THE ROLE OF THE JVP
In 1994, the MEP contesting the general elections, requested the people to vote for them so that they would become the deciding factor (theeraka balaya) in the parliament and to end the role played by the Tamil racist parties as the king makers. Either the people did not understand the MEP or they did not have any faith in some of us who contested on the MEP ticket or they were of the opinion that the MEP did not fit into that role or they had some other thoughts, and none of those who contested as MEP candidates was elected to the parliament. At that elections JVP also went alone and they did much better than the MEP and had Mr. Galappaththi elected as the first JVP member of parliament. (One could say that he was not elected as a JVPer but we would ignore these pedantic- not theoretical- claims.). In the elections held last year the JVP took the slogan of the MEP and wanted the people to elect them so that they could be the "remote control" in the parliament. Though there are some contradictions in the concept of a "remote control" in the parliament the people probably understood what they meant and ten MPs were elected from the JVP to the parliament. The MEP which had become a partner in the PA was rewarded with three MPs. Thus there were thirteen children of fifty six, in addition to those in the SLFP who could have applied pressure on the PA leadership.
Mr. Bandula Gunawardhane who defected from the MEP (and the PA) to the UNP led front has said that the PA leadership did not listen to them for nearly an year but after the "probationary" government was formed, the PA leadership, meaning Ms. Kumaratunga and most probably the seven or eight members of the inner cabinet (according to Ms. Kumaratunga, Mr. S. B. Dissanayake was not a member of the inner cabinet) that took the important decisions, was prepared to dance to the tune of the JVP. Mr. Gunawardhane claims that there was nothing new in the demands of the JVP and the leadership should have listened to them at the very beginning. Apparently Mr. Gunawardhane has been hurt by the attitude of the leadership of the PA and instead of supporting the JVP he had decided to join Dr. G. L. Peiris, who was on his way back to where he belongs, and Mr. S. B. Dissanayake on his way to political oblivion.
After the first wave of cross overs Mr. Anura Bandaranaike has decided to come back to the SLFP Though it happened after the cross over of Mr. S. B. Dissanayake, giving the impression that the former's cross over resulted from that of the latter, there is another version of the drama that took place in the last few months. According to that version the cause and effect are interchanged. It is not due to the fact that the storey teller (the so-called observer) in the new version is running with a speed greater than that of light or is in possession of some hitherto unknown quantum communication powers. Neither Messrs. Dissanayke and Bandaranaike are "entangled" particles a la Schroedinger who wrote down his famous equation in Quantum Mechanics while holidaying in Alps with his first girlfriend, leaving his wife at home. (Though there are no "paths" that "particles" follow in Quantum Mechanics, I wonder what path Quantum Mechanics itself would have taken, if the path of Schroedinger did not intercept that of his former girlfriend. In any event, would anybody imagine Messrs. Bandaranaike and Dissanayake as particles?). However, it is said in some circles, that the cross overs resulted from a decision by the Bandaranaike family to get back Anura Mallo into the fold as Ms. Kumaratunga according to the present constitution could not contest again for the presidency. The decision of the Horagolla Walawwa was not to the liking of the Hanguranketha Maligawa and Kirula P(a)lace took the opportunity to initiate the process of taking the kirula (crown) back to the Sedawaththa Walawwa, as has been planned.
