Birth of Post-colonial South Asia:

Sri Lanka and Nepal

November 23, 2009

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Indian population 2009

1,198.0 billion

UN Population Fund Report 2009

http://www.unfpa.org/swp/

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Main questions

I. What was the nature of the political and institutional developments in Sri Lanka and Nepal?

II. How are these histories reflected in contemporary events in the countries?

III. Both countries experience conflict. Are these conflicts similar or different?

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Sri Lanka: What changed?

What we hear now“ethnic conflict”; “civil war”; “terrorism”;

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

What we used to hear:

High levels of literacy and education; social programs; universal health care; progressive redistributive policies

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Roots of the conflict

• Oppression of Tamil minority by the state on the claim that they dominated public service, better jobs and higher social positions

• Rise of separatist movement and armed militancy led by the LTTE

• Strong military response from the state• Vicious cycle of violence and brutality

mutually reinforcing one another

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What was at stake?

• Language: In 1956, Sinhala is declared sole official language

• Religion: In 1972, Buddhism declared official language and name changed to Sri Lanka

• Education and unemployment: Perception of Tamil domination by virtue of their English education; reservation and discrimination

• These changes imposed by an aggressive militaristic program of ‘nationalization’

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1983: Black July

• Immediate catalyst: Begins with a killing of 13 soldiers by the LTTE

• Spreads to systematic and targeted anti-Tamil riots

• Several thousand Tamils are killed and several hundreds of thousands rendered homeless and refugees.

• Jaywardene quote

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The 25 years since Black July

• Continuous cycle of violence

• Sporadic peace efforts

• Cease fire in 2002

• Violence continues ..

• Big markers: assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, PM of India, 1991; assassination of President Premadasa 1993; massive death and displacement of civilians

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Current situation

• 2009 January - Government troops capture the northern town of Kilinochchi, held for ten years by the Tamil Tigers. President Mahinda Rajapakse calls it an unparalleled victory. Huge atrocities by the state are reported

• 2009 May – LTTE leader VELUPILLAI PRABHAKARAN is believed to have been killed. Rebels agree to lay down arms

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• 2009 November - Opposition parties form alliance to contest elections. The new alliance includes Muslim and Tamil parties and is led by former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

• The process of ‘winning the peace’ yet to begin. Tamil civilians’ plight continues.

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Nepal 2006: Unprecedented mass movement

• Throughout 2006, protest march and civil disobedience movements with mobilizations ranging from

• April 24, 2006: Reinstitution of the parliament• May 18, 2006: Nepal’s Democracy Day: The

parliament unanimously votes for: The abolition of the monarchy; stripping all

royal powers; declaring the state a secular state; renaming the army; taxing the wealth of the royal family etc.

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How does such massive change come about?

Familiar story lines: • The king “listened to the people” and voluntarily

gave up power• ‘the Maoists’ threatened the king• People got tired of the civil war

Possible argument: mass mobilization which brought together the Maoist movement plus every faction of civil society against the continued abuse of power by the monarchy

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Developments leading to 2006

• Immediate developments: civil society uprising of 2006 (did the BBC miss that?)

• Longer term factors: The Maoist “People’s War”

• Even nonger term structural factors: poverty and inequality, resistance to the monarchy, and various struggles for justice

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Long history of resistance against hereditary rule

• 1800s: Conquered and ruled by the Gurkha monarchs. Rise of a hereditary system of rule by Chief Ministers who come from the same family (the Ranas)

• 1900s: Rebellion against the Ranas, establishment of the rule of King Mahindra

• 1959: Adoption of multiparty constitution; emergence of the Congress Party as the leading political entity

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Uneasy relations between the monarchy &

constitutional politics• The Nepali Congress Party (NCP)

emerges as the major political party

• Left groups also begin to emerge

• Successive kings deny these political entities their right to lead politics

• 1991: Finally, a democratic majority win for the Congress (Note: your Whelpton reading begins from here)

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Nepal since 1991: two major trends emerge (1)

(1) Increasing factionalization of political entities, resulting in the 7 leading parties

• Nepali Congress • Nepali Congress (Democratic) • Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-

Leninist) • Nepal Workers and Peasants Party • Nepal Goodwill Party (Anandi Devi) • United Left Front • People's Front

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Nepal since 1991: Trend (2)Emergence of the ‘People’s War’ • The main actor: Communist Party of Nepal

(Marxist-Leninist) (CPN(ML). • Main (stated) goal: uproot “the power of

big landlords through armed struggle”.• Main strategies: Increased participation in

parliamentary politics where it had started to do well. Its initial successes led to the formation of an even larger groups of united left parties.. but

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PW(2)

• But eventually there was dissent amongst the party members who felt too many compromised were made for the sake of retaining political power

• A new Maoist party CPN(Maoist) emerged and embarked on a full-fledged People’s War since 1996.

• This is the party that is currently in power

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People’s War (3)

• In April 2006, the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and the CPN(M) both agreed for the dissolution of the monarchy and constitutional elections

• In April 2008, the CPN(M) elected in what was called an ‘electoral thunderbolt’

• Which way now?

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Current situation

• Development indicators

• 80% living below $2

• Share of the poorest 20% in national income 7.6%

• Agricultural labour 93% of total labour force

• 25% own no land, 65% (of the 26 million) survive on subsistence farming