{"id":46675,"date":"2015-08-07T14:40:21","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T21:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=46675"},"modified":"2015-08-07T14:40:21","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T21:40:21","slug":"history-of-jvps-voice-of-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/08\/07\/history-of-jvps-voice-of-conscience\/","title":{"rendered":"History of JVP’s \u2018Voice of Conscience\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dharman Wickremaratne<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The UNP\u2019s manifesto promises to build a new country in 60 days while the UPFA manifesto guarantees a better future and a new life for the country. Since the Democratic Party Leader Sarath Fonseka is suffering from a throat problem a recording is being played at his party meetings.\u00a0 The DP has still not circulated a manifesto.<\/p>\n

The JVP manifesto titled \u2018Voice of Conscience\u2019 says that they will find solutions to the problems Sri Lanka is facing since the leaders who ruled the country for 67 years could not solve them.\u00a0\u00a0 According to its manifesto what the JVP is asking for is not power to rule but a remote control by which they can control capitalist parties so that the JVP can eliminate corruption and wastage which are the usual features of capitalism.\u00a0 Rohana Wijeweera gave birth to the JVP by making many sacrifices.\u00a0 But today the JVP does not need to make such sacrifices since the modern world has made Marxism stand on its head.<\/p>\n

\"dharman070801\"<\/a><\/p>\n

JVP National List includes several well-recognized intellectuals.\u00a0 They have been named JVP\u2019s \u2018ambassadors\u2019 who will help to build up the party\u2019s vote base. Among them are Professor Ruhunu Hewa, Mayadunne, Charles Dayananda and Professors Kapila Perera and Piyadasa Ranasinghe. This is apparently taking them for a ride.\u00a0 Although seven from the JVP National List were appointed to Parliament since the year 2000 they were not given the opportunity to play any important role in the party.<\/p>\n

The last to be appointed to Parliament from the JVP National List after the 11th<\/sup> Parliamentary Election held on October 10, 2000 were Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Anjaan Umma.\u00a0 The total number JVP MPs (including those from the National List) was eight. At the 12th<\/sup> Parliamentary Election held on December 5, 2001 the JVP won 13 seats while Anura Kumara Dissanayake, S.K. Subasinghe and Ramalingam Chandrasekera were appointed from the National List.At the 13th<\/sup> Parliamentary Election held on April 2, 2004, the UPFA won 92 seats out of which 39 were JVP.\u00a0\u00a0 The UPFA National List MP (from JVP) was Ramalingam Chandrasekera.\u00a0 At the 14th<\/sup> Parliamentary Election held on April 22, 2010 the JVP (which had joined Sarath Fonseka\u2019s Democratic National Alliance) won five seats.\u00a0\u00a0 The only National List MPs were JVP\u2019s Anura Kumara Dissanayake and DNA\u2019s Tiran Alles.<\/p>\n

\"dharman070802\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The JVP manifesto \u2018Voice of Conscience\u2019 was launched at their Congress, which was broadcast live on a state TV channel, for which the party spent about Rs.800, 000 for airtime though actually worth around Rs. 1.6 million.Everything in life is impermanent.\u00a0 Dark colours become light. Red becomes pink and eventually white.\u00a0 If necessary it can be made blue or green.\u00a0 If Left politicians like Dr. N.M. Perera and Dr. Colvin R. de Silva could hang on to Sirima Bandaranaike\u2019s sari pota and form coalition governments the JVP too has the right to do the same.<\/p>\n

