BBS Fishing In Hindu-Tamil Waters

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara
.like our Buddhist people, these helpless Tamil Hindus are being victimised day after day by
sinful Christian fundamentalist forces. They are trying to distance Hindus from their culture
and make them hate their culture.
Galagoda!tte Gnanasara Thera
" #uly $%, &'$(, Colombo, )ri *anka Guardian+ ,utting all four ma-or *ankan religions at
loggerheads .ith each other seems to be the set purpose of the Bodu Bala )ena.
The BB)brief seems to go .ay beyond igniting conflicts bet.een Buddhists and /uslims
and0or Buddhists and Christians. Creating conditions for violent disharmony bet.een Hindus
and /uslims and0or Hindus and Christians also seems to fall .ithin the BB)purvie..
The BB) is not -ust telling )inhalaBuddhists that they face an e1istential threat from 2slam and
Christianity. The BB) has also begun telling TamilHindus that they are facing an e1istential
threat from Christianity and 2slam.
3n the internet, there is a clip of a speech made by Galagoda!tte Gnanasara Thera at a
4BuddhistHindu5 .alk in 6otahena "possibly in !pril or /ay &'$(+. The speech is a clear
attempt to convince HinduTamils that their real enemies are not the 7a-apaksas or )inhala
Buddhist supremacists but Christians and /uslims, in that order.
*ike all fanatics, BB) headhoncho can sound mellifluous and even reasonable, on demand. 2n
his 6otahena speech he lauds Hindus for their innocence and peacefulness, apologises about
not being able to address then in their language, calls them brothers and hails BuddhistHindu
unity. He says that 8Buddhists and especially Hindu Tamil people of this country are facing a
grave problem0crisis 9 that of 4cultural slaughter5 by Christian evangelicals and 2slamic
terrorists. He makes a soulful appeal to Hindu priests to be proactive "unlike Buddhist monks
.ho are languishing in their temples+ and save Hindu society.
The main points in Galagoda!tte Gnanasara Thera5s speech are:
Hinduism and Buddhism are fraternal religions.
There is a Christian conspiracy to convert Hindus and make them hate their traditional culture.
Hindus are also being threatened by 2slam.
TamilHindus and )inhalaBuddhists have identical enemies 9 Christians and /uslims;
therefore they should corporate in their struggle to save their faiths and their traditional
cultures.
!lready some TamilHindus are turning to the BB) to save themselves from these t.in
invasions.
2f the BB) can ignite divisions .ithin Tamil society along religious lines by pitting Tamil
Hindus against TamilChristians and0or e1acerbate the already e1isting problems bet.een
Tamils and /uslims, there .ill be a very clear beneficiary: the 7a-apaksas.
2f some )inhalaBuddhists can be convinced that they face an e1istential threat from 2slam or
Christianity, they can be persuaded to deprioritise their real problems "especially economic
ones+ and focus on imagined enemies. )imilarly, if some TamilHindus can be made to think
that they are facing 4cultural slaughter5 "4sanskruthika ghatanaya5+ at the hands of Christians
and /uslims, they too can be made to focus less on their real problems and more on these
illusive foes.
!nd the 7a-apaksas .ill benefit 9 especially in the coming election season.
The BB) .ill never be able to convince a ma-ority or even a substantial minority of Hindus
.ith their insane hatemongering; they don5t need to. !ll they need are a fe. visible and vocal
Hindu adherents and such pa.ns can easily be created through selfinterest "let us not forget
6,5s transformation from ,irapaharanacolyte to 7a-apaksaacolyte+. The ne1t step .ould be to
stage a fe. antiChristian and0or anti2slam demonstrations0meetings in the <orth and the =ast;
.ith the full backing of the stateapparatuses, this .ould be >uite an easy task. The final step
.ould be to ignite0manufacture some incidents 9 Hindu attacks on Tamil Christian churches
and0or mos>ues.
