Who needs a Sri Lanka National Congress today
by Edmund RANASINGHE
The Ceylon National Congress originated at the second Conference of
Constitutional Reform held in December 1918 where the following
resolution was passed:

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike |

R. Pramadasa |

Chandrika Kumaratunga |
"That a permanent organisation be formed for the purpose of
coordinating public opinion and political thought..."
Article 1 of the Constitution of the Congress set out its aim:
"To secure for the people of Ceylon a responsible government and the
status of a self governing nation."
Resolution 1 of the Executive Committee Meeting of the 9th of
December 1919 reads:
"This congress declares that for the better government of the Island
and the happiness and contentment of the people ....and as a step
towards the realization of responsible government in Ceylon .....the
Constitution and Administration should be immediately reformed."
The Ceylon National Congress is the forerunner of political parties
in Sri Lanka. What its founders dreamed of is what the founders of all
nations, great and small have dreamed of.
Nearly a century and a half before that the Declaration of
Independence of what subsequently became the United States of America
recites:
"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable
rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -
that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
That about sums up as succinctly as possible why governments are
needed, why governments are formed, from where they derive their powers
and finally the limits on these powers.
That is a timeless truth and its application universal.
If we were to look for key words we have 'responsible government',
happiness, contentment, equality, unalienable rights, life, liberty,
just powers, consent of the governed.
We received our independence over sixty years ago. Enough time one
would think to achieve these goal, or some of them, so elegantly set out
in that Declaration - or at least set us firmly on that glorious path.
How much of have we achieved in these last sixty years or so. Let us
look at our record.
Islandwide riots in 1953 and then in 1958. One Prime Minister and one
President assassinated. An attempted assassination of another President.
Twenty five sitting members of Parliament gunned down in cold blo od.
Two youth revolts, one in 1971 and another from 1987 to 1992, with
countless numbers killed. A bloody separatist fought over thirty years
with an estimated seventy five thousand killed.
Then again we have been free for approximately seven hundred and
forty months. Of this three hundred and ten (and still counting) have
been spent under Emergency Regulations with the normal law of the land
suspended.
Can we honestly say that these several governments have been
responsible administrations? Have they contributed to the happiness and
contentment of the populace at large? Have we been treated equally? Have
our so-called unalienable rights to life and liberty been protected or
are they being violated with impunity? Is setting aside of the normal
laws of the land just? Is that what is meant by ruling with the consent
of the governed?
Have we gone wrong somewhere down the line?
To answer the question, all one needs to do is look at the original
line up of the membership of the Ceylon National Congress.
Camaraderie
The President was a Tamil respectively proposed and seconded by two
Sinhalese. The first Executive Committee consisted of the so-called
Indian Tamils, Moors and Burghers, then there were the Buddhists and
Hindus, Christians and Muslims. There were Communists, Trotskyites,
Socialists and Sama Samajists. You name them, they were all there. We
were, at that time all Ceylonese (Sri Lankans). All joined together with
but one goal in mind, freedom and the well-being of the population. That
is happiness. The happiness that the founding fathers, the founding
members of the Ceylon National Congress dreamed of. A person's caste and
creed were no concern.
It is not necessary to name names here but somewhere down the line
all this camaraderie between the different communities and the different
philosophies was lost to communal parties with narrow parochial agendas
and then to religious parties with narrower agendas. Communal politics
was as expected accompanied and ably assisted by its twin-divisive
politics and we divided ourselves according to philosophies, all strange
imports. Strange to our respective tongues and stranger still to our
respective minds. We split up and crept into our own little crannies. We
were divided and separated on every conceivable demarcation. We were
segregated and isolated. Concrete boundaries built around us.
The common national good was no longer our good. Each one of us had
our own good to look after, come what may and to hell with the rest.
Of course yes, all but the very chauvinistic of these have taken
representation from the other communities - most likely poached. The
'Uncle Toms' to prove our broadmindedness. The classic words of the
Soulbury Commission Report dismissing the call for communal
representation comes to mind - "Communal representation is as it were a
canker in the body politic eating deeper and deeper into the vital
energies of the nation." This prediction (should I call it a promise)
certainly seems to have come true.
We are long past the direct democracy of the Greek city states. And
the ubiquitous Swiss referendum is not the fashion in these humid
climes. Ours is representative government. We elect the representatives
and they govern on our behalf. That has been the style commencing with
the seminal steps in 1911 to full independence in 1948.
Thattu maru
In 1948, we had a United National Party Government. In 1956 we became
sick of that and elected a Sri Lanka Freedom Party Government. From then
onward it has been a thattu maru system of coalition of various hues and
colours and shapes and forms.
The coalitions came in various permutations and combinations. There
were green, and blue and yellow. There was blue and red. There was green
and red. There were communal parties getting into bed with chauvinistic
parties. There were capitalistic parties aligned with socialist parties.
There were capitalist parties with socialist parties and capitalist
parties with communist parties. The mishmash went on ad infinitum and
perhaps ad nauseam. Some parties large. Some small. So small, that the
entire membership could go about comfortably in a trishaw as they say.
All that these coalitions that proved and proved beyond any doubt at
that, was that in politics there are no permanent friends nor permanent
enemies but only permanent (and selfish) interests.
Genuine
With all this what have we reaped? Communal animosity, Class
acrimony, Social disharmony and Youth hostility. Many more come to mind.
Everyone with such dismal and negative connotations. Nothing, nothing at
all with anything positive.
Is it not time then when some of us with a genuine interest in the
well-being of the nation get together to pull us out of the morass and
quagmire that we have so willingly fallen into. Again 'In politics
nothing happens by accident. If it happens you can bet it was planned
that way.'
It is therefore refreshing to note that one person, one at least,
even at this late stage, has taken it upon himself and thought it fit to
give the lead in that direction.
I refer to the announcement in some quarters of the formation of a
new political party called the Sri Lanka National Congress.
We have yet to see any public pronouncements from the Sri Lanka
National Congress. The party's principles, what they stand for. Their
aims, their goals have yet to be announced publicly. The party's
manifesto is yet to be made public. If they had been this writer is not
yet privy to them. They have not as yet had any public meetings
announcing themselves.
More often than not an organisation is moulded by its leader. He sets
its character, the pace and its direction. Strong leaders make strong
organisations. Weak leaders make weak organisations. Honest leaders make
honest organisations and corrupt leaders make corrupt organisations.
That has been the lesson of history throughout the ages.
Why we need a Sri Lanka National Congress. Truly Sri Lanka, truly of
all the citizens and truly democratic. Moragoda has had two stints as
Minister. One in the short-lived UNP Government under Ranil
Wickremesinghe and at present in the UPFA Government under Mahinda
Rajapaksa. That in both instances he portrayed these traits and rose
above the parochial and narrow-minded outlook of the common or garden is
a fact. There is no reason to doubt that he will continue in the same
vein and be equal to the task.
A party to restate the lofty ideals of its precursor the Ceylon
National Congress and to relive those dreams of our founding fathers is
the need of the hour.
Its success or failure cannot be judged beforehand. Only a prognosis
can be made. The Sri Lanka National Congress appears to be equal to the
task and the one capable of delivering. It has the right makings.
Only time will tell how far and how well they will succeed in the
journey they have undertaken. |