By Sena Thoradeniya

Lenin in his Note, Helplessness and Confusion” dated May 21, 1913 stated that, chaos and confusion among modern Social-Democrats and ‘near Social-Democrats’ are not only external but also internal. A huge number of old ‘prominent Party people’ are completely confused, they have understood absolutely nothing about the new state of affairs” and their helpless dithering” have caused hopeless confusion in everything they undertake” (Collected Works, Volume 19). 

No doubt that all government and opposition politicians (including the so-called dissidents who tasted power, thanks to Rajapaksa benefaction), those who have already stitched their ceremonial dresses for the swearing-in ceremony such as Sajith and Anura Kumara and their closest hurrah boys, liberal bourgeois and NGO/NATO Marxist political analysts and polls forecasters, Colombo-centric bourgeois voters (not the village level voters who are in the majority) are in a state of confusion.

Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka titled his second and last novel as Season of Anomy” (1973). Are we too in a midst of a season of anomy”?  Anomy (the concept introduced by Emile Durkheim) is described as a condition of lack of usual societal and ethical standards and values in an individual or group; unrest, alienation, anxiety, social instability resulting from a breakdown or uprooting of standards and values. 

(1) What political games RW would play in the coming year? (2) Will he hold a parliamentary election first? (3) What type of coalitions would emerge before or after an election? (4) What decisions the horses the political analysts bet would take? (5) What courses these horses would choose? (6) Has Pohottuwa withered away as some columnists and editorialists had already begun to write its obituary? (7) Are some former vociferous activists playing a passive role cocooning themselves into their own comfort zones or bubbles (organizing meetings and holding press conferences on peripheral matters) dreaded to become targets of JVP/NPP unidentified gunmen”? (Remember fear psychosis” coined during 1988-89?). Answers to the above-mentioned questions are not clear to many; the people who have answers will not come out revealing the stark truth for obvious reasons. 

Ranil will call for a General Election hurling all political leaders to a state of confusion. Neither a single party nor a hurriedly- formed electoral coalition will emerge victorious obtaining 113+ seats. As President and the Head of Government he will elect his own Prime Minister and a Cabinet of Ministers throwing all the political parties to a state of further confusion. In 2024 Ranil Wickremasinghe will head a Cabinet consisting of a hotchpotch of strange bedfellows united for political expediency. SLPP dissidents will be wiped out en masse except those few who tie up with the SJB who are eyeing for national list slots and portfolios such as the learned law professor Peiris. Those who are labelled as the corrupt group of SLPP or MR loyalists will emerge victorious as we cannot deny that the masses are with them and their politics are rooted in the rich soil of peasantry and ordinary masses rather than the shoddy politics of former Viyathmaga grandees consisting of some professors and PhDs who were thrust into limelight,(also those nominated MPs who thoughttoo much of them as the proverbial frog who wanted to be as the elephant), because of radiant of Rajapakses.

A constitutional amendment to abolish the presidency and creating an executive premiership cannot be ruled out making all those who opposed a presidential system to fall in line and bite the dust.

Although extrapolating results of an election held under the first-past- the-post votingsystem in 1965 to a proportional representation for a parliament consisting of 225 members using statistical techniques is meaningless, the next General Election results will be similar to that of 1965 General Elections in which UNP received 66 seats in a parliament consisting of (145 electorates)151 members, polling 39.31% votes of the total votes polled. UNP’s ally SLFSP led by SLFP dissident C.P. de Silva got 5 seats or 3.22% of the total votes polled. Seats and the percentages of votes other major parties obtained were as follow: SLFP 41 seats (30.18%), Illankai Thamil Arasu Kachchi 14  seats (5.38%), LSSP 10 seats (7.47%), CP 4 seats (2.71%), ACTC 3 seats (2.44%), MEP (of Philip Gunawardena) 1 seat (2.39%), Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (of Rajaratna) 1 seat (0.46%). 6 more were elected from 4 other parties. Leader of the UNP, Dudley Senanayake became the Prime Minister forming a Hath Havula” (seven-party coalition).

