbol of national unity.

Therefore, symbols too are of inestimable significance. Likewise, President Rajapaksa’s tour of the North is also of tremendous symbolic significance because it indicates the state’s intention of strongly integrating the North into the mainstream of Sri Lankan national life.

\The Lankan President by traversing the length and breadth of the Northern Province proves very conclusively that he stands for the legitimate interests of the totality of the Lankan citizenry and thereby becomes a symbol of Sri Lankan unity.

Moreover, the Lankan state has gone beyond symbol to substance by channeling an abundance of state funds to Northern development. As we indicated in this commentary yesterday, this is a dramatic advance over the past few decades, when no Heads of State of this country ever visited the North-East, leave alone pledging themselves to the province’s development. Thus, we are now witnessing a substantial change from former state policy and practice.

Now that the basics for development are in place, the state is obliged to ensure that the development process in the North and East goes on without a hitch. Apparently, infrastructure development will occupy prime place in the plans for the provinces but it must be also ensured that the people are empowered in economic terms through a steady ‘trickling-down’ of wealth. That is, the purchasing power of the people must steadily increase and they should not be in need. This is the proof of the pudding and this is the goal that needs to be reached on the development front.

It is no accident that all this and more is happening in the North concurrent to the Deyata Kirula Exhibition and Trade Fair in Anuradhapura, which aims at showcasing the prosperity drive in Sri Lanka.

Development has to be taken to every nook and cranny of this country if development is to prove real.

The ordinary people could derive some satisfaction from the fact that the state has arrived at the realization that it is growth with equity that must be aimed at. And growth plus equity could be achieved only when there happens to be equality of condition and opportunity among the people.

The North-East conflict had its roots in the conviction among some that the last condition was not being fulfilled in this country. Therefore, alongside an accelerated development process, constitutional and other changes need to happen to ensure that we have equality in every respect. Development and rights are mutually re-inforcing.