Saying goodbye to the 'communal
card'
The well meaning among
us could breathe a deep sigh of relief that the 'communal card'
is no longer used in the Sri Lankan polity. We are yet to outlaw
racism and communal politics in this country, and it is such
politics that the 'communal card' is all about, but it is a
matter for rejoicing that the notorious 'card' is not being
resorted to by those who are at the helm of public affairs. This
is an achievement that should not be allowed to pass unnoticed.
Commenting on the mammoth crowd-puller which Monday's public
demonstration against the so-called accountability resolution
against Sri Lanka in Geneva proved to be, President Mahinda
Rajapaksa said recently that it was the state's ability to crush
terrorism without resorting to the heinous tactic of rousing
racism or communalism that enabled people from all walks of life
and social groups to unite behind Sri Lanka on the highways, as
one man.
That was indeed a demonstration of solidarity which is hard
to beat.
This observation by the President could in no way be
challenged. Whereas down the decades the 'communal card' was
played very deftly and unconscionably by some politicians and
power-seekers to expand their support bases, what is remarkable
about Sri Lanka since the mid nineties is that the Satanic
strategy has never been used and this is particularly true of
the post-2005 years. In fact, even the historic humanitarian
operation in the North in 2009 was carried out by the Security
Forces in a most professional manner and the rulers ensured that
not even a trace of communalism could be found in their public
utterances.
If there is greater fellow feeling among our communities
today, it is because influential sections have not resorted to
rousing communal friction and hatred. But this was not the case
decades ago. There were times when not even the most legitimate
concessions of any kind could be granted to who were considered
minority communities because such moves were interpreted by some
sections as pandering to these communities. For example, this
was the backdrop to the scuttling of the
Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam pact and the Dudley-Chelvanayakam
pact.
Even at the height of the 1983 riots when parts of the
country had virtually gone-up in flames, there were prominent
politicians who went public with the pronouncement that those
sections which suffered 'got what they deserved.' One openly
said that his sympathies were totally with the numerical
majority. This was so because numbers mattered very crucially.
So, it was plain to see who was largely behind the
conflagration of July 1983. Ethnicity and communalism are not
embedded in one's genes. They are conjured into existence by
some power-hungry politicians and their supporters to establish
and expand their support bases. They are artificial constructs
which could be brought into existence in a trice by devious
minds.
We need to say goodbye forever to such dark deceits.
While it was remarkable that the state was in a position to
eliminate terrorism without resorting to the 'communal card',
this proud record must be maintained. If we are to prove that
those sections of the West which are trying to pillory Sri Lanka
in the 'Councils of the World' are absolutely wrong, communalism
and such evils must be completely done away with.
In fact the way ahead is to implement the LLRC
recommendations steadily while making ethnicity and communalism
things of the past. We can already see that an ability to steer
clear of communalism could help in bringing our communities
together in unheard of ways. These pluses could prove the
international critics of this country completely wrong and help
highlight the degree to which Sri Lanka has achieved democratic
development. |