Identity Politics in the Eastern Province: A Reappraisal of Federalism in the Perspective of S.J.V. Chelvanayakam

Abstract

The federal demand of the Federal Party led by Father S.J.V. Chelvanayakam reached its peak at the Vaddukoddai Conference as a demand for self-rule. However, it was abandoned during the Thimpu talks and was later reduced to the recognition of the Northern and Eastern Provinces as the traditional homeland of the Tamils. Under the Indo-Lanka Accord, these two provinces were merged into a single North-Eastern Provincial Council. Subsequently, as per the Supreme Court ruling, they were separated into two distinct provincial councils. Along with this, the powers relating to land and police that were constitutionally granted to the provincial councils have remained unimplemented, resulting in a prolonged deadlock and leading to a mass protest demanding the devolution of those powers. Consequently, the situation has once again arisen where assistance from the Government of India is being sought for this purpose. In such a context, the question or debate as to whether the two provincial councils should be merged and strengthened appears to contradict the political reality. However, it would be more appropriate to argue or discuss that, in addition to the powers already granted through the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, further powers and resources- including those relating to land and police- should be devolved to the provincial councils. To obtain these powers from the central government, cooperation and coordination among the provincial councils are essential. According to Stuart N. Kaufman’s theory of identity politics, the path to ethnic conflict begins with the discourse of one ethnic group opposing another. Such discourses contribute to the formation of hostile and discriminatory identity-based assumptions. When members of an ethnic group feel that their identity or social status is under threat, they are more likely to join people’s movements that engage in reactionary politics. In this context, the minority communities living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces have weaponised their respective identities to protect their existence. Tamil nationalism has gradually transformed itself into identity-based nationalism. Father Chelvanayakam’s discourse of “Tamil-speaking people” has split into two distinct identity politics—of Tamils and Muslims. Even the identity of “Tamil people” itself has become divided between the North and the East. The Tamil people of the Eastern Province, like the Muslims, are establishing and strengthening their own political institutions. The moderate organisations that once nurtured Tamil nationalism by uniting the Tamil people of the North and East are losing their influence in the East. This represents the lived reality and political landscape of the Tamil-speaking people today. Here, Father Chelvanayakam’s dream of a unified “Tamil-speaking people” lies shattered and fragmented.