News

News

To topple Govt. or save Country?
The SLFP on Friday launched its own protest campaign against the UNF government. The rally was called Jana Sena and held in Colombo bringing mixed results for the party.

The rally which drew large crowds was seen supportive of plans mooted by the SLFP to oust the UNF government. The rally was held amidst strong protests by the Hindus on the day which coincided with their Deepavali celebrations, an important festival in the Hindu calendar.

President Kumaratunga who had promised to spring a surprise had kept her word by appearing at the Dharmapala Road Junction while SLFP supporters were making their way to the Town Hall. She spent more than 15 minutes watching the passing crowds.

The Sunday Times learns the Presidential Security Division, for security reasons had advised the President against attending the rally that was to be held in the Town Hall grounds.

This had prompted the President to make an unscheduled public appearance. The President who stood some meters away from the passing crowds was surrounded by personnel of the Presidential Security Division PSD and a contingent of Army commandos.

The President's message was read out to the large gathering by the SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena. In it President Kumaratunga had stressed the importance of her leadership at this time which could lead the country into safety while in her message she had also stressed the insecurity felt by the people of the country during the ongoing peace process.

She also mentioned the arms build-up by the LTTE and underlined the sufferings of the Muslims. The first to address the rally was Mangala Samarawera the chief organizer of the Jana Sena project and an ardent supporter of the SLFP-JVP alliance. In his speech he repeatedly stressed the importance of a SLFP-JVP alliance if the UNF government was to be defeated.

Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapakse also called on the president to use her executive powers as the country was in grave danger. JVP propaganda secretary Wimal Weerawansa who made a powerful speech which lasted for nearly 30 minutes stressed that the UNF had betrayed part of the country to the LTTE and was handing over the rest to Multi National Corporations. He called on both the SLFP and the JVP to act unitedly to save the country.

Wimal Weerawansa hit out at the SLFP's December plan to topple the government through a regime change. He said "it is useless to form a new government by altering the head count, instead a new government should be formed on a strong set of principles agreed to by all parties"

Though Anura Bandaranaike and former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake were due to address the rally they refrained from doing so because of the time constraint and the heavy rains that broke out.

This is the first in a series of protest campaigns to be launched by the SLFP in a bid to take over the government in mid December by defeating the second reading of the Budget to be presented by the UNF government. This is also specially designed to meet the challenge thrown out by the UNF government that the President does not have the people’s mandate to govern the country.

The procession which was due to start off from five points was reduced to four as the Bhikkhu procession was called off due to the absence of enough Bhikkhus. The organizers had invited some thousand Bhikkus but only about hundred had turned up at the BMICH premises from where the procession was to commence.

Ven Galagama Dhammavasi Thera, a former member of the Desha Vimukthi Jathika Viyaparaya who was present at the BMICH told the Sunday Times that the failure to muster the support of sufficient Bikkhus was due to the total lack of coordination by the organizers and also said that the Bhikkhus did not have any faith in Mangala Samaraweera or the party General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena. He said that if the opposition leader had been behind the Jana Sena organization the situation would very well have been different.

The organisers had reserved the BMICH banquet hall for the Bhikkhus’ mid day meal but very few were present. Though meals were prepared for a thousand the caterers say only a hundred turned up.

The organizing committee had given strict instructions to the various organizers to refrain from displaying any placards, pictures or shout slogans that referred to any person or political party. Though the main agenda of the procession was to boost the President’s image there were a few exceptions, with SLFP members from Bulathsinhala supporting Ronnie De Mel and Mallika De Mel carrying pictures of the duo and former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake's supporters shouting slogans in support of him.

Cheers, jeers and theJana Sena juggernaut
By Harinda Ranura Vidanage
Buoyed by the large turn out of the Jana Sena rally on Divali day the main sponsors celebrated it in real style. First they began with glasses of champagne. Black Label whisky followed. Some opted for beer whilst others were happy with soft drinks.
The chief organizer, Mangala Samaraweera, had many around him.

To name a few were Dilan Perera, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Berty Premalal Dissanayake and Mahindananda Aluthgamage. Conspicuous by his presence was Mr Samaraweera's buddy, Sripathi Sooriayarachchi. It was an Indian Restaurant down Dickmans Road.

As they washed down pieces of Tandoori Chicken, mutton, butter and a variety of other delicacies with white wine there was gossip of all sorts. An ebullient Mervyn Silva could not hide his feelings. "President defied appeals by many to put off the rally. It is I who found the auspicious day after travelling to India to consult astrologers," he boasted. Others held their glasses and said in a chorus "cheers".

The conversation took a serious note after Mr. Sooriayarachchi declared there was no need for an alliance with the JVP any more. "Why should we betray the SLFP? We have a 3.5 million support base as against the JVPs five hundred thousand," he said.
This naturally angered his mentor Mr Samaraweera who has been labouring to broker an SLFP-JVP alliance.

The rally itself saw the old rivalries between the Samaraweera camp and the Mahinda Rajapakse camp spring out. As Mr. Rajapakse wrapped up his speech, a teenage announcer on the stage shouted, "Victory for our future Prime Minister". Mr. Samarweera had nearly jumped off the chair. This was a tit-for-tat theory, according to Rajapakse confidants.

This was the extension of a drama in Matara. "You brought me to Matara and threatened me in front of our party members -- I'll take care of you," said the all pumped up Mr. Rajapakse to Mr. Samarweera at Kotuwegoda market premises. This was when a person from the crowd came out with questions on why Mr. Rajapakse kept silent on the issue of SLFP-JVP alliance.

Later the opposition leader found out that the bothersome questioner was a former JVP member turned SLFPer, known as Baldi Lal, and he then convinced himself that all this was at the instigation of Mr. Samaraweera.

But Rajapakse didn't leave the stage without his own retort. Before he got down, he went into the crowd and shouted, "Why are you asking me about the alliance, I only get to know about it from newspapers.'' "Ask them," Mr. Rajapakse said pointing at Anura Bandaranaike and Wimal Weerwansa. "They are the ones who know.''

These incidents show that the internal power struggle and deep divisions in the SLFP were not healing, and Mangala Samaraweera' efforts to kick start the collapsed alliance with the JVP by bringing in Wimal Weerawansa seemed to be futile, as the JVP unveiled its plan for rebuilding the country just the day after, and put forward the conditions it made in eight months of discussions with the SLFP.

The JVP released a document titled "The plan to rebuild the country'' but it didn't disclose the fact that it is the same document with which it negotiated with the SLFP for a long time. "If to make any new government they should accept our principle," screamed Tilvin Silva like an actor from a open air drama .

The PA whilst taking hits from the JVP suffered another critical setback as the Indians, according to some analysts, obliquely attacked the PA and its leadership by protecting Ranil Wickremesinghe as he left for India last week.

Though it was a historical event for the media, for the Prime Minister it was a breath of life. Earlier Yaswant Sinha undermined the security analysis of Trincomalee by the PA while the Indian intelligence community shattered the code red declaration of the PA on the possible rearming of the LTTE and consequences that might follow.

But the second interpretation is that this is the deliberate work of the PA to virtually make India spoil things with the Prime Minister forcing the Indians to eventually take the position of the PA on settling the ethnic problem and on the role of the interim administration.

Chandrika Kumaratunga has to make some tough decisions in the future, as it seems that the much-needed party unity has become non-existent. Her hopes of securing the support of the JVP seem to be dwindling.

The change of heart of India, a long time ally of President Kumaratunga, will affect her thinking, She has to see through all contradictory political forces and not surrender to the emotions of some of her close associates who dream of blues conquering the greens but are unaware that there is more to it than just a change of colours.

Back to News