இலங்கை முஸ்லிம்களின் கட்சி அரசியல்: ஒரு தமிழ்-பேசும் சமுதாயத்தின் தனித்துவ அரசியல் குறித்த பகுப்பாய்வு

Abstract

The history of party politics of Sri Lankan Muslims is relatively a short. However, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, the first distinct Muslim political party gained popularity in electoral political and became Kingmaker or Queen-maker at national level in a short span of time. The leadership of M.H.M.Ashraff played an important role in the growth and influence of this distinct Muslim political party. This study has examined the growth of the distinct party politics of Sri Lankan Muslims, its changing dynamics particularly after the demise of its founder-leader, M.H.M.Ashraff. Reviewing the secondary data and changing political context, this study has found that although Sri Lankan Muslims avoided forming distinct Muslim political parties and politically aligned with ethnic majorities, the intense of violent ethnic conflict and civil war, and the abandoning of Muslims’ interests by both Sinhalese and Tamil political leaders compelled the Muslims to conceptualize about a distinct Muslim political party and to form it. These factors also led the distinct Muslim party become influential in national politics. The study has also found that the Muslim party politics in post-Ashraff era has found transformations due to leadership crisis, dominance of regionalism, parting of popular founder-members, and the formation of more new Muslim political parties. These transformations, together with the changing socio-political context in the post-civil war era question the strength of Muslim party politics and challenge the proper inclusion of Muslims’ interests and demands in regional and national politics. As to strengthen the Muslim party politics, this study emphasizes the importance of unity of Muslim political leaders and the voters while reforming the missions and the activities of Muslim political parties focusing on contemporary socio-political context and national interests.