Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Jaffna MP. Photo: Special Arrangement
Political parties representing Tamil people in Sri Lanka’s north and east have no choice but to consolidate their presence in Parliament to effectively challenge the Anura Kumara Dissanayake government and assert the rights of the Tamil people, according to Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Jaffna MP and Leader of the Tamil National People’s Front [TNPF].
President Dissanayake’s National People’s Power [NPP] coalition enjoys a super majority with 159 seats in the 225-member legislature, following its historic mandate last November. Significantly, the NPP outperformed other contenders — including Tamil parties in the war-affected north and east — in all districts except one, marking a huge shift in the voting patterns of Sri Lanka’s ethnic minorities, who usually back regional parties in the general elections.
Also read: How the NPP won over Sri Lanka’s ethnic minorities
Speaking to The Hindu on what lies ahead for the Tamil parties, Mr. Ponnambalam, General Secretary of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress [ACTC] — which leads the TNPF — said: “The Tamil people wanted to teach all traditional Tamil nationalist parties including us a lesson…our vote share nearly halved. If we don’t pick up the pieces and see the writing on the wall, the next election will be disastrous…we must work together in Parliament.” The ACTC’s sole parliamentarian now, the 51-year-old lawyer-turned-politician has been a prominent opposition voice in the House, with his sharp interventions drawing wide attention over the years.
Causes for setback
Analysts have attributed the Tamil parties’ performance in the last election to various reasons, such as a very fragmented Tamil polity, voters’ frustration with the Tamil political leadership for disregarding their economic deprivation and widespread disillusionment over the lack of qualitative improvement since the war ended in 2009, even as war-time accountability, a political solution, and meaningful economic recovery remain elusive. Many voters saw hope in Mr. Dissanayake, who emerged as a credible alternative in national politics.
In Mr. Ponnambalam’s assessment, however, the electoral setback of Tamil parties was caused mainly by “an erosion” of Tamil nationalist politics. “From 2010, after the civil war ended, and particularly after 2015, there has been a gap between the Tamil nationalist assurances given to our people during elections, and what the parties actually practised,” he noted. The Tamil National Alliance [TNA], formerly the largest bloc representing Tamils, “got used” by the Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe administration [2015-2019], in his view.
The TNA, helmed by the late leader R. Sampanthan, sought to engage closely with the Sirisena government then, especially on proposals for a new Constitution. Even at the time, the relatively hardline TNPF was a fierce critic of its rival TNA, and its chief constituent the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), for its “willingness to work within the dynamics of a unitary state structure”, although the ITAK at the time argued it was pushing for a federalism-based arrangement. The party’s “more recent” articulation of a constitutional settlement based on a federal model offered reason to engage, Mr. Ponnambalam said. The ITAK, which currently has 8 MPs in Parliament, is yet to positively respond to his outreach.
While acknowledging that the Tamil parties took a “severe beating”, Mr. Ponnambalam disagrees with the view that the results signalled a “rejection” of Tamil nationalist politics. “There are 19 Tamil MPs among those elected from the north and east. Eight of those are from the NPP and the rest are from traditional parties or independent groups. So that is not a rejection, but we [Tamil parties] must regroup in Parliament as a bloc.” Spelling out his motivation to work with other Tamil parties, including rivals, Mr. Ponnambalam said: “The government is repeatedly saying they have a mandate from the people of the north and east, that assertion must be challenged.”
Structural changes
Despite his “serious reservations” about the JVP’s [Leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna that is the chief constituent of the NPP] past, Mr. Ponnambalam sees a “significant difference” in how the party has projected itself after creating the broader NPP coalition in 2019. “President Dissanayake rightly says racism has been a major problem in our country and has vowed to wipe out racism. The rhetoric is welcome, but show us qualitative change in action,” he said. Entrenched, systemic racism “won’t just go away”, Mr. Ponnambalam said, without structural changes. “The unitary state must go. The government must devolve power, be honest with all Sri Lankans while doing so, and assure them that federalism is not separatism. On our part, we are willing to give commitments on the country’s unity and territorial integrity.”
Published – March 04, 2025 08:46 pm IST
