One of the significant tenants of queerness is thriving beyond normative ways of living and making sense of lives. First and foremost, queerness begins with a critique of heteronormative beliefs and practices. This critique is born when one realises that they do not resonate with the dominant world designed through the lenses of heteronormativity. Since this inception, it evolves throughout the lifespan of every queer life. Be it at the level of an individual or a community or a nation, queerness profoundly shapes the lives lived as queer and those around them. Often, there is a strong sense of community around queerness and queer politics.

Time and again, many queer lives across continents have reiterated that queerness does not fall into any rigid categories. It is a spectrum and always fluid as any other identity. Neither queerness nor queer politics could promote prejudices and divisional politics. If they do, that must be critiqued. There are various ways to be queer (although primarily associated with sex/gender identities and/or sexual orientations). Also, people have different ways of connecting with queerness. It is always contextual and grounded in everyday realities of people from all walks of life, especially those that are marginalised!  

I do not think there is any queer person on this planet who does not understand the realities of a marginalised life. I firmly believe that queerness provides an essential lens not only to be critical of heteronormative beliefs and practices that marginalise the queer but also to be self-critical of their privileges across various other hierarchies and power relations. A profound sense of consciousness emerges in this journey of continually navigating a heteronormative (and lately homonormative) world. This consciousness often leads to shaping and reshaping a dynamic queer politics that does not compromise critiquing at any cost.

I wish to emphasise the word critique. It is NOT a criticism, which is to engage in the act of criticising based on beliefs that do not allow nuances to emerge (that queerness must not associate itself with)!

Critiquing is very popular in academia. However, I first learned it from intersectional feminist queerness. Over the past couple of decades, it has become the essence of life in the process of evolving with queer experiences from different countries. It started in Sri Lanka [I use the name Lanka from this point onwards – the most ancient name of this beautiful island (Jayewardene, 2017)].

Due to centuries of colonisation and a protracted ethnic war, Lankans have learned the hard way that divisional politics – known as divide and conquer in colonial terms – take us nowhere. This learning is yet to be translated into actions – like in policies and practices. We are a wounded nation and it takes time to heal these wounds and start moving towards positive changes based on progressive politics, including decriminalising and ‘normalising’ queerness. Lankans understand what we have lost in the past 30 to 40 years due to the ethnic war. We are still grappling with the consequences of colonisation. The population in the North and the East of the country holds a profound place in bearing the direct effects of a brutal war that only ended in May 2009. We are communities who have already lost a lot and still struggling to be alive and make ends meet. Due to the ethnic war and it’s focus on Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic identities, the notion of identity politics has been dominated by nationalistic ideologies, which was also primarily determined by language politics that did not recognise nuances within each language or the ethnic group. In the fight with the dominant ‘other’, they brutality crushed the ‘minorities’ within.    

Simultaneously, many critiqued this binary with the hope to build a better Lankan society where, despite the differences, everyone is treated equally, with dignity, and most importantly, not violated! Lanka has an aching history of persons who were brutality murdered for voicing such critiques. However, never silenced. Over the years, we have learned that every challenging situation reminds us to be creatively innovative and expand critiquing practices.

Queerness in Lanka is one such platform where critiquing has a history of challenging limited perspectives based on classism; castism; nationalisms that promotes exclusions, sadly violence of all forms, and othering; tokenism; patriarchy/sexism; cultural relativism dominated by social hierarchies; heterosexism and homophobia; and the gender binary. I am a proud queer from Northern Lanka. That makes me a Tamil queer who has survived the brutal ethnic war. Although I escaped the war in the late 1990s by moving to Eastern Lanka where there was no shelling and bombing every day, I chose a life that never let me lose the sight of complex realities of people from the North and the East. When my life was embraced by queerness sometime in the early 2000s, it brought a lot of contradictory emotions and experiences – yet, never compromised the practice of critiquing – that primarily meant to point out and/or challenge one or more elements in dominant norms and practices that oppress or marginalise people and invalidate their feelings and experiences. Also, critique my friends and colleagues as I nurtured the practice of self-critiquing, which paved the way to embrace meaningful collaborations and friendships that lasts long!

