{"id":212293,"date":"2020-08-02T12:02:25","date_gmt":"2020-08-02T06:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=212293"},"modified":"2020-08-07T16:51:36","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T11:21:36","slug":"stopping-the-landslide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/stopping-the-landslide\/","title":{"rendered":"Stopping The Landslide"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tisaranee Gunasekara<\/a> –<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have learnt from many political parties in the world. The best two are the BJP and the CCP (Chinese Communist Party).\u201d ~\u00a0<\/i>Basil Rajapaksa (Daily FT \u2013 29.7.2020)\"\"<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

Basil Rajapaksa is the Rajapaksa family\u2019s thinking man. Unlike his brothers and nephews, he doesn\u2019t shoot his mouth off. His remarks should be taken seriously, because, often, they point to the shape of the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alarm bells need to clang when Basil Rajapaksa says he wants to model the SLPP on China\u2019s Communist Party and India\u2019s BJP: \u201cI want our party to be a party like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and how they act… We can also be like the Indian Bharatha Janatha Party (BJP)\u201d (Daily FT<\/i> \u2013 29.7.2020). There cannot be a clearer warning of the politically unfree and ethno-religiously divisive future awaiting us if the Rajapaksas get their two-thirds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The only thing that is communist about the Chinese Communist Party is its name. Under the one-man rule of Xi Jinping, the CCP has used big data and face recognition technology to create a 24×7 surveillance state, obliterating even the pretence of a private\/personal space for its billion plus subjects. But President Xi\u2019s truly original contribution is to transform the Peoples\u2019 Republic of China into Han People\u2019s Republic of China. He has turned Han-supremacism and anti-minority phobia into instruments of rule and weapons of dominance. Using terrorism as excuse, a horrific repression is being visited on China\u2019s Muslim minority, especially the Uyghur people.<\/p>\n

This deliberate and successful use of majoritarian-supremacism is something that President Xi\u2019s CCP has in common with Narendra Modi\u2019s BJP. After his failure in promoting economic development and combating corruption, Mr. Modi has become almost totally focused on transforming India from a multi-national secular state to a Hindu Raj. Regulations such as the openly anti-Muslim Citizenship (Amendment) Act are being accompanied by moves to create and popularise an exclusively Hindu history for India<\/span><\/a>. A committee of scholars have been set up to fabricate this \u2018fake history\u2019. Its aim is \u201cto ultimately shape the national identity to match their religious views, that India is a nation of and for Hindus\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Modi administration is also cracking down on those who oppose its Hindu-supremacist agenda, thereby vitiating and obliterating the space for critical thinking, open debate and peaceful dissent. It is also making a systematic effort to disembowel India\u2019s independent institutions, to turn them into nothing more than instruments of BJP rule. For example, in August 2019, the registrar of the JNU wrote to famed historian and merciless critic of the BJP Romila Thapar, asking for her CV to determine if she could continue to be an emeritus professor! India\u2019s National Herald<\/span><\/a> called the move madness. Madness, yes; surprise, no. What else can we expect once the insane starts running the asylum.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So the CCP, which has always been non democratic, is moving towards majoritarian-supremacism while the BJP, which has always been majoritarian-supremacist, is moving towards tyranny. These are the two parties Basil Rajapaksa sees as models the SLPP. The future of Sri Lanka under Rajapaksa rule cannot be clearer.<\/p>\n

Dreaming of Black July from January to December<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

On July 27th<\/sup> a group of monks led by Galagoda Atte Gnanasara and Aturaliye Ratana descended on the office of the ACJU, the apex religious body of Lankan Sunni Muslims, with an ultimatum. They demanded the immediate abolition of madrasas and halal products and the banning of burqa and niqab. \u201cWe have a programme of action,\u201d saffron-rober, Galagoda Atte Gnanasara said, addressing the media soon afterwards. \u201cAfter the election we will definitely implement that programme. Irrespective of who opposes or not we have a non-violent programme. That is boycotting Muslim businesses in this country. We will bring that programme forward. We will have to make them kneel, teach them obedience<\/b>… Why? Because the Sinhalese have no other country in the world. To protect the only country we have, we have to carry out that struggle\u201d<\/p>\n