Identity politics - the springboard to power

Understandably, the boon and the bane of this country (more the bane than the boon) were the 1848 Colebrook Cameron legislative reforms - the root cause of identity politics. The sweeping changes it triggered off transformed the entire socio/political/economic landscape in this country and elsewhere, yet the communal representation it brought into its national administrative mechanism called the Legislative Council in 1848 made Sri Lanka and other South Asian nations for the first time adorn the identity cloak based on ethno/religious divides. Until such time ethnicity was unheard of despite the presence of varied ethnic groups
Time’s passage saw the majority/minority dichotomy coming into play   in all these South Asian states on the basis of majority rule that brought to the forefront an all powerful majority whose lion share of numericals was the politicians’ pot of gold they made use of to be saddled in power.  What’s worse, these majorities later projected themselves as the true sons and daughters of their respective soil, alienating the minorities through  unjust constitutional arrangements, treating them as total strangers despite birth certificates that carried  the ‘by descent’ endorsement. The fragmentation of a once  all-inclusive state that bore a universalistic outlook later narrowed down into highly particularistic dressings where the raw wounds of ethnocentricity, jingoism and ultra-nationalistic tendencies were exploited to the hilt  by politicians, to consolidate themselves in the hot seats of power. Pakistan’s Ahmadiya movement, India’s Hindutva call, Malaysia’s Bhoomiputra policy   have after decades become strong political movements based on identity politics. The Muslim Brotherhood’s equal in Sri Lanka being the Bodu Bala Sena.

 Significantly, the never-to-be-witnessed ‘progress’ into intra-communal identity politics as of recent times is noteworthy. For instance the Sunni militia fighting the Shia state or vice-versa is observable.

 A careful study of identity politics worldwide reveals the two different ways it emerges under intra-community and inter-community environs. In the first it is sectarian while the latter bears ethnicity. In identity politics within communities, the majority sect oppresses the minority e.g. Shia over Sunni and vice -versa, despite the commonality of religion.


" The fragmentation of a once  all inclusive state that bore a universalistic outlook later narrowed down into highly particularistic dressings where the raw wounds of ethnocentricity, jingoism and ultra - nationalistic tendencies were exploited to the hilt  "







The aim of religion is liberation through the achievement of an abstract or disengaged self. Philosopher Kant said identities hurdle that objective. It is this writer’s belief that it is not identities per se that hurdle the attainment of an autonomous and liberated state but identity politics that stand in the way. The blame therefore rests with the socio/political/ religio/ economic and bureaucratic elite that revel in identity politics for their greed of power, reducing themselves to dogs licking marrow bones
The intellectual growth and the degree to which a society is evolved in spirit could be seen in its ability to transcend man-made boundaries of race, religion, caste, colour and tribe. Noteworthy is that the uneducated so-called rustics, in an environment devoid of ethnic identity were very absorbing and capable of personhood than the urban, educated sophisticated elite. They did not live in an era of identity politics where politicians upheld the Rata Jathiya slogan.

Only those that are of unimpeachable integrity devoid of the guilt of commissions and bribes and those that keep off identity politics can call themselves true patriots. The corrupt are a country’s matchless traitors.

It is the corrupt among politicians who have accumulated ill-gotten monies for generations unborn that resort to identity politics so that they are permanently saddled in power. Facilitating identity politics is the education system that sows the seeds of dissension at a young age. Lord Soulbury who kept close company with the Muslim, Tamil and Sinhala leaders of his time was running to a British agenda in encouraging them to open schools based on ethnicity.

 Thus we see the irreparable damage done to the larger social whole by way of communal representation in the legislative council coupled with an ethnically oriented education system. These twin elements have facilitated post-independence politicians to widen the social divide by resorting to identity politics aimed at making power their permanent abode.

In inter-community identity politics, the oppression of ethno/religious minorities is evident through irregular constitutional workings, whereby the dominant majority plays on ethno/religous sentiments to be hoisted up there in power. Come election time, the Rata Jathiya criers in Sri Lanka strike commonality with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s /Hindutva slogan in India.

 Sri Lanka’s upwardly mobile crowd is progressively rising. The scholarly intellectual numbers that are into rational thinking can be counted. The wisdom of the yesteryear Sinhalese regretfully is akin to finding a needle in a haystack as a highly volatile emotional urban populace with the identity tag that grips the social whole. This then comprises today’s elite brigade neatly replacing the scholarly intellectual elite that once was, who were not weighed down by the emotional baggage of identity.



" In inter-community identity politics, the oppression of ethno/religious minorities is evident through irregular constitutional workings, whereby the dominant majority plays on ethno/religous sentiments to be hoisted up there in power.  "



 Unfortunately for this country, the absence of a Woodrow Wilson and a Roosevelt to mould the thinking of our people to look beyond the identity tag has pushed us into the ravaging ravines of identity politics. Emotion is now the source of morality and not reason. Yet to these two cultured, elegant statesmen, reason was top priority. They knew the dangers of identity politics and the diabolical damage that would befall America should the communal call be highlighted.  They were indeed statesmen who carried an aura who stood tall in world history. Both these eminent men believed ethnic identity and the politics of identity to inevitably lead the American people into conflicting loyalties. They even said ethnicity and nationality are co - determining. i.e. one’s ethnicity determines one’s nationality and weakens the prospect of an inclusive nationalism.

They went all out to turn their people into Americans of American nationality and not as dwellers of a polyglot boarding house. “We have room for but one loyalty - our loyalty to the American people,’’ said Roosevelt.

German philosopher Kant even said full personhood is difficult to achieve with identities. “An abstract or disengaged self is necessary for full personhood. Distancing one’s self from cultural traditions brings moral and intellectual growth and on this basis societies can be termed developed or not,’’ he said.