The TNA’s dilemma
May 31, 2013, 7:58 pmThe Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has taken exception to the UNP’s commitment to Sri Lanka’s unitary status as reiterated in its draft proposal for a new Constitution. TNA MP Mavai Senathirajah has told the media that genuine power sharing is not possible so long as the state remains unitary and his party will make public a detailed response to the UNP’s proposal later.
The UNP may have made specific mention of its commitment to the country’s unitary status in its draft constitutional proposals in a bid to win back the southern constituency which it alienated thanks to its subservience to the LTTE and opposition to the war. Whether it will be able to achieve that objective remains to be seen, but it has certainly upset the TNA.
There are only two political parties capable of forming governments in this country whether one likes it or not—the SLFP and the UNP, of course, with the help of their coalition partners under the present Proportional Representation system. Both main parties having irrevocably committed themselves to preserving unitary status of the state, the question is whether the TNA will be able to achieve the kind of power sharing it has in mind through negotiations with any government, present or future; it is highly unlikely that either the SLFP or the UNP will agree, or be able, to change the state structure because such action will amount to political hara-kiri. How will the TNA overcome this obstacle?
The TNA has unwittingly strengthened the hands of the opponents of the 13th Amendment, who accuse it of trying to use the provincial council system as a stepping stone to achieve greater autonomy. Some TNA stalwarts have even questioned the wisdom of contesting PC polls and asked for an interim administration straightaway until a final solution is found to the ethnic problem. This call has come at a time when the critics of 13A are going hell for leather to have the provincial council system abolished even before the northern PC polls are held. There is little that the TNA could do to prevent the opponents of devolution from making its campaign for autonomy out to be an attempt to win politically what the LTTE failed to militarily. The manner in which Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has made use of India’s version of federalism to run rings round the central government, hold it to ransom and even make a mockery of its writ has apparently served to bolster the anti-devolution activists’ argument that if the TNA wins the NCP polls scheduled for September, the northern provincial administration will be pitted against the government to the extent of making that part of the country ungovernable so as to create an international issue. The TNA has unwittingly given a turbo boost to their campaign for stripping the Provincial Councils of their land and police powers immediately.
It will be interesting to know India’s stance on the TNA’s position on devolution as articulated by MP Senathirajah. India’s solution forced on this country—Provincial Council system—was intended to work in a unitary state. That was when the Tigers were in the Gandhis’ good books. It is only too well known that New Delhi wants 13A implemented fully mainly due to pressure from Tamil Nadu. Does it subscribe to the TNA’s view that Sri Lanka’s unitary status is a problem?
Now that the TNA has said it is an exercise in futility to discuss a solution with the incumbent government which, it says, cannot be trusted, and rejected out of hand the very basis of the UNP’s proposed solution, how does it propose to find a solution?