JVP IN DANGER
The speech made by the President at the so called development forum held in Kandy has been praised by the foreign delegates, according to the local press. However, it is not the foreign press boys and girls who would be voting at the next general elections or the Presidential elections. The President may get a round of applause from the foreign delegates who would praise even a third rate speech from somebody in the so called third world, whom they want to keep in power, and by the NGO pundits and the western social scientists that include the western political scientists.
However, locally her speech has been attacked both by the JVP and the JHU. These two parties who between themselves compete for the vote base of the SLFP in general, and the nationalist elements among the voters in particular are going to have a tough time in the coming months. The speech by the President at the "development forum" did irritate not only the JVP and the JHU, who claim to be patriotic parties, but the general nationalistic public. It is very likely that the nationalistic voters in the SLFP would hereafter gravitate towards those parties that claim to be nationalistic.
It is clear that Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga is on the war path with the JVP. The countdown has begun not only for the "sandhanaya" government but for the SLFP as well. In those columns and elsewhere we have already expressed the "yana yaka koraha bindina" attitude or the devil who would vanish would break the pots mentality. It is clear that Ms. Kumaratunga who had no love for the SLFP is prepared to ruin the party before she goes back to London after completing the second term of her Presidency. Ms. Kumaratunga when she left the SLFP to join the SLMP founded by her late husband had given up SLFP politics by that time. While the SLFP for all its weaknesses was the party of the Sinhalathva, the SLMP was blatantly anti Sinhala Buddhist. Mr. Vijaya Kumaratunga who cannot be identified as a Sinhala Buddhist by any amount of stretching the mind was trying to change the politics of the country towards a western Christian base. However, he could not achieve his ambitions as he was killed by some group or groups working hand in hand.
Ms. Kumaratunga as we have said on many occasions was brought down from London in order to lead SLFP and give it an anti Sinhala Buddhist attitude. In short those who were instrumental in bringing her down also wanted to "bring down" the image of the SLFP within the country, at the same time giving the party and herself a "name" among the westerners. She was made the president in order to give a confederation to the Tamil racists, as connived by the westerners. However, the Sinhala nationalistic forces did not allow her to succeed in her plans during the last ten years since she became the President.
Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, like people such as Prof. Hoole who do not seem to have any sense of history does not see that the Sinhala Buddhists are more tolerant than most others on the earth. She would blame the Sinhalas for not giving this or that so called right of the Tamils. Prof. Hoole for example has recently referred to the distribution of land to the Sinhalas in Galoya area. They think that the present Eastern Province that came into existence, with the other eight provinces only towards the end of the nineteenth century, had been Tamil homeland for thousands of years. What these people do not realise is that in spite of the bogus history that the Tamil racists are trying to create in the last twenty five years or so, there is no proof whatsoever to say that the Eastern Province had been Tamil land. The present eastern province had been under the Sinhala kings for thousands of years until the British barbarians annexed it in 1815. After the 1817-1818 independence struggle of the Sinhalas especially in Uva Vellassa, the British massacred the Sinhalas in the areas, and gradually settled down Tamils in the present eastern province, who had been brought from South India as labourers. The Jaffna Tamils who are mainly descendants of the farmers of the first wave of migrants who were brought down by the Dutch looked down upon the Batticaloa Tamils of the second wave, and that was the beginning of the clashes between the Jaffna Tamils and the Batticaloa Tamils that Prabahakaran and Karuna are continuing, though the former is not necessarily a descendant of the farmer cast.
Digamadulla had been the granary of the Sinhala kings even in the times of Dutugemunu, and late Mr. D.S. Senanayake took steps to distribute land in those areas to Sinhala people, negating the policy of the British imperialists who massacred the Sinhalas and gave their land to the Tamils. If anybody is arguing against the policy of Mr. D.S. Senanayake, then he/she is only interested in carrying forward the policy of the British who deprived the Sinhalas of their land. A good description of what the British did could be found in the books that Prof. Tennekoone Wimalananda had authored on the first independence struggle of the Sinhalas.
