- Jayantha -
When the British departed in 1948 they left behind a secular political system under what is popularly called the Soulbury Constitution. However religion had already begun to seep into the political arena.
In Sri Lanka, Buddhism the religion of the majority lacked a unified central ecclesiastical organisation. The major orders were built on caste lines and individual monks were largely independent of ecclesiastic authority. This led to reforms being initiated by the laity. And what commentators refer to as 'Protestant Buddhism' led by people like the American Col Henry Olcott and the Anagarika Dharmapala emerged around the turn of the 20th century. They introduced modern symbols like the flag, festivals, religious holidays etc to encourage Buddhism, which had been eclipsed by Christianity during centuries of colonial rule, to be able to compete in a modern world.
The onset of universal adult franchise in 1931 by implication also empowered Buddhism and increased the influence of Buddhist organisations like the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress and the Young Men's Buddhist Association that 'Protestant Buddhism' had created.
The Buddhist clergy was not idle. Many of those who had studied in India and had been influenced by their freedom struggle became radicalised. They were associated with the Vidyalankara Privena where Ven Walpola Rahula was articulating a new social and political role for the Buddhist clergy. Such monks gravitated towards the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and Communist Party, which were the main vehicles of political protest. The response of the establishment United National Party was to put its own clerical supporters on the election platform to warn the devout that Marxists should they come to power will burn temples and churches. So the Buddhist clergy became an integral part of Sri Lanka's political landscape beginning with the 1947 General Election.
Bandaranaike's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) went one step further. Not only did it incorporate the recommendations of the Buddhist Commission Report into its 1956 election manifesto, but also it used the Eksath Bikkhu Peramuna, a clerical organisation, to campaign for it at that election. Bandaranaike also made Ven Buddharakitta a clerical Machiavelli who would get him killed in 1959, a Vice President of the SLFP.
The gains made by Political Buddhism were gradually incorporated into the Constitution (1972 and 1978) and public life. However both clerical and lay activists felt that no comparable set of socio-economic reforms had benefited the mass of the people. It took them fifty years to twig on to the fact that the Sinhala ruling class had just been using them at election time to garner the votes of the Sinhala Buddhist electorate. They felt betrayed by the leadership of both the major parties, resented the politico-military gains made by Tamil nationalists, rejected the extent of foreign influence on government policy and feared a new tide of Christian missionary activity.
Again there was recourse to 'Protestant' solutions. Monks took to the media and Ven Soma became nationally popular through his television appearances. He was planning to contest the 2005 Presidential Elections at the time of his death last December in Russia. His example is being followed by 250 monks who are offering themselves as prospective members of parliament next month.
What happens next?
The SLFP-led alliance is scared that the monks, organised into the Jatika Hela Urumaya (National Hela Heritage) will eat into its support base and deny it victory on 2 April. If the monks secure even a minority representation in Parliament it will herald the spectre of an Iranian scenario. It will be assumed that in this twenty first century, Sri Lanka is moving rapidly towards a theocratic state. This will contrast sharply with Tamil nationalism, which in the LTTE's October 2003 political proposals remains committed to a secular state. Sri Lanka will also find it hard to retain its foreign supporters.
If the monks are badly defeated, Sinhala Buddhist nationalism will be compelled to take its struggle outside parliament and begin to agitate on the streets, in temples and in lay forums. It will become an ideology of protest contesting and undermining the Government. Given the absence of a central hierarchy, maverick monks will employ desperate forms of protest and create a new chapter of political, religious and social instability.
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