I learned the essence of critiquing from feminists, queer feminists, leftists, journalists, rights advocates, practitioners, artists, activists and many more who did not identify with such labels, however, carried out same and/or similar ethics/work. The kind of critiquing that I am talking about is always grounded. It is not hypocritical. It critically locates itself with the painful history of this land and it’s people. It makes genuine efforts to understand the ‘other’ by making themselves available to listen with an open mind. It is mindful of continually searching for those who are left out, even within progressive/equal spaces. It not only acknowledges privileged positions of the self but also continue to be critical even at the cost of losing some or all of their privileges. It is never tokenistic. It embraces friendships with like-minded people. It believes in building solidarities – sometimes based on the unlikeliest sense of connection.

Earlier, I said – it makes me a Tamil queer. I do not identify as Tamil queer. Because often, the Tamil identity is not inclusive of Tamil speaking population of Lanka. Besides, I am critical of the dominant Tamil identity that is oppressive towards me as a woman-identifying person. However, I am a proud queer. That does not mean that I do not speak of the intersections of queerness in relation to my ethnicity, which is heavily marginalised in the context of Lanka. However, I do that to add nuances to queerness and NOT as a point of reference to differentiate from the ethnic other, including Sinhalese. Also, Sinhala and Tamil are not the only two ethnicities in Lanka. Hence, the queer experiences in Lanka are not divided by ethnicity. I say this as a Tamil speaking queer person from the North who’s life has been shaped by many acts of marginalisation based on ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. I have also been painfully aware of privileges that are available to me due to specific social locations that I belong to – for instance, caste, class and the dichotomy of sex and gender. The narratives of queer lives in Lanka have been mainly controlled by the legal status of sexualities other than heterosexuality – yet, not limited by it.

In my experience from the past couple of decades, queerness is something that profoundly brought us together beyond the apparent divisions based on ethnicity, language, religion, class, caste and region. Sinhala speaking queer friends have saved me more times than I could count. I have had the pleasure and the privilege of making queer friendships and sustaining them. Our collaborations expand to South Asia and beyond. Our ideological beliefs continue to evolve progressively through practices of knowing and relating to experiences of people of colour across the globe. Coming together beyond our differences NEVER meant that we assimilated with the dominant identity – which would be the Sinhala Buddhist identity of a particular class in the context of Lanka. That never happens. If it does, then we are not critical enough.

On the contrary, we make sure that everyone’s experience is heard. It is complicated! The process of nurturing safe spaces where everyone feels at ease and trust one another beyond what has been the bitter experience of the past – especially alongside ethnic divisions – is tenuous. However, never impossible. It took me a while to be able to relate to someone from the Sinhala community. It took me a while to make an effort to learn the Sinhala language.

Until I left Jaffna in 1995, I thought all Sinhalese are bad and Sinhala is the language of the oppressor, which I must never dare to speak. When I first started to make friends with Sinhalese sometime in the latter part of the 1990s, it felt like I was betraying every experience of oppression that I and other Tamils, Tamil speaking people and other minorities of Lanka have undergone. For a late teen, this was profoundly overwhelming and daunting. So, do not get me wrong. I am not trying to romanticise the alliances/collaborations that we worked hard to build across divisions and fractures. Not just between ethnicities. Often, within too! It was/is never easy. However, it was the critical consciousness around our identities – including queerness, but not exclusively so – and how we addressed those to make our lives better that helped us to move forward with hope. Indeed, there is much more to be done and we remain hopeful!

