Shritharan’s crown of thorns

Analysis
By Editor_1
MP Sivagnanam Shritharan faces many challenges as the newly elected leader of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi -ENCL
By N. Kannan

The recent vote to elect the new leader of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) and the subsequent election of MP Sivagnanam Shritharan to the high post has received widespread attention. A political novelty, the democratic electoral process within a party for the leadership has never happened in the 74-year history of the ITAK, nor in the history of other Tamil parties.  The situation isn’t any different among political parties in the South either.

In most parties, leadership is a family affair. Rarely is a party leader, once his positional or authoritarian leadership is established, is democratically elected through a referendum. At least in recent times.  In that sense, the election of the leader of the Sri Lankan Tamil Party received widespread attention as setting a new matrix for a democratic process within parties.

In the last 15 years, ITAK has been on a regressive journey, making its way down from a higher rung.  In the 2004 general election, an era marked as that of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which contested on the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (Home) symbol, won 22 seats. In 2010, the Alliance won 14 seats, and 16 seats in the 2015 election. However, in the 2020 general election, the Alliance’s strength decreased to 10 seats in Parliament.  The ups and downs indicate a critical period for the ITAK, which has gone from its peak in 2004 to being isolated and weakened in 2024.

In this context, the election gives rise to the question as to whether the party will be revived or face further setbacks under the new leadership. One positive to take heart from the election of the leadership, is that it has shown the outside world there is democracy within the Tamil party.

Until now, conflicts arising with the ITAK – when partner parties and fellow party members expressed contradictory views – were treated by the likes of R. Sampanthan and M. A. Sumanthiran as intra-party democracy, with both leaders often making arbitrary decisions.

Even when Mavai Senathirajah was the party leader, many decisions were taken without his knowledge or without him being informed. And internal party democracy was deemed a non-issue.

However, when there were two candidates and neither was willing to concede, the ITAK was compelled to hold a poll for the post of chairman, thus ensuring internal party democracy was maintained. This is being seen as an exemplary move for other parties in Sri Lanka.

This is the reason why Shritharan’s ascension to party leader has garnered so much attention, both local and international diplomatic levels, with many sending him congratulatory messages.

Post-poll comments have also helped one understand how much attention has been paid to the ITAK. And also the expectations. This is contrary to the period when Mavai Senathirajah was the party leader, where there was no context to gauge the expectations placed on the party. So, the important question that arises now is, what kind of challenges will ITAK face going forward?

MP Shritharan as the new leader of the party faces multiple challenges, the least of which is re-establishing the party identity. ITAK, which was earlier seen as the face of the TNA, now stands as a separate party, facing parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in the not-too-distant future, and Provincial Council and Local Government elections thereafter, as a single party. But that is not the only challenge for the ITAK.

If all the Tamil nationalist parties separate and fight independently, it will create a lot of opportunities for the Sinhala nationalist parties and the parties with an anti-Tamil nationalist stance. Therefore, the priority for the ITAK for the next 12 months or so, is to establish unity and harmony within the Tamil national parties.

Shritharan, in a statement issued immediately after being elected the head of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi, emphasized that the TNA should be strengthened as a strong structure, as it was during the LTTE era. And one of his first acts as the new leader was to travel to Kanakapuram to pay his respects to Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam, to express his commitment to the Tamil national cause. That commitment is the same as creating unity and harmony.

There is no doubt that Shritharan will evolve into a remarkable leader if he succeeds in re-uniting the TNA, and like S. J. V. Chelvanayakam- founder and leader of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), known as ‘Thanthai Chelva’ (father Chelva), earn a high place of esteem as a leader respected by the Tamil people.

After the demise of the LTTE, neither Sampanthan nor Senathirajah was able to prevent the decline of the party as a political force.  That is one of the reasons for their failure to hold on to the party leadership position.

In this context, the party needed a new face. Shritharan is now considered to be that face. And depending on how much concessions and compromises he is willing to make with the former partner parties of the TNA – as he mentioned in his statement- there could be a return to the old status quo, when post-2004, the TNA became the mother party of ITAK.

It is worth recalling that until the announcement of the local government elections – which the Tamil National Alliance announced it would contest separately – the TNA continued to maintain its separate identity within the ITAK.  Now, however, the TNA does not have the key to handle the ITAK.

If the breakaway parties return to the coalition, they will have to choose a new symbol, agree to a joint leadership and be prepared to make many concessions.

If Shritharan dreams of leaving all this behind and reuniting the TNA, it must be considered his load to bear. Shritharan alone cannot bring the TNA back to its old status by aligning with the partner parties. He will also have to respect the opinion of people like Sumanthiran who are in positions to exert considerable influence within the party.

The question is, to what extent will they cooperate with Shritharan on this matter?  Those who celebrate Shritharan’s victory and those who welcomed it, may not have known that the crown Shritharan won was a crown of thorns.

Because becoming the leader of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi is the easy part. Now he will have to work with more courage, responsibility and determination, within and outside the party to fulfil the aspirations of the party and the Tamil people, and in doing so, he will no doubt encounter enmity. How he rises up to the challenges, faces the enmity and shoulders his responsibility will define his leadership and his suitability for the high post.

-ENCL

 

Editor_1
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