“They are trampling on our graves with their boots,” said Kavitha, a Tamil woman crying as the heavy rain pounded our faces. She stood barefoot in ankle-deep mud at the site of a former cemetery in Visbamadu, Sri Lanka, over the graves of fallen Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters, including her brother. He lamented the construction of an adjacent military base.
The LTTE is an armed group that controls Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces and fought for nearly three decades to establish an independent Tamil state before being decisively defeated in 2009 and surrendering to the Sri Lankan state. Throughout the war, nations were bulldozed. In retaking territory from the insurgents, they reused many structures belonging to the LTTE, including the cemetery where Kavitha’s brother was buried.
On a rainy day in late November, Kavitha and thousands of others descended on the site of an LTTE graveyard to celebrate Marvell Naar, an annual event commemorating LTTE fighters killed in the decades-long war. there was. And this was no solo show of nationalist devotion. Government officials said the scene from Visbamadu cemetery was recreated at more than 200 locations across northeastern Sri Lanka, including universities, places of worship and other former graveyards, with tens of thousands of people attending.
The level of interest in the 2024 Marvell Naar commemoration was on par with, if not higher than, previous years, but a less knowledgeable observer of Sri Lanka declared the end of Tamil nationalism after the Sri Lankan general elections. It was a strong rebuke to the people. , two weeks ago on November 14th.
The Sinhala leftist coalition National People’s Power (NPP) secured a landslide victory, winning 159 seats in parliament, more than any other party in Sri Lanka’s history. Importantly, they also won all but one of the Tamil-majority constituencies in the northeast, leading many outside observers to believe that dreams of Tamil autonomy and independence had been completely abandoned. I came to the conclusion that.
However, the actual political situation in the claimed homeland of the Tamils is more nuanced.
The NPP succeeded in galvanizing a nationwide wave of anti-establishment sentiment stemming from dissatisfaction with persistent economic collapse and endemic corruption.
The decline of the Rajapaksa family, which has dominated Sri Lankan politics since 2005, has been astonishing. They received no support from the Tamils, who have accused the former president and brothers Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa of genocide. However, in the Sinhala south, they had long been recognized as heroes for winning the war against the LTTE.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to power in a landslide just five years ago in 2019. However, less than three years later, in 2022, he was forced out of office due to a popular uprising in southern Sinhala. Since then, the family rapidly lost all political power in Sri Lanka. In the November 2024 elections, their party was able to secure just three seats in parliament.
Gotabaya’s successor also failed to bring about the changes the people wanted. As a result, in November of this year, the NPP achieved a victory that seemingly overcame the country’s deep-rooted ethnic divisions. The left-wing coalition even managed to win the coveted Jaffna constituency, a stronghold of Tamil nationalists who have historically supported an independent Tamil state.
This came as a shock to many observers of Tamil politics from the outside, and some commentators heralded the beginning of the end for Tamil nationalism. Indeed, even some NPP officials themselves interpreted the victory in Jaffna as a rejection of ‘racism’ by the Tamils.
But to equate the NPP’s victory in the northeastern states with a widespread rejection of Tamil nationalism is a clear mistake rooted in a common laziness and lack of serious engagement with Tamil politics among outside observers. be.
Anyone familiar with the dynamics of the Tamil city knows that the change in people’s voting preferences in this election has nothing to do with disillusionment with Tamil nationalism and everything to do with dissatisfaction with Tamil politicians. You’ll see what I’m doing. The poll results only showed that Tamils, like other constituencies, are pragmatic and consider both economic interests and political preferences when voting.
Many committed Tamil nationalists and independence supporters voted for the NPP in the hope that it would bring a better economy. Some simply wanted to punish local establishment politicians they considered corrupt and incompetent. The NPP’s move to present itself as a coalition against corrupt political elites also helped sway the Tamil vote. For example, the display of luxury cars seized from various ministries at a popular hangout spot in Colombo was a much-needed slap in the face of the elite. Their initial positive stance towards the Tamil people, their message against racism and their promise to allow Marvell Naar commemorations and repeal the draconian anti-terrorism laws under which many Tamil nationalists are persecuted are all , contributed to their appeal in the Northeast.