In this context, I am super excited to watch the film “Funny Boy” by Deepa Mehta. I had the pleasure of reading Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy sometime in the early 2000s when my English language skills developed to the point of understanding a novel written in English. At that point, as a Tamil woman from the North who has gone through painful experiences due to my Tamil identity (not physically though), I remember struggling to identify with Tamil characters in the novel. I knew it was a different kind of Tamil experience. However, everything about the nuances of love and connections – again beyond our apparent and assumed differences – and navigating lives amidst everyday violence were profoundly relatable. Reading the book was an awakening experience on so many levels. I instantly developed an intellectual crush on Shyam Selvadurai. Almost 20 years later, I am thrilled that he collaborated with one of the eminent and talented filmmakers of our times – Deepa Mehta – that had resulted in the film Funny Boy. In one the interviews of Deepa Mehta, Mehta points out the challenges of making this film – including the time it took to get the permission to shoot in Lanka and the post-production work in the wake of a global pandemic. I thought to myself – well, it is based on lives in Lanka. Anything related to Lanka can never be simple or easy. We are known for the complicated relationship with power and hierarchies that profoundly influence everyday lives. I see strength when people navigate through such complex realities to make the best out of them in relation to the external conditions.

I gather from what I have read so far is that the team of the film Funny Boy seems to have done that too. They negotiated and waited for a year to get the approval and to find the appropriate cast. I also learn that there are criticisms of the film based on sentiments of ‘Tamilness’, representation and it’s intersection with queerness. Again, in the light of everything that I have shared above, I wish to reiterate strongly – queerness in Lanka (and across the world too) is anything but limiting and compartmentalising based on narrow politics and/or political benefits. It must be beyond prejudices and divisional politics. As for the claims of the kind of Tamil that is spoken in the film, I like to remind that the Tamil language has a range of dialects in practice across Lanka. The kind that is spoken by the Hindu elitist from certain castes in Jaffna is NOT the only Tamil to be accepted or recognised. I also like to remind that the conscious public of Lanka does not believe in divisional politics. We have experienced enough to be critical of it. So, if anyone wants to help Lankan society to heal and move forward, do not try to destroy voices even before they are expressed. Indeed, critique it within the ethics of critiquing to move forward together for a better future. Do not try to seek alliances to promote hate and divisions. In Lanka, we understand what could be at stake if we give in to this divisional politics a little too well. Finally, let us always remember that beliefs that practices that want to marginalise the ‘other’ tend to speak the language we recognise and relate to get across their messages effectively. One sensitive word that triggers a lot of emotions pretty much does the work of grouping people against one another. It is time we push ourselves to see beyond such manipulations!  

However, I understand that it is challenging to resist the portrayals/symbols used by those who promote divisional politics. They use material that are often too personal and emotionally devastating. Their aim is to thrive on people’s pain and suffering. The assumed authoritarianism and ownership of experiences in such portrayals must be rejected and/or critiqued.

The fact that we even have a film based on marginalised experiences in Lanka must be celebrated. Thank you to the team of Funny Boy for producing it despite the challenges and compromises. It is a step forward in the struggles of marginalised communities in Lanka. Makes me hopeful of generating more dialogues around the issues that need to be addressed. We need to have those difficult conversations that challenge the core of our prejudices about one another. Films and books like Funny Boy provide the space for it. Let us use it, innovatively!  

#Funny Boy #Queerness #Lanka   

Photo credit: Hasanah Kavitha

References

Selvadurai, S. (1994). Funny boy: a novel in six stories. Penguin Books India.

He is the one who has never been as a politician and a party leader but served as an ex-military officer and a former Defence Secretary has been elected as the president with the overwhelming votes of the ethnic majoritarians even in the very first election that he contested in history.

Although he contested in the presidential election with the metaphors stating that he is the heir of the Rajapakse’s family politics and brother of a former president who won the war, he has been viewed by the majority of the Sinhalese as a key person of the war victory, decisive decision-maker and a disciplined man, all of which are his personal personality that has been the reason for his victory in this presidential election.

