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Why was Vijaya's voice stilled?
By Hemantha Warnakulasuirya
October 9 was Wap Poya Day. There were many sermons over the electronic media. Newspapers carried articles on various aspects of the Dhamma. October 9 is also an important day in my life. For the past several years, I have been making it a point to attend on this day at least one ceremony connected with this man I began to love very much. The person is none other than Vijaya Kumaratunga.

Opposing Settlement
I feel the loss of this man as each day passes. If he had been alive he would have certainly backed any accord or agreement aimed at ending the tragic war we have fought so brutally over the past two decades. He would have shunned personal glory and ignored any political fallout that would have ensued. In his long film career, he had on numerous occasions worked with Tamil directors, producers and cameramen and enjoyed feelings of unity, harmony and tolerance.

Kobbekaduwa
When Vijaya came into prominence as a politician, particularly following his marriage to Chandrika Bandaranaike, many aristocrats, capitalists and robber barons became one with the socialist leaning proletariat to put paid to his political ambitions. I yet remember the last rally he addressed in Nugegoda in support of Hector Kobbekaduwa at the 1982 Presidential election. There were no buses at the time and even the street lights were dim. Rumours were flung about that thugs would vandalise the meeting There were also rumours that JR had decided not to relinquish his presidency even in the event Kobbekaduwa won the election. The crowd, however, was massive. Vijaya was billed to be the penultimate speaker.

In the course of his speech, Vijaya said: "We will definitely win the Presidential Election on the 21st. After the results are announced, if JR refuses to relinquish office we will march to the Presidential Palace and if necessary we shall soak the carpet with our blood and push JR out of the Presidential Palace and install Hector Kobbekaduwa as our President."

A lawyer who had proclaimed loudly his solidarity with Vijaya joined the UNP. Distorting Vijaya's speech at Nugegoda, he told the police that Vijaya's intention was to release criminals from the Welikada prison, harm the President and take over power. The conspirators conspired to annihilate Vijaya from the political stage. The Naxalite conspiracy was hatched. Vijaya was arrested and remanded without bail.

He could not obtain his release even after a protracted court battle. Later, however, on an appeal made by Chandrika to the President, he was released. No charges could be framed against Vijaya as the entire episode was based on a felony of lies
Following his release, Vijaya formed the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya with a few close friends, having failed to change the policies of the SLFP to win over the minorities.

Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
In the aftermath of the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka accord, civil strife spread from the North to the South. The JVP was in the forefront of a campaign against the accord and the presence of Indian peacekeeping troops in Sri Lanka. In the midst of acrimony came the lone voice of Vijaya, openly supporting the accord. JR found a new friend in his former enemy. His position as a matinee idol and popular actor brought in its train a massive following especially among the youth.

He could have gained much political mileage in joining hands with the JVP and others who opposed the accord. He would have assumed leadership of the struggle. Vijaya, however, took a principled stance and tried to solve the problem that had divided the country into battle zones. The intrinsic battle would have engulfed the entire Island.

Counter
The JVP floated an organization called the DJV which was largely its military wing. The main purpose of the military wing was to kill anyone who opposed the struggle to save the motherland from an occupying army. Their political slogans appealed to the shortsighted infantile thinking of some people who had no power of thinking or reasoning in themselves. The majority wanted others to do the thinking for them and believed and swallowed unhesitatingly racist tantrums churned out by the DJV. Vijaya was one person who could effectively counter this propaganda.

He addressed meetings and convinced many people of the futility of an ethnic war. The youth in particular appeared to rally around Vijaya and to heed his words.
It is alleged that the JVP politburo then decided to do away with Vijaya. Lawyer Wijedasa Liyanarachchi, who died while in police custody, confessed -- in a confession recorded by SSP Dharmadasa on 29th August, 1988 -- that he was in the committee comprising Rohana Wijeweera, Upatissa Gamanayake, Somasiri Rajasuriya alias Piyadasa, and the leader of the Military Wing Saman Piyasiri Fernando alias Keerthi Wijebahu that decided to kill Vijaya.

For the assassination they allegedly employed Lionel Ranasinghe who, it is alleged, had already killed more than 20 people at the behest of the JVP. Lionel in his confession to the CID said that the DJVdecided to kill Vijaya as it believed he was a traitor to the cause of the liberation struggle and willingly supported the treacherous Indo-Lanka Accord that would virtually make Sri Lanka a satellite state of India.
Lionel was in possession of a diary where he had jotted down the names of the people he killed. Among the names were SSP Terrence Perera, Harsha Abeywardene, Nandalal Fernando and Jayantha Mallimarachchi.

He had written Vijaya's name as 'VJ Polhengoda' and the next line was left blank. When the CID questioned him as to why he kept the line blank, he said that when he shot at Vijaya, there was another person who was wounded and at the time he wrote this he was not aware of his name. To my mind Vijaya was the first Sinhala politician to be assassinated for promoting peace between the Sinhalese and the Tamils.
On the day Vijaya died, the PLOTE had a special broadcast on its radio in Tamil and Sinhala in his memory and made a number of Tamils in the North mourn his death by hoisting black flags.

Vijaya believed in the motto that 'some people could be fooled all the time and all the people could be fooled sometime but not all the people all the time'. It appears, however, that some people want to be fooled all the time. If another war erupts in the North, world opinion will turn against the Sinhalese who will be branded as a race hell bent on suppressing the rights of the Tamils. The bifurcation of the tiny isle of Sri Lanka will then be made inevitable and Eelam will result in the North ruled by the tyrannical Prabhakaran and the ghosts of Rohana Wijeweera will rule the South in the new dispensation.

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