Mr. Anura Bandaranaike is not a child of fifty six, though he is the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Bandaranaike. Mr.Anura Bandaranaike is too liberal and western oriented and does not appear to have a grasp of the feelings of the masses who vote for the SLFP. As far as these voters are concerned he is the son of the Bandaranaikes and the relationship ends there. They may give their preferences to him but they cannot identify themselves with him. Mr. S. B. Dissanayake should have waited in the SLFP to see that Mr. Anura Bandaranaike does not become the SLFP(PA) candidate at the next presidential elections. After all, the SLFP today is the main party of the children of fifty six and people like Mr. S. B. Dissanayke should have worked hard to make sure that it is not the party of the children of Bandaranaikes. It is true that the liberal SLFP of 1951 was formed by Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike but by 1955 after a metamorphism it became the party of Sinhalathva and social justice. The party of 1955 was not formed by Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike the western liberal with some feeling for nationalism, but was formed due to the influence of many people who were not members of the SLFP. After Mr. Bandaranaike was killed Mrs. Bandaranaike was brought to the leadership of the SLFP by Mahasangha. Unlike in the fifties and the sixties, now there are many children of fifty six who could become the leader of the SLFP and it has to be instilled into the minds of the "Akkas" and "Mallos" that the SLFP is not Horagolla and Horagolla is not SLFP. If the Bandaranaikes and some others who are dreaming of Mr. Vijaya Kumaratunga's progenies becoming the leaders of the SLFP (not because of any love towards Bandaranaikes but due to their relationship to the late Mr. Vijaya Kumaratunga), insist that the leadership of the SLFP is the birth right of descendants of Bandaranaikes then they are only digging the grave of the SLFP. They have to remember that the SLFP, though the main party of the children of fifty six is by no means the only party of the children of fifty six. The JVP has come a long way since 1971 and 1987-90 and if they are prepared to drop their Marxism having hopefully given up terrorism, then they could easily become the main party of the children of fifty six.
Probably Mr. Bandula Gunawardhane and especially Mr. S. B. Dissanayake sensed this challenge from the JVP, in addition to the challenge from Mr. Anura Bandaranaike. Instead of accepting the challenge and fighting it out within the party (PA) they have decided to accept the leadership of Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, a child of Jennings. They criticise the JVP more than any other political party and were not happy with the "probationary" government. As far as Mr. S. B. Dissanayake was concerned it was a battle for the leadership of the SLFP and of the forces of the children of fifty six and his impatience and incapability to stay and fight was made use of by the children of Jennings. Having lost or rather given up the battle for the leadership now he is determined to do anything to defeat the present leadership of the SLFP in the process damaging the entire movement he represented just a few weeks ago.
If the SLFP is unable to find leaders outside the descendants of Bandaranaikes or to deliver the goods to the people then the JVP will assume the leadership of the fifty six forces. The role of the JVP in the meantime is something else. They are in the process of replacing the Tamil racist parties as the king makers of Sri Lanka. From the time of Mr. Dudley Senanayake the Tamil racist parties have offered their assistance to form governments. It is to the credit of Mr. Dudley Senanayake that he refused to agree to the conditions laid down by Mr. Chelvanayakam and the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi, the Sri Lankan Tamil State Party or the so-called Federal Party. It was Mr. J.R.Jayawardhane who made conscious plans to make use of the vote bank of the Tamil racist parties in the parliament to form governments. Since then both the UNP and the SLFP have tried to please the Tamil racist parties and have fought among themselves to give more to satisfy the "aspirations" of the Tamil racist parties. Seeing the role played by the Tamil racist parties Mr. Ashraaf formed his own SLMC to offer his votes in the parliament in order to make his "contribution" to deprive the Sinhalathva being given its rightful place in this country. However his "golaya" Mr. Rauf Hakeem did not know the art of playing the role of the king maker and he was over ambitious in his "kappam" politics. The non national forces were obviously using him to topple the PA government and Ms. Kumaratunga had to say enough is enough. Mr. Hakeem was sacked and the role of the king maker or the "remote control" has fallen into the laps of the JVP.
This significant change in politics of the country, that was canvassed by the MEP at the general elections held in 1994, has not been fully understood. What the MEP wanted in 1994 was to displace the Tamil racist party king makers in the country and to make a section of the national forces the deciding factor in the parliament. It is clear that the Tamil racist parties are now with UNP, the main party of the non national forces, and have decided to work in an alliance with them. The Tamil racist parties that have become apologists for the LTTE, the Tamil terrorist group, insist that the UNP negotiate with the terrorists. As we have said in these columns, on many occasions, these "peace talks" are bound to end up with another package, presented to the parliament most probably by the same "packager" if the UNP were to win, that would set up a confederation.
Whatever the upper middle class and the middle class think, at this juncture the best that could happen, from the point of view of the national forces is another "probationary" (parivasa) government. The package and the "packagers" commissioned by foreign embassies and Tamil racism have to be stopped, and a parivasa government is the best form of government that could be used at present for this purpose. Whether the "parivasa" would be extended to a "sahavasa" is a different matter that would be decided after a number of inter and intra struggles between the non national forces and various factions of the national forces.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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