People belonging to ethnic majoritarian community wanted a disciplined, strict and authoritarian who gives commands to get the things done in order to patch up the things prevailed during the Mahinda’s regime and during the government of good governance and to restore the Sinhalese nation. This also determined the Gotabhaya’s victory.

On this basis, the decision he makes and the procedures that he makes it practice after he took his office continue. He has begun to focus on the things that easily attract and reach the people. The most important of which is the Sri Lankan administrative structure. Administration of Sri Lanka, which has been the war torn for more than three decades, has been getting worst and deteriorated because of the politicians who influence the bureaucracy, officials, lazy officers, corrupt officers and inappropriate and unskilled staffs. Gotabhaya keeps on focusing on rectifying the above mentioned issues, and overcoming the issues of the people that they face in their daily life.

Gotabhaya suddenly visits the state departments and government offices where he offers his own solutions on the spot to the issues faced by the people. This practice was with Premadasa, the hero of underprivileged people, who came to power in the 1990s. That is what made Premadasa as the leader of the people.

He has taken the decisive decision to appoint Administrative Officers and highly educated officers in the political appointments that occupied the country’s top positions in the state institutions including state corporations, government departments, banking services including the Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank and Central Bank and foreign diplomatic services and he has started implementing his decisive decision made in this regard. He ordered the diplomatic service officers who serve irrelevant disciplines to return to Sri Lanka after finishing their jobs. It could be seen that age, experience, talents, soft corner and ethnicity have been somewhat considered in the nominations of the governors. It is said that Gotabhaya is determined to appoint a Tamil as the governor of the Northern Province though a prominent politician in the north recommended the former governor Chandrasri as the Northern Provincial government. In addition, only a few military officers are nominated to the state administrative structures rather than it was expected.

According to sources, cabinet ministers, deputy ministers and state ministers have been ordered not to give personal appointments including Personal Secretary to their relatives. It has been ordered to give priority to talent in state appointments. It is reported that 1 lakh persons belonging to poverty-stricken families will be provided employment in their own districts.

Based on the information available, it could be guessed that Tamils in the administrative services will continue as the Government Agents in all five districts in the Northern Province. Government Agent of Batticaloa district in the Eastern Province is a Tamil.

It is said that foreign trips, excessive escorts and luxurious expenditures of ministers, parliamentarians and high ranking government officials have been controlled.

Though these actions may be the actions for collecting votes for Podujana Peramuna in the upcoming general election, it doesn’t appear that these actions are taken by targeting only on the election since it seems that Gotabhaya is in an attempt to smash the political domination of the administrative sector prevailed over the past several decades. After the general elections only, we can be able to tell whether this practice will continue or be victorious despite the family’s political influence and the political domination of his esteemed brother. Because, the supporters and close associates of the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, who lost power after 2015, are waiting to taste the power and luxurious life by bringing the Podujana Peramuna to power.

However, in the cabinet formed after Gotabhaya sworn in as the president, many of the those who had been leading in the cabinet a decade before the year 2015 have been pushed back and a few of them have been selected to be promoted. Likewise, Gotabhaya hasn’t made efforts to appease those who were defeated in the election, politicians and his supporters by giving them appointments as the heads of state institutions. Therefore, we have to wait and see whether Gotabhaya will hold this stance after the general election also.

On the other hand, the new President Gotabhaya is in a critical position as either repeal the 19th amendment or continue with it will be problematic to him. In particular, his brother Mahinda Rajapakse will be elected as the Prime Minister if Podujana Peramuna wins a two-thirds majority in the general election. The 19th amendment to the constitution has increased the powers of the parliament and the Prime Minister by restricting the limitless executive power that the president had.

There is no doubt that President Gotabhaya will be a bit uncomfortable with the 19th Amendment, which does not allow the President to hold the Ministerial responsibilities and additional departments under his control other than a very limited number of departments and the Ministry of Defence. Apart from that, the President will be somewhat uncomfortable with the Public Service Commission, the Judicial Service Commission and the Constitutional Council. Therefore, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa will make efforts to remove many aspects of the 19th Amendment.