We challenge Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga to come out with examples to show that the Sinhalas have deprived the Tamils of any so called rights. What has happened throughout the recent history is that whenever the Sinhalas wanted a discriminating policy of the British imperialists against the Sinhalas to be rectified the Tamil racists have shouted from roof tops with the help of the westerners that Tamils are denied of their rights. We know that Ms. Kumaratunga is not in a position to debate with us on these issues in the Pubic library in Colombo or some similar place, but Prof. Hoole who considers himself to be an intellectual and who according to himself is one of the two people in the country to have D.Sc., both of them being Tamil Christians again a point he had highlighted, should be able to enter a public debate. After all there cannot be many Tamil Christians (not Tamil Catholics) in the country, but we know that in this country that is supposed to deny the rights of the Tamils, there has been a Tamil Christian in the UGC for sometime. I wonder whether there are any Buddhists in the British UGC or the equivalent body, though there is a substantial number of Buddhists, not necessarily Sinhala, in that country. The British who go round the world with their BBC telling that the Tamils are discriminated in Sri Lanka could find out from Prof. Hoole whether there are any Tamil or Hindu members in the British UGC or the equivalent body or whether there are any Universities in that country that cater only to the Tamils. Incidentally what happened to the Sinhala medical students who were sent to the University of Jaffna?
Coming back to the rhetoric of Ms. Kumaratunga whose grandfather was a Sinhala Christian who was instrumental in building Anglican Churches in Veyangoda area, and whose husband was a Sinhala Catholic, from that of Prof. Hoole, against the Sinhala Buddhists, it is clear that she is obsessed with the idea of correcting all those so called injustices to the Tamils. The westerners, the both Tamil and Sinhala Tamil racists and the others have found the ideal person in Ms. Kumaratunga to give a confederation to the LTTE that is backed by the church. It is unfortunate that the some Sinhala Catholics and Christians in order to continue to deprive the Sinhala Buddhists what they have been denied by the British imperialists, help Tamil racism, though the Tamil racists would not want to see a Sinhala bishop becoming a cardinal. Ms. Kumaratunga has to give something substantial before she goes back to England from where she came to become the President of the country. The so called joint mechanism with its three tier structure that has been designed by the Norwegians and the other westerners, of which INGO personnel such as the former non Buddhist brother- in-law of Ms. Kumaratunga knew in advance, will be only the stepping stone to an Eelam.
However, the JVP, JHU as political parties and the Bhoomiputhra Party and the MEP as well together with the Sinhala national organisations will have to oppose the joint mechanism at one stage or the other. The SLFP and the UNP may support it at the cost of losing the Sinhala voters. It is very likely that the JVP with its organisational strength will attract most of the voters and could even become the biggest party in the country in a short time. Though Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga and some weekend rag sheets proclaim that the majority support the joint mechanism it is not so as they very well know. If the majority supports the joint mechanism the westerners would have already advised Ms. Kumaratunga to hold a referendum on the issue of the joint mechanism.
It appears that the west is about to adopt a different strategy in the face of growing opposition to the joint mechanism. It may be that they have already changed gears and are on a path to massacre the JVP through the armed forces. The recent announcements by an organisation called Therapuththabhaya unit point out to the new strategy that is been adopted by the west and the other interested parties. First there was an attempt to implicate the JVP on the death of Sivaram alias Taraki. Instead of making use of all the resources to find the murder(s) of Sivaram, people with interests wanted to launch a witch hunt against the JVP. Now we hear of a Therapuththabhaya unit.
The JVP unlike the LTTE was massacred by the armed forces and the west did not have any humanist considerations towards the former. There were no negotiations with the JVP, and Foxes, Solheims and other did not visit this country then. Except for a very few nationalists nobody else was worried about the human rights of the members of the JVP, and nobody would have thought of negotiating with the Party before they handed over the arms. The JVP having gone through difficult times, and having changed its policies, especially on the Tamil racist problem has won a large vote bank and is in the process of increasing it. It is very unlikely that the JVP would resort to violence activities in order to gain state power as all they have to do is to wait for a few more years as a nationalist party. Though I have my doubts about the genuineness of both the JVP and the JHU as nationalist parties they pose so and many people seem to believe in what their leaders say.
The west with its intelligence probably know that the JVP has a better chance of coming to power through parliamentary elections and that it is the main obstacle in giving an Eelam to the LTTE. Thus it is of paramount interest to the west to see that the party is destroyed as soon as possible. It is very likely that some bogus charges would be framed against the JVP, kicked out of the government, and the membership massacre on some pretext of violent activities. Those who created the Therapuththabhaya unit would know all these, and it is very unlikely that the JVP created this unit which is more likely to be a virtual body.
In the process of annihilating the JVP, in the initial stages, they may even support the JHU. I have no faith in this party having known its leaders for more than twenty years but the gullible Sinhala voters could be misled using the electronic media. However, after the JVP is massacred it will be the turn of the JHU, and we may be heading towards another 1987-90 period. The west and the others must have realised by now that an Eelam could not be established mainly because of the nationalistic forces and what better way of defeating them than annihilating the JVP which is with the nationalistic forces at present. It is up to the nationalistic forces to see these dangers ahead, and get ready to defeat the strategy of the west.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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