Sri Lanka’s fight against ‘wheat terrorism’

A year and a half after defeating the Tamil Tiger militants, the Sri Lankan government seems to be intensifying its struggle against an unlikely enemy but one which it says is very real-wheat.

 

In recent days it has been banning wheat products from various public institutions.

 

Nationalistic elements of the governing coalition have gone so far as to speak of “wheat terrorism”.

 

Wheat products enjoy great popularity in Sri Lanka - whether it’s the rotis widely eaten with curry, or breads, cakes and savoury pastries which are common here.

 

Now, though, wheat products have been removed from government hospitals, and fast foods - many made of wheat - banned from schools.

 

The government has also slashed a subsidy it used to apply to the wheat price.

 

It says this is because wheat is a foreign import, alien to an essentially rice-eating society and costly for its economy.

 

Opposition politicians like Sunil Handunetti accuse it of piling on the misery as food prices rise in general - and they object to the rhetoric the government is using.

 

“It is 18 months since the war ended but the cost of living is shooting up. They’ve put up the milk powder price and increased the bread price four times. They even labelled bread-eaters ‘terrorists’,” he said.

 

The National Freedom Front, one of the government parties, is leading the anti-wheat campaign and has indeed described the wheat flour industry as “a form of terrorism”.

 

The strongly nationalist faction says wheat is part of a “conspiracy” by multinational companies to undermine Sri Lanka’s food security.

 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself has described the falling consumption in wheat products as a greater achievement than the defeat of the Tamil Tigers.

 

It is not the first time an Asian country has demonstrated an almost mystical attachment to rice.

 

But Sri Lanka’s many wheat-lovers are wondering what has hit them, BBC reports.