We do not deny that the economic, political, socio-cultural, legal, ecological and international conditions were different in 1965 than in 2024. But there are some similarities mainly in the political context. It was the first election held after the formation of the much expected, warmly approved and admired United Left Front (ULF- consisting of LSSP, CP and MEP), its betrayal and formation of a Coalition Government (of SLFP and LSSP), LSSP breaking into several splinter groups and the defeat of the Press Bill introduced by the Coalition Government as several government MPs voted with the opposition and subsequent dissolution of the Parliament.

Ranil Wickremasinghe has already drawn a dragnet and caught a sizeable fish; he has appointed Upul Kumarapperuma a Presidents’ Counsel, NPP’s Central Committee member and the lawyer who represented the interests of notorious Garnier Barrister aka Sriyalatha Perera in Swiss Embassy case. This has caused disarray among the Youtubers who supported the Galle Face Carnival and JVP/NPP. They all are in a state of confusion and began to attack each other showing internal contradictions among themselves which are becoming antagonistic.

Infighting among themselves had begun as they have no common enemy now. Trading allegations against each other takes place even at public fora. These contradictions are beneficial to RW. With the blessings of Chairman of ITN, an ardent accomplice of RW and Julie Chung’s garden party guest during Galle Face Days, an NPP Central Committee member and the person who hung underwear on police barricades displaying underwear fetishism have got prime time belts to telecast their telefilms. For many other NGO activists, former members of the X Group” (a euro-centric group of youths which condemned Sri Lankan cultural norms and values) and old yahapalanists, ITN has become a haven for their newly-laid activities.

Although JVP/NPP grandees repeatedly bellow on nepotism of Rajapaksa family very few know that JVP/NPP also had allowed entry of a husband and wife (Bimal Ratnayaka (son of a young MR confidante)  and wife) and a father and son (Abeysinghes) into their Central Committee.

What had happened to the so-called aragalists” pampered by NGO lobbyists and pseudo- theoreticians? Do they think that the country has come back to normalcy? They along with the JVPers and Peratugamins came near to capture the Parliament in July 2022. Why don’t they protest now? They destroyed houses and property, illegally occupied public spaces, attempted to lynch MR (at Temple Trees and Trinco Naval Base) and GR (at Mirihana and Presidential House), sent goons to check vehicles proceeding towards BIA, refused entry to GR to BIA and attend to immigration formalities.

Now cost of living is higher than in 2022; it is true that there are no petrol queues and quota systems; JVP/NPP stalwarts can fly in their limousines at their will. The business conglomerates who funded the protesters also are happy and about the party they hired (JVP/NPP). Do the business conglomerates oppose IMF moves? They happily applaud the rulers’ submission and capitulation to IMF dictates and Julie Chung’s interference in our internal affairs as the Viceroy of Sri Lanka with no resistance.

JVP/NPP only seek for repatriation of money stashed in foreign accounts by politicians ignoring the enormous amounts of foreign exchange parked elsewhere by exporters. They have not understood that the present crisis is not only an economic or a financial crisis, forgetting its political, geopolitical, social and cultural aspects. It is not only a problem of stealing wealth and indebtedness.

Not only politicians, business oligarchs who evaded foreign exchange regulations and income tax rules and who parked large amounts of foreign exchange offshore are the worst culprits responsible for the present crisis. It was with the support of the JVP the Yahapalana Government of Sirisena-Wickremasinghe amended the exchange control laws in 2017, facilitating these malpractices. Now the JVP/NPP grandees as new born babies bellow that they are going for repatriation of money stashed by Rajapaksas. No word about the business oligarchs who parked foreign exchange abroad with their blessings.

Recently at a press briefing the CBSLGovernor (ex-CBSL and IMF employee, planted by the US) stated that Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement should continue for the next 4 years under any government in order to get the debt relief and international financial support required. He warned that unilateral withdrawal from the IMF-EFF agreement will result in severe implications. Any deviation from this path would bring detrimental and irrevocable consequences to the financial system of the economy. This statement, no doubt made at the behest of RW, should be construed as a severe warning to those politicians especially Premadasa and his supporters, who make maverick statements as cardboard heroes at political meetings and press briefings and to those Galle Face Protesters who clamored Go to IMF”.