However, the formula of the general election that is going to be held under the current proportional representation system is not same as the formula of the presidential election. Beyond the influence of the political parties, personal personality of the candidate influences much in the presidential election.

But, the victory in the general election is determined by the votes earned by the candidates of each political parties contesting on the basis of villages, cities, municipalities and provinces. Looking at on this basis, Podujana Peramuna could earn only 14 lakhs more votes than the competitive party in the presidential election.

This vote difference does not make a huge difference in the seats of parliament. Podujana peramuna should gain more votes if it wants to make a huge difference in the general election. It is important to note that the negative aspects of what is being done by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, whether he likes it or not, have implications.

If the Podujana Peramuna fails to win a two-thirds majority in the general election, it must seek support from other parties to get a two-thirds majority. Or else, Podujana Peramuna will be in a position to buy the parliamentarians from other parties.

But, it is questioned that can the increasing actions that are being taken against the minorities get the support from the minority parties. Besides, do the opposition parties and minority parties want to overthrow the power of parliament that could keep President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in check?, the question arises.

Many have doubts whether Mahinda Rajapakse, his close associates and SLFP members who were affected in the new regime would like to change the 19th amendment completely though they do not speak out about it. Because, no one can deny that Ranil Wickremesinghe’s 19th amendment has put a check on Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who has become as a president by Sinhalese votes only, and created a number of headaches to Gotabhaya.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse was nominated as the presidential candidate of Podujana Peramuna as per the decision made by both the party and the family as there were no any alternatives to defeat the common enemy other than nominating Gotabhaya as the presidential candidate.

However, despite advices of his brother Mahinda Rajapakse are taken into account, the bold decisions made by President Gotabhaya Rajapakse have dissatisfied them, according to the inside sources.

Therefore, the conflict between a party thinking about their politics, their future interests, and the succession of the heirs and a President thinking about the well organized administration of the country and development of the nation will continue.

Therefore, it is questioned whether members of ruling party consisting of Podujana Peramuna and Sri Lanka Freedom Party will give their support to abolish the 19th amendment in order to give the limitless executive power to President Gotabhaya for the next five years.

In such a political environment, will President Gotabhaya who is in an attempt to retain the victory that he got in the Sinhalese nation either make efforts to win or win the Tamil nation which is separated by minds in order to create a nation that is not divided?

– Raja Parameswari-

29:12:2019

Leader of People’s Liberation Organization of Eelam (PLOTE) Dharmalingam Sithadthan said that at this juncture, there is a belief that Rajapaksa may do well at the upcoming elections. If that happens, then the whole process of finding a political solution for the national question will be disturbed or even shelved.

“Definitely no Sinhala leader will go against the will of the Sinhala people, in such a situation there will be no hope for the Tamils to go forward in the process of finding a political solution. We have seen such changes over the last 60 years. I think in the current context the government is reasonably unpopular,” he said.
Following are excerpts of the interview:

Two coalition parties, the TELO and EPRLF had disagreements within the TNA. The EPRLF recently left the coalition. Why did TNA face many internal problems a few months back?

A: This is mainly because of the attitude of ITAK who takes almost all the decisions. They do not really discuss or consult with the other constituents. This issue is faced by all three constituents, PLOTE, TELO and EPRLF. Recently even TELO threatened to walk out of TNA, purely on issues relating to the local government elections, especially regarding the allocations on the number of Pradeshiya Sabhas. Although they threatened, they did not leave the coalition.

EPRLF had complaints mainly relevant to the attitude of the ITAK with the other parties. They continued to complain that other parties were not consulted on any of the matters, but were just taking individual decisions. Whenever elections are over, any decisions relating to appointments to a bonus seat, national list or ministerial were decided alone by ITAK. They failed to get any of our views. Initially these issues were small matters, but later it accumulated into a bigger issue. Thus, Suresh walked out. However, if he contests as part of the TNA, in the current context, he will only manage to secure a few seats for his party. Yet if he contests alone, he can win that numbers of seats as EPRLF.

