Impact of Majoritarianism in Sri Lanka

What is the issue?

The ongoing anti-Muslim violence reflects the long existing trend of ethnic politics and majoritarian triumphalism.

How did the Muslim political consciousness evolve?

• According to the 2011 Census, Muslims are slightly more than 9% of Sri Lanka’s around 20 million population.
• On the other hand, Sinhala Buddhists comprises of 75% and Tamils 11%.
• The language of Sri Lanka’s Muslims is Tamil.
• The majority of Muslims still live in the East which was part of the LTTE’s (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) vision of Tamil separate State.
• Until 1990, the Muslims believed they had common cause with Tamil political aspirations.
• But in 1990, the Indian Peace Keeping Force's (IPKF) made departure from Sri Lanka.
• It led to a newly resurgent LTTE, which drove out nearly 100,000 Muslims.
• These Muslims moved from their northern citadel of Jaffna and other parts of northern Sri Lanka.
• The eviction took place overnight and people left behind their houses, lands, shops, and possessions.
• They became a new set of internally displaced people in Sri Lanka’s conflict.
• That was when the Sri Lankan Muslim found a new political consciousness.

How did Buddhist-Muslim hatred evolve?

• Within a decade of its formation, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress was seen by Sinhala political parties as a “kingmaker” party.
• It won seats in Parliament from the predominantly Muslim areas and the community was in the thick of national politics.
• It has always sided with the ruling party, and is even now part of the coalition government.
• Once the war against the LTTE was over, it was almost as if Sinhala-Buddhist extremism needed a new enemy.
• Muslims have emerged as that enemy.
• The rise of Islamist terrorism provided a convenient handle with which to demonise the community.
• Sri Lanka’s Buddhist extremism has found an ally in Myanmar’s hardline Buddhist monks.
• Both countries practise the Theravada variant of Buddhism.
• Extremist Buddhists in Sri Lanka have clearly taken inspiration from the anti-Rohingya movement in Myanmar.

What happened with the change of government?

• The majoritarian sentiments were encouraged by the previous Mahinda Rajapakse regime.
• Since then, certain sectarian groups which openly profess hatred for Muslims as well as Christians emerged.
• Rajapakse’s defeat in the presidential election led to a de-escalation of Buddhist-Muslim tensions.
• But the incidents began occurring again towards the end of 2016.
• The Muslims, who were displaced from northern Sri Lanka during the war, began going back to reclaim their lands in villages.
• Around the same time, the Buddhist outfits began a campaign against the arrival of a group of Rohingya in Colombo.
• The Rohingya group had been taken into custody by the Navy after they attempted to land on the Sri Lankan coast.
• They were ordered to be kept in the safehouse under UN protection.
• A Buddhist monk led an attack on a UN-maintained safehouse for the Rohingya in Colombo.
• The group that attacked the safehouse alleged that Rohingya had killed Buddhists in Myanmar.
• The clash between Buddhists and Muslims took serious turns.

What is the larger concern in Sri Lanka?

• The current violent situation in Sri Lanka is seen as a direct outcome of majoritarianism among Sinhala Buddhist majority.
• In all, the ongoing violence in Sri Lanka is more an echo of post-war Sinhala triumphalism.

Source: The Hindu, Indian Express