31 August 2022

Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

 

6^TH AMENDMENT WAS ULTRA VIRES

Following is an excerpt from chapter ‘Heirs’ my current book:

A true heir ‘believes’ in the ancestor. To the extent of such belief, one becomes a  natural heir. When there is no belief – the heir-apparent is mere custodian of the visible part of any wealth of the person who developed that wealth. They may seem totally unrelated to the predecessor/senior,  but to the extent they believe, they are natural heirs. Political groups are facilitated by law, to govern on that basis. Without belief, there is no moral authority to govern. The closer one is biologically, to the leader, the more relative the relationship would be. The further one is biologically, to the leader, the greater the tendency towards exponential spread of leadership powers.

In traditional Hindu culture, the young wife is encouraged to value the husband’s side proactively. This means his family and their values become hers and she has no identity of her own. Then the value of her work becomes invisible Energy. To the extent she ‘sacrifices’ the personal credit and its benefits for the Common culture, she develops ‘intuitive intelligence’ that has exponential spread. One with intuitive intelligence carries the exponential potential Energy – which to my mind is ‘belief’. It indicates from within, our own strengths. The path of the woman is also the path of minority communities in a nation. They become the reservoirs of belief. They have ‘Intuitive Energy’ to the extent they make equal or greater contribution as majority, to common governance. The more they seek to ‘show’ – the more they become like majority and therefore their ‘juniors’. If separation is claimed beyond the level needed to defend one’s sovereignty, minorities lose this intuitive power.

Prescriptive rights and Native titles are examples of this special power of ‘belief’. In Sri Lanka, Vaddukoddai Resultion 1976, was to defend the independence of the Tamil culture. Not so the armed rebellion, dominated by males who sought to ‘show’ and thereby weakened its intuitive power.

The 6^th Amendment to the Constitution was out of ‘fear’. This means there was ‘desire’ that was enjoyed prior to that. Sinhala only as National language was already in the Constitution as follows:

18. [(1)The Official Language of Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala.]

The 13^th Amendment to the constitution, gave form to Tamil also being an official language. But that happened in 1987.

At the time of the 6^th Amendment, the following constitutional right was recognised through article 14 (1) (f), under Fundamental Rights:

Every citizen is entitled to –

(f) the freedom by himself or in association with others to enjoy and promote his own culture and to use his own language;

Hence the Vaddukoddai Resolution which was to defend the Sovereignty of Tamil community, was also to defend the Constitutional rights stated in article 14(1) (f).

The 6^th Amendment which came into existence on 08 August 1983, included the following:

[(1) No person shall, directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.

(2) No political party or other association or organization shall have as one of its aims or objects the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.

(3) Any person who acts in contravention of the provisions of paragraph (1) shall, on conviction by the Court of Appeal, after trial on indictment and according to such procedure as may be prescribed by law,

(a) be subject to civic disability for such period not exceeding seven years as may be determined by such Court

(b) forfeit his movable and immovable property other than such property as is determined by an order of such Court as being necessary for the sustenance of such person and his family ;

(c) not be entitled to civic rights for such period not exceeding seven years as may be determined by such Court ; and

(d) if he is a Member of Parliament or  person in such service or holding such office as is referred to in paragraph (l) of Article 165, cease to be such Member or to be in such service or to hold such office]

‘State’ means a Nation in this context. Article 14(1) (f)  facilitates the establishment of such a States of  belief to protect the Sovereign Borders of belief of every cultural group.  The 6^th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution therefore is ultra vires Article 14(1) (f).

 

In Sri Lanka, we had the Bandaranaike family and the Rajapaksa family in Political leadership. Their family influence was extended to National level, and hence shrunk the nation’s mind to family level. Hence the shrinking economy which confirms the mind of the rulers. When family ways are stretched to national level, those outside family borders are left out of the government’s abilities – including to earn money. It is the Opposite of the Hindu culture which promotes Equality of women through an independent pathway.

The parallel of the Hindu woman, in a democratic parliament is the Opposition. The Sri Lankan Parliament failed the people because of weak Opposition. Any Opposition, including by civilian protest groups would need to have contributed at Equal or higher level than the Government, to earn the support of Natural powers from other sovereign groups. An Opposition with intuitive intelligence would naturally spread itself faster than the government driven by the stated power of human law.