There are emerging signs of an increase in Hindu nationalist groups gaining influence at the grassroots level in Sri Lanka, according to the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH).
In its report Contours of Emerging Hate in Sri Lanka, it states that since the end of the Civil War in the country, new forms of “extremism” and “religious fundamentalism” have emerged.
This, the report further stated, has led to anti-Muslim rhetoric, with ultra-nationalist Sinhala-Buddhist groups such as the Bodu Bala Sena spreading anti-Muslim sentiment “through coordinated online and offline misinformation campaigns”.
“These movements are underpinned by narratives that portray non-Buddhist minority communities (i.e., Muslims, Christians, and Hindus) as threats to the nation,” the report stated.
In 2016, an organisation named Siva Senai was established in the Northern Province of the country with a stated mission to “protect Hindu heritage” and “communities in the North and East” from what it describes as “Sinhalization” and from the growing influence of religions such as Christianity and Islam.
Sinhalization is a term used to describe the perceived imposition of Sinhala-Buddhist ethno-religious identity through settlements, institutions, and religious sites in areas historically inhabited by Tamil and Muslim ethnic communities in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka.
The report further said similar groups have emerged within these provinces. “Their impact has also been noted by Christian religious leaders, who report that their communities are being targeted by Hindu groups promoting ideologies such as Hindu nationalism or Hindutva, often with links to right-wing organizations in India,” the report further read.
Speaking particularly about the ultra-nationalist Sinhala-Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena, the report averred that the latter has also “propagated anti-Muslim sentiment through coordinated online and offline misinformation campaigns”.
The majority of the population in Sri Lanka practices Buddhism, followed by Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity as minority religions. Buddhists are overwhelmingly Sinhalese, which forms the largest ethnic group in the country. The Tamil community is the country’s largest ethnic minority and includes both Hindus and Christians, while Muslims constitute a distinct ethnic group who practice Islam and primarily speak Tamil.
The report finds that the narratives advanced by these Hindu nationalist groups centre on anti-Christian and anti-Muslim sentiment tied to religious conversion, women’s attire, cattle slaughter, and interfaith marriages.
“Their activities also include attempts to influence electoral behavior through appeals to Saiva Hindu identity, mobilization around contested Hindu religious and archaeological sites, and the cultivation of transnational linkages with Indian Hindu nationalist digital platforms, politicians, and public figures, along with tactical collaborations with Sinhala-Buddhist actors. Overall, the emergence and growing viability of these groups reflects a shifting political landscape in Sri Lanka, shaped in part by the weakening of both Tamil nationalist parties and Sinhala-Buddhist ultra-nationalist formations,” the report stated.
“In Sri Lanka, the saffron robes of Buddhist monks have become a fearsome symbol for the country’s Muslim minority, as groups including the Bodu Bala Sena rally followers under the banner of protecting Buddhism,” Indian journalist Sonia Faleiro writes for The Guardian.
She further writes: The monks leading these violent movements seem driven not by a pursuit of nirvana, but by a quest for dominance in this one. Their actions, I came to understand, were shaped in part by historical factors such as colonialism, which introduced racial hierarchies and privileged certain religions over others. Economic inequality compounded these tensions, compelling the public to seek solace in religion and, in turn, granting monks disproportionate social and political influence.
The CSOH report, meanwhile, mapped the activities of three Hindu nationalist groups in Sri Lanka, namely, Siva Senai, Rudra Sena, and Ravana Sena.
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