Currently I don’t understand why he aligned with TULF. He had joined with Anandasangaree and they have formed a new alliance. I’m unsure how far this will work. But as far as we are concerned, we are very firm that our party, PLOTE, will never breakaway from the TNA as far as the constitutional process are moving forward. We feel that we should not excuse from the government or southern political parties that TNA has split and thus a settlement cannot be reached.

We believe that we should travel with TNA until we find a solution to the national question.

So do you mean to say that PLOTE never had any disagreements within the coalition?

A: We do have. Not only with the Leader of TNA, even with the ITAK, we have many disagreements. We had issues on the allocations of the Pradeshiya Sabhas and the seats. However, we overcame all the issues and today we are contesting as TNA. We are not complaining about those issues. Our main aim is to win the local government elections with maybe 60 or 70 percent of the votes. We want the TNA to be strong and then we will continue to get recognition as the representative of the Tamil people.

Why do you have doubts about the newly formed TULF-EPRLF coalition? Some say it would be a turning point in Tamil politics. How do you assess it?

A: I don’t seriously believe it, because the TULF and EPRLF cannot travel together for a long period. Both parties are not strong enough to show to the Tamil people that they are the alternative to the TNA. Even though there are complaints against the TNA, or ITAK, people feel that there is no alternative as such. I don’t seriously believe this coalition or the All Ceylon Tamil Congress led by Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam is seen by the Tamil people as an alternative to TNA.
Unless there is a viable alternative among the Tamil people, they will continue to vote for TNA.

There were criticisms among EPRLF as well as TELO members that Leader Sampanthan and Sumanthiran are taking all the decisions in the coalition. Do you agree?

A: Certainly these complaints are still there, especially when there are appointments for bonus seats and even on constitutional matters. Leader Sampanthan at least explains the situations at the Parliamentary Group meeting, however members of other three parties like us feel that he only tells few of the developments and not the entire decisions or happenings.
Not only us, but all three parties were of the opinion that Sampanthan and Sumanthiran take decisions on many matters, this is true to a certain extent.

But our party is of the belief that if there are any secret deals with the government or with constitutional matters, it should be openly expressed. All decisions must be there at the final constitutional draft. Therefore the decisions shall be included in the final report of the constitutional reforms and our party will not stress much over this issue. We will somehow be aware of their decisions when the final report arrives.

Is it true that ITAK grabbed members of other constituent parties as their party cadres?

A: Yes, that is happening. A Parliamentarian and two Provincial Councillors have recently joined the ITAK. This situation arose because we contest under the ITAK symbol. ITAK deals with the elections commissioner apart from giving nominations and selecting people. Therefore prospective candidates, even current Parliamentarians think that if they want to ensure their candidature, it is better to join the ITAK. Within the TNA they choose to join the ITAK as they are of the view that the party will provide them candidature in upcoming elections. They get more chances if they are part of ITAK.

However, this situation had brought in disappointments within other parties. PLOTE has still not faced any such problem. EPRLF in particular, lost three of their members.

What repercussions do you think the new electoral reforms will have, at the upcoming local government polls?

A: The electoral reforms are a mixed system of ward and proportional representation of 60:40 and is problematic, especially to political parties contesting as an alliance. In our coalition, TELO and ITAK as well as us will aim for the same vote. There will be problems in allocating the votes. This was the main issue that created recent chaos within the TNA coalition.
The last two or three days, just before nominations, thousands of people gathered at the ITAK head office in Jaffna. Before that, hundreds of them came to our party office asking for candidature.

This election has currently got undue importance. Every political party in the country is trying to establish their dominance. We are working to show our political power. This may create many contradictions and sometimes violence too. Many people wanted to contest.

There were arguments among ITAK members before nominations.

While the electoral reforms introduced female representation which is mandatory, female candidates had to face many challenges in obtaining candidature. What was the situation in the North?

