“They are trampling on our graves with their shoes,” said Kavitha, a young Tamil girl, as a torrential downpour pelted our faces with tears. Standing barefoot and covered in mud at a former cemetery in Visuvamadu, Sri Lanka, he was weeping next to a military procession that had formed at the graves of fallen Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) soldiers, including his brother.
The LTTE was a militant group that was prominent in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka that fought to establish an independent Tamil state for nearly three decades, until its definitive defeat and surrender to Sri Lanka in 2009. Through this struggle, the government it shot. and rehabilitated many LTTE buildings, such as the cemetery where Kavitha's brother was buried, when they recaptured them. part from the army.
On a rainy day in late November, Kavitha and thousands of others were at the LTTE graveyard to mark the “Maaveerar Naal” – an annual event commemorating LTTE fighters who died in the decades-long war. And this was not the only expression of national commitment. According to government figures, what happened at the Visuvamadu cemetery was repeated at more than 200 sites – including universities, shrines and other ancient cemeteries – across northeastern Sri Lanka, with thousands of people.
The level of interest in the Maaveerar Naal commemorations of 2024 – the same if not more than in previous years – was a strong rebuke to the ignorant observers in Sri Lanka who declared the end of the Tamil state after the Sri Lankan elections that took place. , two weeks earlier, on November 14.
The National People's Power (NPP), a left-wing Sinhala coalition, won a landslide victory, winning 159 seats in Parliament – more than any other party in Sri Lanka's history. More importantly, he also won all the bars in the majority Tamil voting districts in the northeast, leading many foreign observers to conclude that the Tamil dream of independence had been abandoned.
The actual political situation in the Tamil country, however, is much more complicated.
The NPP started mobilizing many people who were against the establishment of the country because of frustration with the economic problems and corruption.
The fall of the Rajapaksa family – which dominated Sri Lankan politics since 2005 – has been dramatic. He never received support from the Tamil community, who blamed former leaders and brothers Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the massacre. However, in the Sinhala south, they were recognized as the heroes of the war against the LTTE.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidency by a landslide five years ago, in 2019. However, less than three years later, in 2022, he was ousted by a popular uprising in the southern Sinhala. Since then, the family has lost all political power in Sri Lanka. In the November 2024 election, their party managed to get only three seats in Parliament.
Gotabaya's change did not bring change people asked whether. As a result, last November the party opposed to the establishment of the NPP achieved a victory that seems to overcome the deepest divisions in the country. The left-wing coalition managed to win even the left-wing Jaffna constituency – a stronghold of Tamil freedom fighters who had previously supported an independent Tamil state.
This surprised many observers of Tamil politics from abroad and made others angry commentators who herald the beginning of the end of Tamil culture. Indeed, even some NPP officials also interpreted their victory in Jaffna as rejecting “racism” is Tamil.
However, equating the NPP's success in the North-East Province with the general denial of Tamil nationalism is a clear mistake that stems from the laziness and lack of engagement in Tamil politics common among outside observers.
Anyone who has their finger on the pulse of the Tamil street can see the change in the vote of the people in this election had nothing to do with any disillusionment with the Tamil nation but everything to do with their disillusionment with Tamil politics. The results of the survey only showed that Tamils, like any constituency, are smart and consider their economic and political preferences when casting their votes.
Many Tamil nationalists and freedom fighters voted for the NPP in the hope that it would bring a better economy. Others wanted to punish prominent politicians who they saw as corrupt and failed. The NPP's move to ensure an alliance against corrupt politicians has also helped sway the Tamil vote. Their show at the popular Colombo hangout of luxury cars have been confiscated from various ministriesfor example, it was the whipping desired by the elite. Their original views on the Tamils, their anti-apartheid messages and their promises to allow the Maaveerar Naal memorial and repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, where many Tamils are being persecuted, all helped their appeal in the North East.
Even Kavitha, a devotee of the Tamil nation, admitted that she had voted for the NPP. During our conversation at the Maaveerar Naal commemoration event, he reflected on his frustrations with the main Tamil party ITAK, the need to address recent economic needs, and his vote for the NPP.
But the NPP's support from Tamils like Kavitha is steady, and is already showing cracks. To continue to be arrested the Tamils under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for participating in the Maaveerar Naal commemorations is causing frustration and anger. Meanwhile, on the last day of the evacuation of the army camp from the Tamil town, he announced very excitedly, it has passed without any sign. All of this is sending a message to the once disdainful Tamil voters that the good deeds done during the campaign were nothing but empty handed.
The NPP was never in power and therefore did not have the same assets as the previous rulers. This does not mean that the NPP has no assets. Their main party – The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP, Peoples Liberation Front) – was also banned as a “terrorist group” because of their violent attacks in the 1970s and 1980s, which left thousands of Sinhalese dead. They openly advocated against talks with the LTTE and played a major role in derailing peace talks in the mid-2000s. Although the leadership is on a different path now, their actions show that they are either disloyal or that they will find it difficult to deal with chauvinist sentiments at the core of the party and the electorate. those. As has been proven time and time again, if the party in power seems to be aligned with the Tamils, this will strengthen them and the opposition, which will affect the way they do in the next elections. All major Sinhala parties participated, including the JVP.
All this brings up an important point about Sri Lankan politics and Tamil nationalism. The construction of the Sri Lankan nation was based on giving respect to Sinhala Buddhism. Tamils were not recognized as equal citizens, pushed to the margins of the Colombo-centric approach not only by the government, but also by the Tamil elite. Leading Tamil politicians have repeatedly conceded to the long-standing political demand, to return a member of the Colombo elite. Although historically these parties have continued to find support among Tamils, and this election may be less than a big change, the political power of Tamils cannot be calculated through electoral politics. Maaveerar Naal, and events related to commemoration and protest that stem from the culture of the Tamil nation are a clear reflection of the political reality embedded in the Tamil psyche.
The life of the Tamil Eelam-centric nation exists beyond the borders of the Sri Lankan nation, and Tamil politics. It will continue to thrive, both within and outside the island, and achieve its goals through means outside the boundaries set by electoral politics. Although this government has the opportunity to take Tamil issues seriously and address the long-standing demand for self-rule, the Tamil people will not work.
For these things to happen, the NPP should spend every day of their five years working, and fulfilling the needs of Tamils. The lowest fruits include the release of political prisoners, the removal of the PTA and the release of military-held areas. Attempts to change the character of the people in the North-East Province through land grabbing, construction of Buddhist temples and the expansion of Sinhala settlements must also be stopped immediately. Relatives of people who have been forcibly disappeared continue their protests and reject the government's measures that are incompatible with the judicial system. Their concerns should also be taken seriously – many refused to perform the last rites of their relatives given to the security forces at the end of the war. Sri Lanka must reveal what it did to the thousands of Tamil people it detained.
The Tamil people have learned through repeated suffering that the political solution cannot come from the government. It is because of this broken faith that Tamils look to the outside world for justice and accountability. Disrupting this process will require the new government to step in to remove the social stigma and provide a proper response. Without this, the ongoing divisions in the country will continue.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect Al Jazeera's influence.