BHIKKUS IN POLITICS
The LSSP and the CP have decided to join the new alliance and most probably would contest the forthcoming general elections with the JVP and the other parties forming a front against the UNF. Messrs. Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Vickramabahu Karunaratna on the other hand will fight on their own without going into a front with the "Sinhala Chauvinists". One would say that the LSSP and the CP had no choice in the matter as they would be interested in having some representation in the Parliament. However, it would have been interesting to see how the "left" consisting of all these parties would have performed at the elections, as a single entity. Though the "left" has been left out of politics, it still has an existence thanks to the "capitalist" press or media that gives publicity to these parties that have no mass base in any of the districts including those in the northern and the eastern provinces, though Mr. Vickramabahu Karunaratna occasionally threatens to carry forward the "struggle of the Tamils", even if Prabahakaran were to "give it up" due to some reason or other.
The LSSP and the CP, if they want to get some of their members elected to the Parliament have to follow the national movement or the "Jathika Vyaparaya" whether they like it or not. However, it is sad to see some elements in the "Jathika Vyaparaya" who are always looking for shortcuts to power trying to follow the LSSP in sending "Bhikkus" to the Parliament. These elements obviously do not understand the role of Bhikkus in politics and they are no different from those western sociologists who see the Bhikkus playing the role of kings throughout history or at least since the "Vidyalankara declaration".
The Bhikkus, as has been mentioned in these columns, had been advisors to the kings without being kings. The Bhikkus were not even members of the "Rajasabha" of the kings and the advise of the Bhikkus was given to the kings through other "non formal" channels. The Bhikkus have never played the role of Khomenis who rule the country nor the role of Brahmins in India who participated in the deliberations in the "rajasabha". However, it appears that some in the "Jathika Vyaparaya" have got different views and are seriously thinking of nominating Bhikkus from their lists to contest the April elections.
These are opportunists of the highest order. They are only interested in power and are engaged in a "supply and demand" politics. They seem to think that there is a "demand" for Bhikkus in party politics and are prepared to "supply" to satisfy that "demand". Though these elements in the "Jathika Vyaparaya" cry out from roof tops that they are against "bourgeois" economics, they always follow the philosophy of the capitalist "vyaparikaya" when it comes to politics. For them "Jathika Vyaparaya" is essentially a "vyaparaya" and not a movement as such. They misinterpret the events following the death of Ven. Soma Thera and want to exploit the situation as they see it to their advantage.
The elements who joined the "Jathika Vyaparaya" based on the "supply and demand" politics and not because of any attachment or devotion to the national movement would finally destroy what the others have been able to build in the "vyaparaya" over the last fifteen years or so with sacrifice and foresight. The 'jathika vyaparaya" is essentially a national independence movement that struggles against western Christian colonialism in the spheres of politics, culture and economics. The "vyaparaya" has emphasised various aspects of the struggle at various times and during the time of Anagarika Dharmapala it took the form of a cultural movement against western colonialism. If somebody recognises the "jathika vyaparaya" today as a racist movement against Tamils, it is because the "vyaparaya" has correctly identified the connection between Tamiil racism against Sinhalathva and the intentions and tactics of western Christian colonialism that has the objective of establishing its hegemony in culture, politics and economics, throughout the world.
The "jathika vyaparaya" has had its ups and downs and in the recent years and hit its nadir in the years 1994 and 1995. Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga who was in "self exile" in England, Finland and other such lands was imported by the non national forces to lead the SLFP. It is interesting to note that most of the people who were instrumental in "inviting" Ms. Kumaratunga to come back are now either members or supporters of the UNP. The non national forces then had only one objective. They wanted to change the SLFP from the party of Sinhalathva to a party following non national policies dictated by the west through the NGO and other "intellectuals". They were interested in satisfying the Tamil racist aspirations against Sinhalathva in the country and were determined to use the SLFP under Ms. Kumaratunga as the vehicle for their betrayal against the Sinhala people. A political alliance called the PA was first established for this purpose and Ms. Kumaratunga was made the leader of that outfit. The elections in 1994 was the most crucial for the "jathika vyaparaya". The nationalists who could not read what was happening supported the PA that was backed by the western powers, Tamil racist parties including the LTTE, the leaders of the Church who normally campaign for the UNP, the NGOs financed by the west and the other "traditional" non traditionalists who support the west.
