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