The multiple advantages of such an outcome to the political pro-ects of the 7a-apaksas and
their )inhalaBuddhist supremacist acolytes are obvious.
7ipping Tamil society along religious lines can cause dents in the currently nearmonolithic
Tamil opposition to the 7a-apaksas. =1acerbating divisions bet.een Tamils and /uslims can
achieve the same ob-ect. 2f there are HinduChristian or Hindu/uslim clashes in the <orth or
the =ast, it .ill provide a convincing e1cuse to send even more troops to there. *et us not
forget that on the prete1t of rebuilding the destroyed houses in !luthgama, a military camp has
been set up in that )outhern to.n. There is no guarantee that the camp .ill be removed once
reconstruction is completed.
2f there are HinduChristian or Hindu/uslim dissension0clashes it .ill .eaken the T<! and
the demand for a -ust solution to the ethnic problem. Those Tamils .ho fall into the trap of
Hindue1tremism may not support the 7a-apaksas; but they .ill give rise to a ne. brand of
Tamil politics .hich places not political and economic issues but religious and cultural issues at
the centre of its discourse, policies and demands.
! religiousbased division might confuse the international community and divide the Tamil
?iaspora.
! Hindu/uslim conflict in the <orth0=ast might encourage /odi2ndia to look differently 9
and more favourably at the 7a-apaksas.
T.o, three, many religious conflicts .ould be thus be a 7a-apaksa dream.
=lectoral 7uses
/ahinda 7a-apaksa .ill in all probability .in the ne1t presidential election. But an invigorated
opposition can give him a tough fight.
The only reason 7anil @ickremesinghe did not defeat /ahinda 7a-apaksa in &''A .as
Bellupillai ,irapaharan "and his suicidal electoral boycott+. True the C<, is much .eaker today
than it .as in &''A; and the ideal of a common oppositional candidate seems an unachievable
one. )everal oppositional candidates .ill divide the oppositional vote. But finally every single
vote cast for a non7a-apaksa candidate "including for dummy candidates put for.ard by the
)iblings+ .ill reduce the average vote and the margin of victory of /ahinda 7a-apaksa.
Dor e1ample, if disgruntled C<,ers vote for another oppositional candidate, instead of
abstaining or spoiling their vote, it .ill serve to reduce the average vote and margin of victory
of Candidate /ahinda. Conse>uently, if different oppositional candidates, through their
separate campaigns, can enthuse traditional oppositional voters and a segment of floating voters
to vote for them instead of abstaining0spoiling, it can create a problem for the 7a-apaksas. !
situation .here /ahinda 7a-apaksa can only scrapethrough is not at all unlikely; even the
possibility of pushing the election into a second round is not impossible.
The )iblings seem to kno. this. That is .hy they are going all out to make the electoral
playingfield even more imbalanced than it already is. !nother important aim .ould be to so.
confusion in the oppositional space so that instead of a clear 7a-apaksaanti7a-apaksa divide,
there are many divisions, on ethnic and religious lines.
The 7a-apaksas kno. that the minorities .ill not vote for them. )o the goal .ill be to reduce
minority turn out at the ne1t round of national elections. Confusing and disorienting Tamils,
/uslims and Christians .ith ne. 9 and imaginary 9 threats0enemies .ould be an e1cellent .ay
of achieving that aim.
! )ri *anka, .ith faultlines across every ethnic and religious difference, .ill become a place of
unprecedented disunity, instability, intolerance and brutal violence. )uch a development .ill be
deadly for the country and all her people "especially )inhalaBuddhists+. But the 7a-apaksas
need it, to strengthen and prolong familial rule.
2t5s to.ards that deadly dystopia the BB) is headed, .ith its sudden over.helming love for
Hinduism, its sugary concern for HinduTamils and its slogan of 4BuddhistHindu
Brotherhood5.
7eferences;
$. http:00....youtube.com0.atchEvF=vi/vAGHCG=ItFJK'
&. 2bid