CBSL Governor is a frequent visitor to US Embassy. Julie Chung on 13 December 2023 issued a X message welcoming the positive news from the IMF”. Her full message is as follows: We welcome the positive news from the IMF Board about the completion of the first Extended Fund Facility review with Sri Lanka providing access to about 357 million Us dollars for Sri Lanka to use to support its economic reforms and policies. The crucial step for Sri Lanka emphasizes the continued importance of sustained reforms & improved governance for the country’s progress while safeguarding the most vulnerable. The United States will continue to support Sri Lanka’s path to economic stability and prosperity”. 

By means of a not so strange reason, JVP/NPP is silent about IMF-EFF as Anura Kumara has become Chung’s parlor boy addressing meetings in the US on rostrums adorned with US flags. Why in all recent NPP YouTube clippings a logo of a clenched fist painted with stars and stripes (US flag) and letters NPP US POWER” along with the American flag appear?  Are they posted by NPP supporters residing in the US or powered by US? Americans as usual supported the weakest as in the case of Fonseka and Sirisena.

Confusion aggravates with the infiltration of hordes of ex-servicemen into NPP/JVP fold. Some political analysts doubt that the JVP/NPP Presidential candidate is not Anura Kumara, it is Sarath Fonseka. This is why a lot of ex-servicemen are suddenly have become flag-bearers of NPP. The sleeping cells of Fonseka supporters who supported him in 2010 are being thus harnessed as a Trojan Horse to bring Fonseka into power, which again is a wild dream. This will bring death knell to neo-liberal professionals who were attracted to NPP for personal gains and office. It is pitying a political party which paid lip service to Marxism-Leninism embracing instruments for the exploitation of the oppressed class”, instruments of state power” (even before capturing state power). 

Anura Kumara and NPP/JVP followers should read the article written by One Who Knows” published in the Sunday Island” of December 24, 2023 titled, JVP mobilizing support from among retired servicemen”. The writer refers to a former Security Forces Commander East” (mind this: long after the conflict ended”). (D)uring this officer’s tenure suicide bombers wreaked havoc in the Protestant Zion Church in Batticaloa on that tragic 2019 Easter Sunday (34 killed, 500 wounded) after two policemen were murdered earlier at a temporary guard post in Vaunativu”. This man may be the person earmarked by Anura Kumara to be his Defense Secretary!   

The writer reminds Anura Kumara to know who was the Deputy Commander of the SL troops in the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti in which about 114 SL troops including three officers were involved in the sex exploitation of hundreds of children”. This was a depraved and a total collapse of command. No one in high command however was punished”.  

Although the Zion incident may be considered as a security lapse that happened all over Colombo and Gampaha districts on Easter Sunday, the allegation of One Who Knows” about Haiti Mission cannot be dismissed lightly. We may ask is JVP/NPP opening floodgates to child predators in the name of a corruption-free society”?

To end this note we thought of bringing to our discussion how Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, the doyen of Sinhala arts and letters portrayed a tin pot” revolutionary in his novel Premaye Sathya Kathawa” in 1978, 46 years ago.  Amarasekera in his novel portrayed an undergraduate at Peradeniya, Nimal, a village lad of proletarian origins, mentored in Marxism by a high-class female student, Indira, whose father belonged to the Old Left. She conducts classes in Marxism to a group of Sinhala educated undergraduates. Fantasizing a love to his mentor, he sees himself as the leader of the revolution, having all the credentials to lead the revolution; copying postures of revolutionary leaders depicted in urban art works, he imagines leading the struggle wearing a combat uniform. But during a students’ struggle in face of a police onslaught the protagonist commits suicide!

To compare Nimal to Anura Kumara and Indira to Harini Amarasuriya is not a worthless proposition!

Why voters vote for Anura Kumara? To vote for SWRD, Sirimavo, JR, R. Premadasa, CBK, MR and GR the voters had many reasons. If it is to punish the wrong-doers, the CID and the judiciary could do a better job than Anura Kumara!

It was JRJ who brought Indian artists to commemorate May Day at Galle Face Green. Now Anura Kumara following JRJ, brings singers and actresses to his stage forgetting how JVP killer- squads killed artists such as Vijaya Kumaratunga, Thevis Guruge, Sagarika Gomes, Premakeerthi Alvis and many others! According to YouTube Anura Kumara and his ilk patronize NPP rock music shows compered by a one-time Kili Maharaja’s Sirasa” anchor!