There was a wave of support or "rella" for the PA and only a handful of nationalists were there to swim against the tide. The "jathika vyaparaya" was in its nadir and the elections had to be fought as an independent force. The MEP gave the leadership to the "jathika vyaparaya" and a few including Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka Thera, Messrs S. L. Gunasekera and Gunadasa Amarasekera supported the party led by Mr. Dinesh Gunawardane. Some of the present day nationalist elements who work on the "supply and demand" political theme were against the "jathika vyaparaya" in 1994, claiming that "jathiya" was a dead body as far as politics was concerned and supported the PA. The MEP fought and lost but through its participation in the elections the "jathika vyaparaya" was given a new life. When the infamous package was introduced by the PA the predictions of the incipient "jathika vyaparaya" became true and the "vyaparaya" had taken a turn upwards from the nadir. The elements who operate on "supply and demand" saw an opportunity created for them and rejoined the "vyaparaya" as "vyaparikas".
I do not wish to go into the recent history in detail but it is sufficient to mention that the "vyaparaya" grew slowly but steadily attracting the wrath of the non national forces. During this period of growth so much anti Sinhalathva literature has been published both here and abroad, and bashing the "jathika vyaparaya" became a "profitable" exercise as well. Some Bhikkus who were in the "vyaparaya" though supported the PA in 1994 rejoined after the package only to leave after about six years. However, some other Bhikkus including Ven. Soma Thera joined the "jathika vyaparaya" and there was a resurgence of "Bhikku Balaya" in Sinhala society. The death of Ven. Soma Thera and the conversions of Buddhists to American Christianity (all conversions into a religion/culture are unethical the most unethical being conversion to western culture through forced western Christian education in schools and universities - where are the so called pluralists when it comes to education- why not have different educations and not one education based in western Christian culture for all) brought this "balaya" to the surface and the opportunistic elements in the "jathika vyaparaya" are hell bent in exploiting this resurgence to their political advantage.
What is not understood or overlooked by these elements is that the Bhikkus are not substitutes for politicians. Whether we like it or not politicians in the form of kings and queens, prime ministers, presidents and even "pradeshiya sabha" members are a necessity that we cannot eliminate in organised societies. Even if we were able to eradicate party politics we will not be able to organise the society without politics. Any organisation whether among people or animals will have its own form of politics and we have to evolve our own form of politics that should not take the form of party politics that has been forced on us by the westerners. The Bhikkus in Sinhala Buddhism have played the role of advisors of kings and other politicians and have been above the latter. We should naturally incorporate the Bhikkus in politics but not as politicians. The Vidyalankara declaration has to be read with that in mind and should not be read the way the western sociologists and American Jews and other westerners who have become Bhikkus ( not all Bhikkus are Sinhala Bhikkus) read it (after all there are different readings of a text even according to western social science!) . Unfortunately some opportunistic elements who have joined the "jathika vyaparaya" on a "supply and demand" basis want either to substitute Bhikkus for politicians or worse to make them politicians. The LSSP and the "Marxist" parties could do that as they do not know the traditions of the country but the Bhikkus in the "jathika vyaparaya" should not follow Rev. Baddegama Samitha to the Parliament.
The ambition of the opportunistic elements would "make ladders to the monkeys in western sociology" (batahira samaja vidyave panina rilavunta inimang bendeema) as the latter could write few more so-called research papers on Bhikkus of Sinhala Buddhism contesting elections in Sri Lanka against pluralism or some such rubbish. More than that it could destroy everything that the "jathika vyaparaya" has been able to build gradually in the last decade. The Sinhala Buddhists will not vote for Bhikkus to represent the Sinhalathva in the parliament. They may elect a Rev. Baddegama Samitha to speak on behalf of them on other matters but the Sinhala Buddhist tradition is against electing a Bhikku to the "rajasabhava" on a Sinhala Buddhist political platform. They will reject these Bhikkus at the elections giving an opportunity for the non national forces to interpret it as a defeat for the "jathika vyaparaya" and even to "convince" the Sinhala people that there is no scope for "jathikathva" in the country.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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