Even Kavitha, a committed Tamil nationalist, admitted that she voted for the NPP. In a conversation at the Maveler Naar commemoration ceremony, she drew a clear line between her dissatisfaction with the largest Tamil party, ITAK, the need to address immediate economic needs, and her vote for the NPP.
But support for the NPP by Tamils like Kavitha is incidental, and rifts are already appearing. The continued arrest of Tamils who took part in Marvelal Naar commemorations under the Prevention of Terrorism Act has sparked frustration and anger. Meanwhile, a much-heralded deadline for the removal of military camps in Tamil towns has passed without any action. All this sends a message to an already cynical Tamil electorate that any positive proposals made during the election period are empty gestures.
The NPP had never been in power before and therefore did not carry the same burdens as past rulers. This does not mean that there is no cargo at the nuclear power plant. Their main constituent party, the Janata Vimukti Peramuna (JVP, People’s Liberation Front), was also labeled a “terrorist group” after it again staged violent uprisings in the 1970s and 1980s, killing tens of thousands of Sinhalese. was banned as. They openly opposed negotiations with the LTTE and played a key role in crushing peace talks in the mid-2000s. Although the leadership’s tone is now different, current actions indicate that they are either disloyal or have difficulty overcoming the xenophobic sentiments at the core of the party and its voters. As has been proven time and time again, when a party in power is perceived to be making concessions to the Tamils, the opposition mobilizes it against them, affecting their performance in subsequent elections. will be given. All major Sinhala political parties, including the JVP, were involved in this act.
All this raises important issues regarding Sri Lankan politics and Tamil nationalism. Sri Lanka’s nation-building project is fundamentally rooted in prioritizing Sinhala Buddhism. The Tamils were never accepted as equal citizens and were relegated to the margins by a Colombo-centric approach, not only by the state but also by unimaginative Tamil elites. Leading Tamil politicians repeatedly conceded long-standing political demands for mere scraps in exchange for membership in Colombo’s elite. Historically, these parties have continued to gain support among Tamils, and although this election is likely to be a blip rather than a major change, the political energy of the Tamil people is strong in electoral politics. It cannot be deciphered from just that. Marvell Naar and the associated acts of mourning and protest rooted in the practices of Tamil nationalism more accurately express political imaginaries that are deeply rooted in the Tamil psyche.
This Tamil Eelam-centered national life exists beyond the authority of not only the Sri Lankan state but also the Tamil politicians. It will continue to thrive on the island and beyond, pursuing its objectives through means beyond the limitations imposed by electoral politics. This government now has an opportunity to take seriously the concerns of the Tamil people and address their long-standing demands for autonomy, but the people are not going to hold their breath.
To make progress on these issues, the NPP must spend every day of its five-year term systematically addressing the demands of the Tamil people. Low-hanging fruit include the release of political prisoners, the abolition of the PTA, and the liberation of land occupied by the military. Efforts to change the demographic composition of the Northeastern states through land grabbing, construction of Buddhist temples and expansion of Sinhalese settlements must also be halted immediately. Relatives of enforced disappearances continue to protest and reject the state apparatus, which has no recourse to the judicial system. Their concerns must also be seriously addressed. Many people refuse to perform the last rites of their relatives who were handed over to security forces at the end of the war. Sri Lanka needs to reveal what it has done to the thousands of Tamils it has detained.
Tamils have learned through repeated painful experiences that political solutions do not come from the state. Because of this broken faith, Tamils demand justice and accountability from the international community. To disrupt this pattern, the new government will need to take clear steps toward dismantling the nationalist nature of the state and creating meaningful accountability. Without this, this country will only continue to be divided.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