It is for this reason that the JVP gave its blessings to the \u2018Yahapalana\u2019 (Good Governance) coalition which came to power on January 8.\u00a0 The National Executive Council formed on a proposal by the JVP is even above the Cabinet of Ranil Wickremesinghe Government.In 2001 the JVP formed a probationary government with Chandrika Kumaratunga. It evolved into her People\u2019s Alliance Government in 2004.\u00a0\u00a0 The JVP again entered into a coalition with Mahinda Rajapaksa during the Presidential Election campaign of 2005.\u00a0 This same policy led the JVP to do a \u2018U\u2019 turn in 2010 and enter into a coalition with Sarath Fonseka and the UNP.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that if the UFPA fails to win 114 seats at the next election the JVP will extend its support the UNP to form a coalition government with representatives of Tamil separatist and Muslim extremist parties.\u00a0 The support the JVP gave to the UNP-led Yahapalana coalition via the National Executive Council boosted the image of the \u2018pickpocket\u2019 government backed by a minority.<\/p>\n

\"dharman070803.\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The JVP\u2019s avowed aim is to build a socialist society.\u00a0 To achieve the objective they lauched two insurgencies. According to Government statistics 1,200 rebels were killed in the first insurrection of 1971.\u00a0 However it is said that the actual number of inrugents killed was nearly 5,000.<\/p>\n

The JVP\u2019s second insurgency began in 1986 and ended in 1990.\u00a0 During this period the number killed by the Government\u2019s armed groups and vigilantes was 34,014. The PRAA (People\u2019s Revolutionary Red Army) killed 1,222.\u00a0 The number killed by the JVP\u2019s armed wing, the Deshapremi Janatha Vyapaaraya (Patriotic People\u2019s Movement) was 6,577.\u00a0\u00a0 Accordingly the total number killed and disappeared in the JVP\u2019s second insurgency was 41,813.\u00a0 Unofficial reports state that nearly 60,000 people were killed during this period.<\/p>\n

The 6,577 victims of JVP terror included 2,645 UNP members, 1,652 ordinary civilians, 702 spies, 487 government employees, 342 police officers, 15 army officers and 202 ordinary soldiers, 187 university students and students of schools, 117 Mahajana Party members, 93 members of police families, 52 school principals, 41 bhikkus, 16 doctors, 14 lawyers, eight artistes, two vice chancellors and two Catholic priests.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/a>JVP march with Arjuna. Mangala, Mervin and Dilan<\/u><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The value of state property the JVP destroyed by setting them on fire during its second insurgency was over Rs.1000 million. They included 553 CTB buses, 294 grama seva offices, 680 post offices, 132 government quarters and offices, workshops and factories and power distribution centres, 103 agrarian service offices.\u00a0 JVP insurgents also robbed cash and jewellery after breaking into 40 People\u2019s Banks, rural banks and other state banks. These actions convinced the public that the JVP was a destructive movement lacking a proper vision and logical thinking.<\/p>\n

Rohana Wijeweera built up the JVP through his own efforts and the party\u2019s politics were based on his philosophy. Although the methods the JVP employed to grab power were controversial we have to admit it had thousands of cadres who were filled with revolutionary fervor and sacrificed their lives for that purpose.<\/p>\n

Anura Kumara Dissanayake became JVP Leader on February 2, 2014.\u00a0 The party leaders before him were Rohana Wijeweera, Saman Piyasiri Fernando, Lalith Wijeratne and Somawansa Amarasinghe. After leavig the JVP Somawansa made serious allegations against the party. Among these was that Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa gave Rs.2.5 million to the party.\u00a0 These reveal that the \u2018love affair\u2019 between the present JVP leadership and the UNP is no secret.<\/p>\n

\"dharmaW01.\"<\/a>JVP founder-leader Rohana Wijeweera (May 14, 1965-November 13,1989),JVP\u2019s second leader Saman Piyasiri Fernando (November 28, 1989 \u2013 December 29, 1989),JVP\u2019s third leader Lalith Wijeratne December 31, 1989-January 13, 1990),JVP\u2019s fourth leader Somawansa Amarasinghe (March 1990-February 2, 2014),JVP\u2019s present leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake (February 2, 2014 todate) <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Although JVP Leader Rohana Wijeweera did not openly get involved in coalition politics and ruin his reputation there were allegations that he connived with the UNP secretly. He addressed a series of country wide meetings titled \u2018The end of the road for SLFP\u2019 after his release from prison. Thereafter the JVP forced people to boycott elections with death threats and paved the way for SLFP leader Sirima Bandaranaike\u2019s defeat in the Presidential Election of December 19, 1988 and for Ranasinghe Premadasa to become President. Although it was claimed to be a strategic move it eventually led to the massacre of thousands of young people in less than a year after Premadasa swore in as President on January 2, 1989.<\/p>\n

