Why India keeps pushing Sri Lanka to hold provincial council polls and implement the 13th Amendment

Sri Lanka plans to hold the long-pending council elections in all of its nine provinces towards the year-end, said a minister on Monday. The minister added that the decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting on Monday where the subject of holding the provincial council polls was discussed at length. As per reported information, the move comes after India nudged Sri Lanka to hold the polls and also to implement the 13th amendment to the country’s constitution for devolution of power to the local governments in its Tamil-majority Northern and Eastern Provinces. India’s nudge came amid Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla’s visit to the island nation where New Delhi also conveyed its concerns over China’s expanding footprint. What is the 13th Amendment? The 13th Amendment was a consequence of the Indian intervention in Sri Lanka between 1987-1990. It flowed from the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 29 July 1987, signed by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan president JR Jayawardene. The amendment aims at creating provincial councils in Sri Lanka, assuring a power-sharing arrangement to enable all nine provinces in the country, including Sinhala majority areas, to self-govern. Subjects such as education, health, agriculture, housing, land and police are devolved to the provincial administrations. But because of restrictions on financial powers and overriding powers given to the president, the provincial administrations are yet to become a reality despite three decades worth of efforts and negotiations put behind the goal. The 13th Amendment was brought in the backdrop of prolonged strife between the Sinhala population, who consider themselves native inhabitants of the island nation, and the Tamils who were brought over and settled as indentured labourers during the 19th and 20th centuries by the Britishers during the colonial rule. Ironically, it was disproved both by Sinhalas and the dominant section of Tamil leaders at the time of its implementation. The Sinhala nationalist parties thought it was too much power to share with the Ceylon Tamils. The Tamil Sri Lankan leaders, primarily the LTTE considered it too little. The Sinhalese politicians see the Accord as an imprint of Indian intervention. They are fundamentally opposed to sharing any political power with the Tamil minority. However, some including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) — which chiefly represented the Tamils of the north and east in Parliament in the post-war era until its setback in the recent polls — see it as an important starting point, something to build upon. Where do Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa stand on the issue? President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, are strong proponents of the centralisation of power and favour the scrapping of 13A or diluting its provisions. An array of forces among Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority, including parties like the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Party and the Janata Vimukti Peramuna, as well as Sinhala nationalist and Buddhist organisations, want to see 13A repealed as they are against any power-sharing with the island’s Tamil ethnic minority. Sri Lankan high commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda also has strong views against the 13th Amendment and provincial councils. In a recent interview, he described provincial councils as “superfluous, expensive, divisive and fraught with the inefficiency”. India’s position on the 13th Amendment India has a 69-million strong Tamil population living in Tamil Nadu. There are strong ethnic and cultural links between these Tamils and those living across in Sri Lanka. The plight of Sri Lankan Tamils and their quest for political and other rights enjoys considerable support in Tamil Nadu and is an important election issue in the state. India has been pressing successive governments in Colombo to implement 13A; the Indian diplomatic establishment has long held the view that the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka needs to be addressed politically. Shringla, who arrived in Sri Lanka on Saturday on a four-day visit, in his various interactions pushed for the full implementation of the 13th amendment and early convening of Provincial Council elections.

Foreign Secretary @harshvshringla had separate and productive meetings with delegations from TNA, TPA and CWC. (1/2)@MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/F4odpeee6Z

— India in Sri Lanka (@IndiainSL) October 4, 2021

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in his January visit also spoke on the need to ensure aspirations of the minority Tamils are addressed within a united Sri Lanka. “It is in Sri Lanka’s own interest that the expectations of the Tamil people for equality, justice, peace and dignity within a united Sri Lanka are fulfilled. That applies equally to the commitments made by the Sri Lankan government on meaningful devolution, including the 13th Amendment to the Constitution,” he had said. Experts opine that the implementation of 13A is imperative to New Delhi also from a geopolitical view. Despite the Modi government’s efforts, Sri Lanka’s relations with China remain strong. Perhaps under Chinese pressure, the Rajapaksa government has not revived a stalled agreement that envisages joint India-Japan-Sri Lanka development of the East Container Terminal at the Colombo port. As Sudha Ramachandran noted in The Diplomat, New Delhi could be raising the issue of Tamil political rights to remind Colombo that it could play its Tamil card if Colombo continues its alliance with the Chinese. Inputs from agencies