The 13th Amendment (13A) to the Constitution, a divisive piece of Legislature, returns to the spotlight each time Sri Lanka prepares to face an election. Despite being part of the Sri Lankan constitution for over 35 years, the amendment, introduced with much enthusiasm from New Delhi in the troubled period of 1987 as a means to provide the minority Tamils of the island with devolution of power, is yet to be fully implemented. The 13th amendment, commonly referred to as – 13A has not been implemented in full with devolution of powers over the Police and State land not being provided. 

As of today, the devolution delivered by the 13A only consists of an elected Provincial Council and a Board of Ministers. Over the last 35 years the Government in Colombo has exerted control over the provincial apparatus through the Concurrent List in the 13A. The 13A stands as an example of why an inadequately debated draft Legislature, with little or no consensus, when railroaded into law, fails to fully materialise in effect. This holds true to this day, even though the 13A was passed in Parliament at the time (1987) with a majority vote, and having been confirmed by a Supreme Court ruling later.       

However, come elections, be they presidential or parliamentary, political parties spare no effort to make promises to the Tamils about devolving power to the provinces either in the form of a fully implemented 13A. Some even go as far as to promise an entirely new Constitution drafted based on consensus between parties. Today, with the island weeks away from the Presidential Election, once again promises are being made, with some Tamil Parties seeking guarantees, like on many occasions before that the 13A will be ‘fully implemented’ in exchange for the support of the communities they represent. President Wickremesinghe, an independent candidate in the upcoming, has said that power will be devolved as per the 13A. And powers that the central government had taken away from the provinces will be given back to them. The responsibility for deciding on police powers for the provincial councils will be given to the new Parliament. However, Wickremesinghe has sung this tune before. In 2022 and then in 2023, Wickremesinghe promised full implementation, and appointed a committee, formulated reports, met key stakeholders and held lengthy consultations. Despite all the effort the deadline for action was pushed back, time and again. While minority communities have traditionally sided with Wickremesinghe during many elections, it remains unclear if the carrot of the fully implemented 13A will draw more minority votes his way.

This time around, rebranded Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in their National People’s Power (NPP) avatar with Anura Kumara Dissanayake as their leader has stated that under his leadership the NPP will bring about a new Constitution based on the interim proposals made by the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly after in-depth discussions held between 2015 and 2019 when then President Maithripala Sirisena and then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe held government. The NPP candidate has pledged to discuss the proposals made by the steering committee with plans for political and administrative powers that could be shared with local government bodies at the district- and provincial-level under a system of participatory governance.  Traditionally, the JVP has maintained a strong dislike of the 13A, classifying it as another tool of ‘Indian expansionism’. However, the JVP-led NPP has broken tradition, and after an invitation to New Delhi, and meetings with Indian senior diplomats and spy chief seemed to have mellowed their posture on the 13A. Samagi Jana Sandhanaya (SJS) candidate Sajith Premadasa has stated that he is committed to fully implementing the 13A. Premadasa also has said that he does not plan to take back powers granted under 13A.

Irrespective of what has been pledged, history has shown that the major parties in Colombo lack political will to fully enact the 13A’s police and land rights powers. Promises have been made by every government since 1987, but none have been followed through on. Given the history, promises made on 13A are unlikely to materialise.