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Wigneswaran ups the ante in Chief Minister stakes
With the electoral race launched in three provinces, two developments within minority political formations during the past week point to significant undercurrents. Firstly, there were ripples caused by the naming of a respected retired Supreme Court judge, C V Wigneswaran, as the chief ministerial candidate of the Tamil National Alliance, for the first ever Northern Provincial Council election.
Secondly the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) has announced that it will contest independently of the UPFA in all three — Northern, North Western and Central provinces. The SLMC went solo in the Eastern Provincial Council election last year as well, but this time the decision seems to be the result, rather than the cause, of differences with the ruling coalition. This takes the tensions between the Congress and UPFA to a new level.
With the announcement of Wigneswaran as the TNA’s chief minister (CM) candidate, conspiracy theories about ‘external forces’ being behind it promptly went into circulation. Those inclined to give ear to these stories may fail to note the many positive aspects of this nomination not only for the TNA but for the PC system and the country as a whole. Firstly Wigneswaran does not carry the suspicious baggage of being a politician.
He cannot be accused of seeking the position out of thirst for power, prestige or the ‘plums of office.’ The fact that Wigneswaran had to be strenuously persuaded by TNA leader R Sampanthan, and the very circumspect manner in which he set about accepting the challenge – by setting the condition that all constituent parties of the TNA coalition should endorse his nomination – would seem to indicate that it is anything but a conspiracy.
Different kind of council
The most obvious aspect of the Northern Provincial Council, that will make its performance a subject of closer scrutiny than any other council, is that it will be the first to be led by an Opposition party. But apart from that, there are many reasons that make a council led by Wigneswaran, with 50 years experience in the legal profession of which 25 were on the bench, likely to be different from the others. Wigneswaran is a candidate nominated on the basis of merit and high esteem, and not as a reward for abject loyalty to the Centre. So he will be a different kind of CM. Also, being an Opposition-led council the NPC will not be captive to patronage politics controlled from the Centre. It will present paradigm of provincial administration that is different from the others. In fact given these circumstances this may well be the first time that it is possible to observe the intended effects of devolving power to the periphery.
A further reason to celebrate the choice of Wigneswaran as CM, is that since he is not a politician he is far less likely to be a slave to narrow-minded communalism. Justice Wigneswaran has been an outspoken critic of deteriorating trends affecting not just his own community but the whole country. He has roundly condemned interference with the independence of the judiciary. Earlier this year he made a hard hitting speech at the induction ceremony of the president of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. This was against the backdrop of a wave of attacks targeting Muslim-owned business establishments and mosques. He said:
“The attack on religious freedoms radicalises the polity and unleashes dangers that cannot be controlled even by those who foster them. The attack on the temple of justice removes the only rational and non-partisan check on government and individual excesses. The combination of the two at present is both a time bomb waiting to go off and a cancer spreading to other areas at the same time.”
Alienation of Muslims
Developments in relation to the SLMC which is the biggest party representing Muslims in parliament, give rise to new concerns over the government’s handling of minority issues. Asked about the decision to contest independently in the three provinces where elections are to be held in September, SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem told the ‘Sunday Times’ any decision to support an Opposition-led council will have to be examined only after the election, and “in the overall context of withdrawal from the Centre.”
The SLMC although it is a UPFA coalition partner was excluded from the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to arrive at a consensus on power devolution through the 13th Amendment. Is his party being sidelined by the government? Hakeem said it’s not a question of sidelining but “downright hostility.” He says these moves are in reaction to his party’s criticism of attempts to ‘dilute devolution,’ and its opposition to ‘piecemeal truncation of the constitution.’
The latest development in the anti-Muslim hate campaign that has been going on for several months, is the closure of the Masjidul Arafa mosque in Mahiyangana on Friday. A week ago the same mosque came under attack with reports of pork being thrown inside the precincts, seen by Muslims as an act of desecration. Hakeem was quoted in media yesterday linking the closure to alleged threats by an Uva Provincial Council minister. “In this holy month of Ramadan when Muslims observe the fast globally …. such acts of intolerance and impunity hurt the sentiments of Muslims in this country” he told the ‘Daily Mirror.’
One does not have to be the IGP in order to see a clear pattern of deliberate provocation targeting a particular religious community, behind these attacks. They have been linked to Buddhist extremist groups. It remains a mystery as to why the law is not enforced to bring the offenders to justice.
International dimension
It may be recalled that during the votes on hostile resolutions brought against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council this year and the last, the Muslim states voted en bloc in support of Sri Lanka. Pakistan’s ambassador is known to have played a key role in canvassing that support. In Sri Lanka huge demonstrations against the resolution were staged by the Muslim community in solidarity with the state.
Along with members of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM), the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have always been Sri Lanka’s natural allies in the international arena. But the OIC, days before the HRC resolution had to address a letter to Sri Lankan government expressing its concerns over “increasing reports of ethnic tensions in parts of Sri Lanka, particularly in the central province of Buwelikade, which has a large Muslim population” (‘Arab News’). How long will it be before the state realises its monumental folly in alienating the Muslims?
At the recent Convention of the Jathika Hela Urumaya, TNL Radio reported JHU minister Champika Ranawaka declaring that the party “would never allow any extremists to make this country another Pakistan or Afghanistan.” Isn’t that a bit rich?
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