A: Unlike the South, northern women’s participation in politics is very minimal. We had to go after them to collect female candidates and get them to sign nominations. Females did not face such challenges and it was not a big problem for them, only that we faced a big challenge in finding female candidates.

They are bound to follow a conservative tradition even if they are educated. The number of Tamil female parliamentarians has been always less.

But a large number of women are engaged in social and village level women association activities, especially after the war. Still they are reluctant to enter politics.

There are various opinions that there will be a need for an alternative Tamil leadership if TNA does not perform at their best. Some suggest Northern Chief Minister Wigneswaran as an alternative leader. What are your thoughts?

A: I don’t think so. He is a newcomer to politics and therefore he may think the party will have to always follow whatever it said. I don’t seriously think the TNA or especially ITAK can accept something that cannot be agreed to by the Tamil community. Sampanthan had said this in and out of Parliament that he will not accept it.

Therefore currently, personal statements have become political statements.

Why did you recently say there is no hope for a solution to Tamils?

A: Due to the local government elections where President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe are contesting separately, while former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is also contesting independently. At this juncture, there is a belief that Rajapaksa may do well in the elections. If that happens, then the whole process will be disturbed or even shelved.

This is my analysis of the upcoming local government elections. Definitely no Sinhala leader will go against the will of the Sinhala people, in such situation, there will be no hope for the Tamils to go forward in the process of finding a political solution. We have seen such changes in the last 60 years. I think in the current context the government is reasonably unpopular. Unless they are very popular among the people, it is very difficult for a government to go for radical changes. It cannot happen.

But still we will go along with the government and try our best to see that the current process of working for a political solution will proceed well.

Email:che.myhero@gmail.com

(thanks Ceylon Today 02.01.2018)

]]> https://globaltamilnews.net/english/government-is-reasonably-unpopular-sithadthan/feed/ 0 https://globaltamilnews.net/english/president-to-leave-for-india-to-attend-brics-summit/ https://globaltamilnews.net/english/president-to-leave-for-india-to-attend-brics-summit/#respond Sat, 15 Oct 2016 05:26:05 +0000 http://globaltamilnews.net/english/?p=110

President Maithripala Sirisena will leave for India tomorrow (Oct. 15) to attend the BRICS Outreach Summit to be held in Goa, India from 15th to 16th October.

This will be the eighth annual BRICS summit which will be chaired by India.

BRICS is an international relations conference attended by the heads of state or heads of government of the five member states Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

President Sirisena, together with the heads of State of the member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) will attend the BRICS Outreach Summit.

The President will hold bilateral discussions with several Heads of State at the sidelines of the summit.

The theme of India’s BRICS Chairmanship is Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions.

During India’s BRICS Chairmanship, it will adopt five-pronged approach: Institution building to further deepen, sustain and institutionalize BRICS cooperation; Implementation of the decisions from previous Summits; Integrating the existing cooperation mechanisms; Innovation, i.e., new cooperation mechanisms; and Continuity, i.e., continuation of mutually agreed existing BRICS cooperation mechanisms.

Courtesy: Colombo Gazette

Shiv Sena in Mumbai has extended its support to a new Sri Lankan Tamil outfit called ‘Siva Senai’, triggering concerns among the mainstream politicians of the island nation that sectarian outfits will reopen wounds of a 20-year-old civil war that ended only in 2009.

The Siva Senai, based out of Vavuniya in the Tamil-dominated northern Lanka, is led by Maravanpulavu Sachithananthan.

The party takes its name from Lord Shiva and plans to fight “coercive conversion” from Hinduism to Buddhism, the dominant Sinhalese religion.

Mumbai’s Shiva Sena leader Sanjay Raut told News18 that his party extends support to the new Lankan outfit. “Our party is a Hindu party. We support the cause of Hindus all over the World. We support Siva Senai,” he said.

