Majoritarian nationalism can go wrong and it can land the leaders in a hot soup! This is the unmistakable message from the Sri Lankan crisis. The Rajapaksa family was the darling of the majority Singhalese and it indulged in hate politics against Hindus and Muslims. The isolation of the minority came to become the norm. For example, Buddhist monks would block Hindus from entering their temples. Hit by scarcity, these monks had to stand in queues for essential daily-use items. The hardship forced them to demand the removal of the Rajapaksas from the government. Last week, New Zealand provided NZ$ 500,000 to help feed children and farmers and India sent 65,000 MT of urea to Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankans’ street protest that began last month has now become a grand spectacle the world over. People exasperated by their governments’ indifference to their hardships in Africa and elsewhere, such as in Pakistan, are regaling at the way Sri Lankans have treated their leaders in power.
Even after Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as the Prime Minister last Monday, the protests are continuing, and are now focused on the removal of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. A former Lieutenant Colonel, Gotabaya Rajapaksa could continue to be in power so far because of the support of the Sri Lankan military, who themselves are subject to the extreme hardship the country is witnessing. For them, the presence of Rajapaksas assures continuity of the indulgence and impunity they have enjoyed after the decisive war against Tamil rebels in 2009.
Meanwhile, the mob violence, in viral video clips, has shown politicians’ cars being thrown into lakes and rivers. Lawmakers’ homes including 3 houses belonging to the embattled Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, were set ablaze. A fleet of expensive cars such as Rolls Royce, Mclaren, Lamborghini, and Ferrari belonging to the son of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Nimal, were consigned to the flames.
Twitter users from Pakistan and some countries in Africa had a field day giving a piece of their minds. “Do that in Kenya and see how APS (Administrative Police Service) and GSU (General Service Unit – a paramilitary wing) will send hundreds to grave in the name of enforcing law and order,” said a Twitter user from Kenya.
A Pakistani Twitter user posted a fake video of some young men being mistreated by a mob with the caption that these are Sri Lankan Ministers and the Pakistani government has banned all news from Sri Lanka so that Pakistani ministers do not suffer the same fate.
Noted lawyer and civil rights activist Prashant Bhushan tweeted, Events in Sri Lanka have ominous portends for India. How long can you distract people from bread & butter issues by communal hate and polarization.”
As if responding to Prashant Bhushan, Anand Ranganathan, a writer, and editor of right-leaning Swarajya, tweeted, “While Sri Lankans are wishing their nation becomes India, some Indians are wishing theirs becomes Sri Lanka. Nations recover, haters don’t.”
However, one thing about Sri Lankan protests has been unique in that it was mostly calm and peaceful — with drums, music, and cricket on the street — until the final moments when violence broke out after the government supporters violently attacked the peaceful protestors. The reaction was immediate and the attackers were chased down and beaten up. Some of them had to jump into the water to escape the fury of the counter-attack. This was followed by Mahinda Rajapaksa’s mansion in Hambantota set ablaze.
A New York Times report said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the younger brother of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, watched this entire proceeding on TV. He screamed and shouted at top police officers asking them how they allowed the attackers to carry out such provocative acts. Soon, the military was deployed.
The reports added, “Many have described the root of the crisis as the impunity that the political and military enjoyed after a civil war rife with accusations of crime against Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil. The war’s end initiated a majoritarian triumphalism, exploited by the Rajapaksas.”
Hungry people on the street clashed with police and forced them to retreat. They also beat up journalists who would “misinform” the people about the situation. A video claimed that Sri Lankan university students had invented anti-tear gas gear to combat the police incessantly firing tear-gas bullets at protestors.
Finally, a new prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is in office and he is an old war horse. “There is a lot to be done and undone…,” he tweeted, adding that he would spell out some drastic measures today to bring the country back to normalcy.
Will that change Sri Lanka?
A Twitter user responds, “I lived in Sri Lanka, the elites & MPs lived decadently like nothing could stop them. Now their houses are on fire, cars thrown in lakes & PM is feeling the country. You’d think our elites would be worried by this but they won’t until it’s at their doorstep.”
Meanwhile, after Sri Lanka, Iran is witnessing strong protests over the increase in food prices. India has just stopped exports of wheat and procurement conditions have been relaxed to ramp up stocks. The Russia-Ukraine war has already left many African countries in a severe food crisis.
A Pakistani Twitter user says, “We are just months behind Sri Lanka.” Prophetic! (IPA Service)
The post Majoritarian Nationalism Of Rajapaksa Family Has Failed In Sri Lanka first appeared on IPA Newspack.
