This is why the assassination of Gandhi was an event of deep grief and a cause for national mourning to us in Sri Lanka.

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1 1 MAHATHMA GANDHI MEMORIAL LECTURE BY DEW GUNASEKARA, MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION AND THE GENERAL SECRETARY, COMMUNIST PARTY OF SRI LANKA AT HOTEL TAJ SAMUDRA, COLOMBO ON 2 ND. OCTOBER, 2006 Friends, It is a pleasure and a privilege too to have been invited to address this distinguished audience on the occasion of the 137 th. Birth Anniversary of Mahathma Gandhi the Great Soul of the Indian people. The people of Sri Lanka join today with the people of India and the rest of the world in bestowing their deep respect and honour to this great man who lives in their hearts for eternity. Each year on the day of his birth (October 2 nd ) and on the day of departure (January 30 th ) he is being remembered and honoured. I do not propose to sketch out the history of his life, which is near, and dear to you. Nor do you expect me to do so, I believe. However, what needs to be remembered and reiterated should be so reflected in our thoughts when we remember him. Where relevance of Gandhi surfaces, reference to his biography becomes necessary. To refresh our memory, Gandhi returned to India from London after his studies at the age of 22 and practiced as a Lawyer for only 2 years in India. He stayed in South Africa for 21 long years till the outbreak of the 1 st. World War in In the struggle for securing the rights of the Indian people in South Africa, he developed an appropriate method for social action Sathyagrha the terminology which was identified and associated with Gandhi thereafter, almost synonymous with Gandhi. It was a form of struggle based on the principle of courage, nonviolence and truth. On his return to India n 1915, he continued to apply this methodology in his struggle for Independence in the course of which he became its national leader the leader of the Indian National Movement. He spent seven years in jail, having been arrested many a time for his political activities both in South Africa and India. He resented violence and bloodshed the hallmark of his form of struggle. To stop bloodshed, he resorted to fasting.

2 2 Till he was assassinated at the age of 78, non-violence was his way, his method the hallmark of his life and philosophy. There lies his greatness and uniqueness. Mahathma Gandhi was the source of courage and inspiration to our struggle for independence as well. All our leaders of the national movement for Independence were imbibed with the spirit of Gandhi from Right to the Left. The founding leaders of my Party the Communist Party of Sri Lanka who were in the National Movement Dr. S.A. Wickremasinghe. Rev. Udakendawala Saranankara and the pioneering militant Trade Union Leader M.G. Mendis (to speak about a few) were closely associated with Gandhi. Dr. S.A. Wickremasinghe who was the Joint Secretary of Indian Majilis in London together with Krishna Menon on his way return to Sri Lanka via India in 1929 after his studies, met both Gandhi and Nehru. In fact, in 1926 during Nehru s visit to London and Moscow in 1926, he was associated with Dr. S.A. Wickremasinghe and Krishnamenon. They all were members of the Anti-Imperialist League in London. In 1929, Dr. S.A. Wickremasinghe met Gandhi at Ahamadabad and Nehru at Alahabad. Historical records show that Gandhi advised his Sri Lankan counterparts on the non-violence and on the need for social work with people. Again in 1932, Dr. S.A. Wickremasinghe as the first Leftist elected to the Legislature met Gandhi when he was under house arrest during the days of the Meerut Trial. Gandhi s as well as Nehru s visits to Sri Lanka inspired the Sri Lanka s National Movement for Independence. September 11 entered the history in the year 2001 as the day on which the socalled war on terror commenced with the collapse of those buildings in the city of New York causing 3000 deaths. However, for us Asians, September 11 had already entered history in year 1906(exactly 100 years back) when an impassioned young barrister with blazing eyes gathered 3000 Indians in the Empire Theatre Building in Johannesburg to take an oath to resist white colonial oppression through Sathyagrha. The word Sathyagrha thereafter entered the Dictionary. This event triggered off the struggle for independence of both India and Sri Lanka. This is why the assassination of Gandhi was an event of deep grief and a cause for national mourning to us in Sri Lanka. Today we commemorate Gandhi at a time when the relevance of Gandhi is much more deeply felt by us in the context of worldwide violence with ethnic and religious conflicts. In our own country, we have entered the 23 rd. year of military confrontation arising out of an ethnic conflict turned terrorism.