Sinhalese leaders fear the militant nature of the new Siva Senai could break the status-quo prevailing in Northern Lanka while Tamil leaders are wary that outfits like Senai would split Tamil unity.

The ‘Siva Senai’ was launched recently by a group of Hindus in Sri Lanka at Tamil dominated town Vavuniya in Northern Province.

Maravanpulavu Sachithananthan, the chief organiser of ‘Siva Senai’, said that they had the support of Shiv Sena, BJP, VHP, and RSS. He said that it would campaign against what he calls coercive conversion of Hindus to other religions and it would demand an anti-conversion law in Sri Lanka.

The new outfit which is also Sri Lanka’s first Hindu right-wing organisation accuses the Lankan government of supporting a “Sinhala – Buddhist Colonisation” to undermine the importance of Hindus.

It also accuses the Muslims and Christians of getting huge foreign funding to spread their religion.

Senai leader Sachithananthan told News18 that the organization would seek help from “like-minded” organisations in India. “Conversion is the biggest problem for us. Hindus alone have no support in Sri Lanka. Siva Senai will fight for them with the support of like-minded organisations in India,” he said.

Siva Senai’s first executive committee meeting at Vavuniya in Sri Lanka (Photo courtesy: Maravanpulavu Sachithananthan)

United opposition leader and MP Dinesh Gunawardena said that Senai and its “like-minded” friends pose a threat to peace. “Our island nation has just come out of a bloody war. We don’t need a religion based political outfit like Siva Senai. We are aware of what Shiva Sena is doing in India. I don’t think that we need something like that here,” he told News18.

“It is true that Buddhism has been the foundation of Sri Lanka for over two thousand years. But we never discriminated against anyone on the basis of religion. Siva Senai’s fears are unfounded. Hindus are safe here,” Gunawardena said dismissing Senai allegations of ‘Sinhala-Buddhist Colonisation’.

The TNA which rules the Tamil-dominated Northern Province headquartered at Jaffna appears to be more worried about the Siva Senai than the Sinhalese political parties. Although Senai is a new organization with little mass support, the prospect of a religion-based divide worries Tamil parties.

“Assertion of a religious identity is not a bad thing. But at this stage, we don’t need it. Our identity is Tamil identity. We are totally secular. There are Hindus, Christians, and Muslims among the Tamils. All are equal. We can’t divide them on the basis of religion,” TNA leader and MP MA Sumanthiran told News18.

Expressing fears that the Siva Senai’s association with Shiv Sena might lead to religious conflict in the island nation which has just returned to normal life after 30 years of horrible civil war, he said “such organisations can take extreme positions. We already have a Buddhist extremist organisation Bodu Bala Sena (BBS).

The birth of another extremist organisation opposed to BBS ideology is a very dangerous thing. It can create enmity between different religions. Both are called Sena, meaning army. Whatever may be their good intention, but the perception is negative. We can’t have outfits with the names like Sena.”

Reacting to this, Senai founder Sachithananthan said that his organization was not an extremist one and the comparison with any other extremist organization was unfair.

“Sri Lanka is not a secular country like India. It is a Buddhist theocratic nation. Our Constitution says Buddhism is a priority religion. They are getting government money. Christians get money from Christian nations and Muslims get money from Arab nations. Hindus get nothing,” Sachithananthan told News18 from Jaffna.

“Secondly, Tamil identity is under threat is a bogus claim. The Tamil Muslims went away in 1987 and formed Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). Christians are encouraging large scale conversions. Where is unity? Even Buddhists are freely entering Hindu villages to install Buddha statues. They never dared to do that before the end of war in 2009,” he added.

Commenting on Shiva Sena’s support he said “if they support, we welcome it. But, as of now ours is a 100% locally grown organization. We believe in peace. We don’t want to be like Shiv Sena.”

Buddhist-majority Lanka has about 13% Hindu population. Almost all Hindus are Tamils except a few thousand who recently migrated to Sri Lanka.

Courtesy: Daily News