“They trampled our graves with their boots,” said Kavitha, a young Tamil woman, as the torrential rain lashed our faces, washing away her tears. Standing barefoot in ankle-deep mud in Vesuvamadu, Sri Lanka, she lamented the nearby military base built on the graves of fallen fighters from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), including Including her brother’s grave.

The LTTE, an armed group that dominates Sri Lanka’s northern and eastern provinces, fought for nearly three decades to establish an independent Tamil state until it finally failed and surrendered to the Sri Lankan government in 2009. And in the process of regaining territory from the armed group, many LTTE structures were reused, such as the cemetery where the Kawetha brothers are buried.

On that humid day in late November, Kavitha and thousands of others commemorated “Maaveerar Naal” at the site of the LTTE graveyard – an annual event commemorating the decades-long LTTE fighters killed in the war. This was not an isolated display of nationalistic devotion. Scenes from Vesuwa Madhu Cemetery were replicated at more than 200 sites across Sri Lanka’s northeast, including universities, places of worship and other former cemeteries, with tens of thousands of people in attendance, according to government data.

The level of interest in the 2024 Maaveerar Naal commemorations – on par with, if not above, previous years – is a strong rebuke to ill-informed Sri Lanka observers who declared the Tamil nation after the Sri Lankan elections The end of doctrine two weeks ago, on November 14th.

The left-wing Sinhala alliance National People’s Power Party (NPP) won a landslide victory, winning 159 seats in parliament – more than any other party in Sri Lanka’s history. Importantly, they also won all but one of the Tamil-majority constituencies in the northeast, leading many outside observers to conclude that the Tamil dream of autonomy and independence had been completely abandoned.

However, the real political situation in the homeland claimed by the Tamils ​​is much more nuanced.

The NPP has fueled a nationwide wave of anti-establishment sentiment, frustrated by the ongoing economic recession and widespread corruption.

The downfall of the Rajapaksa family, which had dominated Sri Lankan politics since 2005, was shocking. They have never received support from Tamils, who accuse former president Mahinda and brothers Gotabaya Rajapaksa of genocide. In the Sinhala south, however, they have long been regarded as heroes who won the war against the LTTE.

Just five years ago, in 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidency in a landslide. However, less than three years later, in 2022, he was overthrown by a popular uprising in the Sinhalese south. Since then, the family has rapidly lost all political power in Sri Lanka. In the November 2024 elections, their party won only three seats in parliament.

Gotabaya’s Replacement did not bring about change The public also has such demands. As a result, last November the anti-establishment National People’s Party scored a victory that seemed to transcend the country’s deep-seated racial divisions. The Left Alliance even won the coveted Jaffna constituency – a Tamil nationalist stronghold historically supporting an independent Tamil state.

This shocked many who viewed Tamil politics from the outside and led some Critics herald beginning of end for Tamil nationalism. In fact, even some nuclear power plant officials themselves viewed Jaffna’s victory as a victory. Reject “racism”“Tamil people.

However, equating the NPP’s victory in the Northeast Province with a general rejection of Tamil nationalism is a clear mistake, rooted in widespread laziness and lack of serious engagement in Tamil politics on the part of outside observers.

Anyone paying attention to the pulse of the Tamil streets can see that the changing voting preferences of the people in this election have nothing to do with disillusionment with Tamil nationalism and everything to do with their disillusionment with Tamil politicians. The poll results only show that Tamils, like every constituency, are pragmatic and take into account economic interests and political preferences when voting.

Many staunch Tamil nationalists and independence supporters voted for the NPP in the hope that it would lead to a better economy. Others simply want to punish local politicians they see as corrupt and incompetent. The NPP’s casting of itself as an alliance against the corrupt political elite has also helped boost the Tamil vote. They were shown at a popular hangout in Colombo Luxury cars confiscated by ministriesLike, a slap in the face of the elites’ desire. Their initial positive gesture towards the Tamil people, their anti-racism message, and their permission to hold the Mavelar Nal commemoration and repeal of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (under which many Tamil nationalists were persecuted) commitment, all contributing to their appeal in the Northeast.

Even Kavitha, a staunch Tamil nationalist, admitted to voting for the NPP. In our conversation at the Maaveerar Naal commemoration event, she drew a clear line between her dissatisfaction with ITAK, the largest Tamil party, the need to address immediate economic needs and her vote for the NPP.

But support for the NPP from Tamils ​​like Kavitha was incidental, and cracks have emerged. continuous arrest Tamils’ participation in Maaveerar Naal commemorations under the Prevention of Terrorism Act has sparked frustration and anger. Meanwhile, a deadline for dismantling military camps in Tamil towns was announced with great fanfare, Passed There is no sign of any action. All this sends a message to an already cynical Tamil electorate: positive gestures made during the campaign were nothing more than empty gestures.

The NPP has never been in power and therefore does not have the baggage of past rulers. That doesn’t mean nuclear power plants don’t have baggage. Their main constituent party – Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna – is also classified as a “terrorist organization” for its violent uprisings in the 1970s and 1980s that killed tens of thousands of Sinhalese people. They openly advocated opposition to negotiations with the LTTE and played a major role in the collapse of peace talks in the mid-2000s. While the tone of the leadership is now different, their current actions suggest that they are either dishonest or are finding it difficult to overcome the chauvinism at the heart of the party and the electorate. As has been demonstrated time and time again, if a ruling party is perceived to be making concessions to the Tamils, the opposition mobilizes against them, which affects their performance in subsequent elections. All major Sinhala political parties participated in this practice, including the United People’s Party.

All of this raises an important point about Sri Lankan politics and Tamil nationalism. Sri Lanka’s nation-building project is fundamentally rooted in giving primacy to Sinhala Buddhism. Never treated as equal citizens, Tamils, through Colombo-centric approaches, were pushed to the margins not only by the state but also by the unimaginative Tamil elite. Leading Tamil politicians have repeatedly conceded long-standing political demands only in exchange for membership in Colombo’s elite. While historically these parties have continued to gain support among Tamils, and this election is more likely to be a blip than a wholesale change, Tamil political energy cannot be read solely through electoral politics. Maaveerar Naal and related commemorations and protests rooted in Tamil nationalist practices more accurately represent the political imaginary rooted in the Tamil psyche.

This Tamil Eelam-centered national life was not only beyond the purview of the Sri Lankan state but also beyond the purview of Tamil politicians. It will continue to thrive on and off the island and pursue its goals through means outside the constraints of electoral politics. While this government now has an opportunity to take Tamil concerns seriously and address long-standing demands for autonomy, Tamils ​​will not hold their breath.

To make progress on these issues, the NPP needs to use every day of its five-year term to work and methodically address the demands of the Tamil people. Low-hanging fruit include the release of political prisoners, the abolition of parent-teacher agreements and the release of land occupied by the military. Efforts to change the demographic makeup of the Northeastern province through land grabbing, building Buddhist temples and expanding Sinhalese settlements must also stop immediately. Relatives of the forcibly disappeared continue to protest and refuse access to state mechanisms for justice. Their concerns must also be taken seriously – many refuse to perform the last rites of their loved ones who were handed over to security forces at the end of the war. Sri Lanka must reveal how it treats thousands of detained Tamils.

Tamils ​​have learned through repeated bitter experience that political solutions will not come from the state. It is because of this broken faith that Tamils ​​are looking to the international community for justice and accountability. To break this pattern, the new government needs to take clear steps to remove the ethnocentric character of the country and impose meaningful accountability. Without this, the current divisions in the country will only continue.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.