3 3 In my assessment, the peace process in Sri Lanka has reached a critical stage, having passed through ups and downs. We have lived through five decades of ethnic strife and have co-existed with conflicts, confrontation and conflagration for 23 years. Where have we gone wrong? Firstly, in my judgment we failed in the task of nation building soon after the dawn of Independence. This I say with due respect to our past national leaders. At independence, the national question was simply and purely recognized as a minority problem and it was expected to be taken care of by some constitutional and administrative arrangement. Our first Constitution (Soulbury Constitution) was something manufactured in England for us by the British. Though there were attempts or suggestions to make our own Constitution through a Constituent Assembly, there was total negative response. We were quite happy with the Section 29 of that Constitution which we believed, would serve a safety valve for the problems of the national minorities. Secondly, instead of taking steps for nation building, we by ourselves created problems in the first year of Independence, first through the Citizenship Act and thereafter Sinhala only Act. Thirdly, even after realization of the national blunders we made, we missed several opportunities offered by the subsequent developments to rectify those blunders. Examples are, Bandaranaike Chelvanayagam Pact, Dudly Senanayaka Chelvanayagam Pact, First Republican Constitution. An analysis of our postindependence history of Sri Lanka convinces me that the prevalent political culture prevented us from taking advantage of those opportunities. So, the history of post- Independent Sri Lanka was a history of missed or lost opportunities. Fourthly, opportunities offered by the recent history through Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement and year 2000 Draft Constitution were too lost due to the intransigent behaviour of the two major political Parties. Fifthly, the most unjust, the most barbarous event in post-independence history of Sri Lanka took place in July 1983 Black July. In my judgment, it caused the virtual division of the country. It created a massive refugee problem unprecedented in our history. We made the national problem internationalized. We tarnished our international image. It made our economy unsustainable. Our

4 4 defence Budget had risen from less than Rs. 1 Billion to the present level of Rs. 90 Billion. It made draconian laws. So many new undesirable constitutional amendments were enacted the notorious of them was the Fourth and Sixth Amendments. It pushed moderate Tamil people into the clutches of terrorists. It caused problems to our neighbour India. In 1983 we had an Army of Today we have over 1 Lakh. It put an end to democracy in the North/East. This is the historical background in which we are called upon to find a solution to the national question. Much water has flowed under our bridges since then. What are the ground realities today? I believe that the belligerence and the intransigence of the LTTE is the main hurdle in the path to peace. They have not yet abandoned separatism or Eaalam nor are they convinced that they should give it up nor are they ready for an alternative. In the circumstances, what shall we do? Firstly, Domestically and internationally, we must bring all positive pressures to bring them back to sanity. Secondly, we must offer what the Tamil people need and not what the LTTE demands. So far, we have failed in the attempt. We failed to implement the Indo- Sri Lanka Agreement. We failed to accept the 2000 Draft Constitution, which received near national consensus. I believe that all the factors, excepting the LTTE factor are favourable to the peace process The international factor, the Indian factor Substantial Section of the Tamil Diaspora, The religious leaders The Buddhist hierarchy, all non-ltte Tamil Parties, and the most importantly the two major Parties United National Party and Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Even those sections of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and Jathika Hela Urumaya do recognize the need for a political solution and even negotiated settlement. The other most important factor is the Media. As a whole, it has not so far assumed its role and responsibility to help in the task of finding solution. A consensus between S.L.F.P. and U.N.P. on the national question will qualitatively change the scenario and the Media will toe the line. We have observed in the past that various models of solution came to the surface whenever the political situation gets heated up and later vanishes into thin air.

5 5 So, is the concept of federalism. It had been a subject matter for political discourse since 1926 when S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike first introduced this concept. Then all excepting Kandyan gentry opposed. This concept was an anathema to some, foreign to some others, and allergic to many. This concept was identified and associated with the Federal Party, which initiated this concept in the post-independence era. With due respect to the founders of the Federal Party, I must confess that the demand was not matured at that stage and hence it did not enjoy the support of even Tamil people not to speak of rejection by other Parties. The Federal Party then was identified with most reactionary policies and forces. The progressive character of this concept was therefore not taken note of. This legacy continues to haunt us. It has now gained a degree of respectability in the current political discourse. At this stage, spirit of Gandhi and the relevance of Gandhi surfaces. Thanks to the foresightedness of the African Unity Organization, fragmentation of the African continent was averted. The danger of separatism was realized by them. What would have happened to Africa, had they emotionally be compelled to give in to separatism. They still grapple with the problem of constitution making and nation-building at the cost of millions of lives lost in tribal or ethnic conflicts. In such a huge country of enormous diversity, the architects of the Indian Constitution have been able to avert separatist tendencies and unite the people admirably with all its complicated problems. Is there any country in the world, which can emulate India to have a Muslim as Head of State, Sikh as Prime Minister, Italian Catholic-born woman as Government Parliamentary Leader and a die-hard adherent of Hindutra as Leader of Opposition? This political culture, I believe, has been appreciably nurtured by Indian model of federalism. I pay my tribute and homage to Mahathma Gandhi for his unique contribution to mankind, to the Afro-Asian people and to the Indian people, in particular ///////////////

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