13th Amendment is too BIG for Sri Lanka - Bugger off India

    Does it make sense to you Indians to devolve Gujarat State into thirty different self-administrative provinces? Or Tamil Nadu into eighteen different self-administrative provinces? If it does not make any sense to you, nine provinces in Sri Lanka does not make any sense to us, to majority Sri Lankans, either. Bugger off...

   The whole Indian landmass, except her water-body, is 46 times larger than Sri Lanka (64,630 sq km). For ex, the Gujarat province (196,244 sq km) alone, where the Indian Prime Minister Modi was born into, is more than three times the size of Sri Lanka. 

    If Modi insists that we Sri Lankans need nine self-governing provinces to handle our economy, police, land, education, health, agriculture and housing issues in Sri Lanka; Gujarat ought to have about thirty some self-governing provinces. May be Gujarat’s nine percent of Muslim population (9%) will like that nonsense proposal; especially as how things are unfolding for Muslims in India in these days. 

    This is the right time that the Indians and its politicians, including Narendra Modi, understand that Sri Lanka is too small to have thirteen amendment implemented or to divide and rule.

    On a Sri Lanka map the longest straight line could be draw is only 438 Kms long. It brings together the most southern tip of Sri Lanka, Dondara Point, to most Northern tip of Sri Lanka, Point Pedro. On a Gujarat map the longest straight line drawn would be about 675 Kms long, between Sir Creek and Damangaga River near Borpada waterfall. Yet alone, even shorter distance between Vadnagar city, the city where the Modi was born in, and the coastal city of Dwarka has ten hours and twelve minutes (10 hrs 12 min) of drive time. Just now, the drive between Dondara Point and Point Pedro was calculated as nine hours and fourteen minutes (9 hrs 14 min) on Google Map. Even this analogy does not really do the justice to Sri Lanka because of her narrower land existence in compassion to Gujerat or Tamil Nadu States; but its simplicity could be an eye opener.

    If Modi and Indians insist that the right way to address the grievances of so-called distinct minorities in Sri Lanka is empowering provincial councils with self-governance, it is nothing more than a gimmick which they had learned the hard way from their colonial master. Divide and Rule is a Gentlemen’s tool to carve out their interests within a state. We have long surpassed those Gentlemen’s politics.

    On a modern highway, if built, from Dondara to Point Pedro it would be just mere four and half hour drive. One can surely argue that this so called historically distinct language, culture, history and ethnic tension and bygone terrorism was down to the fact that none of Sinhala politician was able to build a single damned highway between Point Pedro and Dondara Point. Or there had not been a real Indian politician yet to initiate such a benevolent endeavor to addressing the real grievances of all Sri Lankans.  

    Next time when those politicians in Tamil Nadu (130,058 km2) try to play us with thirteen amendment we are going to ask them to dissolve their state among Christians, Muslims and Jains with eighteen or so different provinces or thirty some provinces in Gujarat among Muslims, Christians and Jains. Would you like that?




Author - A.V. Anuradha Samapth
MA in International Security and Law Denmark & BA Hon in International Politics UK
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/amarasinghevidanage

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