As former JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe says, today the JVP symbol bell is now hanging from the neck of the elephant \u2013 the UNP symbol.\u00a0 The JVP has now paved the way to make Ranil Wickremesinghe Prime Minister again in the coming election.\u00a0 It is similar to the way the JVP gave Ranasinghe Premadasa the opportunity to become President by killing hundreds of SLFP supporters and organizers in December 1988.<\/p>\n

Since the majority of JVP candidates are graduates, the JVP says there are no crooks among them. It may be true that there are no ethanol smugglers and others engaged in fraudulent activities in the party.\u00a0 But it is not without reason that people are accusing the JVP of chopping off limbs of persons before killing them, robbing gold from banks, throwing bombs and also causing some of their members to betray others to the security forces.<\/p>\n

JVP held ministerial positions in the Chandrika Kumaratunga Government for nearly two years. The Cabinet Ministers were Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Lal Kantha, Vijitha Herath and Chandrasena.\u00a0 The Deputy Ministers were Sunil Handunnetti, Vidyaratna, Nihal Galappaththi and Bimal Ratnayake.\u00a0 There were a total of 39 JVP members in Parliament. Although the JVP held ministerial positions on such important areas as agriculture, cultural affairs, small industries and fisheries they did not have the technical knowledge, the ability and skills to launch practical programmes. Although Anura Kumara Dissanayake claimed he was going to repair and restore 10,000 tanks (reservoirs) in the end there was not a single tank which was restored. Lal Kantha\u2019s self-employment promotional programmes never saw the light of day. Sunil Handunnetti succeeded in getting media publicity by having meals at his ministry\u2019s common dining hall together with the ordinary employees after buying a packet of rice and curry from the canteen.<\/p>\n

After accepting four cabinet ministerial positions and four deputy ministerial positions the JVP announced that the capitalist system has no solutions to the country\u2019s economic crisis. Although they accepted ministerial positions their performance did not reflect any ability in meeting responsibilities towards the people. However for their luck the controversial Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure (PTOMS) was introduced in Parliament in July 2005.\u00a0 This gave the JVP members the opportunity to resign from the ministerial and deputy ministerial positions on the pretext of protesting against PTOMS.<\/p>\n

In the year 2000 JVP put forward a five-year plan. In 2013 they issued a manifesto on solving the national question. During the last Provincial Council Election they issued a policy statement titled, \u2018Our Vision.\u2019 \u00a0\u00a0The \u2018Voice of Conscience\u2019 they have put forward today in connection with the coming General Election is old wine in new bottles. They play a different tune at different times.\u00a0 JVP election manifestos are like lumps of clay which can be shaped to fit into anything<\/p>\n

What the JVP did during the Presidential Election of December 1988 and the General Election of February 1989 was to pave the way for the UNP to come to come to power by attacking the SLFP.\u00a0 It is an extension of this same policy the country saw on January 8. 2015 and will be seeing again on August 17.\u00a0\u00a0 This time the JVP is trying to march towards Socialism via the \u2018National Liberation Struggle\u2019 by appointing Ranil Wickremesinghe Prime Minister.\u00a0 But the JVP\u2019s so-called Voice of Conscience will be drowned by the roars of the Mahinda Movement.(The writer is a senior journalist who could be reached at ejournalists@gmail.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dharman Wickremaratne The UNP\u2019s manifesto promises to build a new country in 60 days while the UPFA manifesto guarantees a better future and a new life for the country. Since the Democratic Party Leader Sarath Fonseka is suffering from a throat problem a recording is being played at his party meetings.\u00a0 The DP has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-95"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}