‘Success of countrywide protest warning to govt. leaders’

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Veteran Communist Party politician DEW Gunasekera says the developing economic-political-social crisis cannot be resolved by exploiting the parliamentary system.

The former Minister warned the ruling SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) government of dire consequences unless it addressed the issues at hand immediately.

The one-time General Secretary of the CP said so referring to what he called a clandestine operation that thwarted a joint Opposition bid on Thursday (05) to elect Ranjith Siyambalapitiya as the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament.

Instead, SLPP Chairman and Foreign Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris declared the SLPP’s support, too, for Siyambalapitiya while the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) fielded Imthiaz Bakeer Markar as their candidate, ex-MP Gunasekera said.

Of course, SLFPer Ranjith Siyambalapitiya won the contest with a huge majority but at the expense of much needed unity among the Opposition, required to pressure both President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the incumbent Cabinet-of-Ministers, including Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gunasekera said.

Responding to another query, Gunasekera said that the SLPP appeared to have ignored severe warning issued by Justice and Finance Minister Ali Sabry, PC, on the previous day, over the status of the national economy. Had the SLPP at least realised the gravity of the situation, the outspoken ex-lawmaker said, the SLPP would not have gone ahead with high the profile operation to have Ranjith Siyambalapitiya re-elected.

Sabry did not mince his words when he declared that unless the country recognized the threat and responded accordingly, Sri Lanka could end up as Lebanon or Venezuela.

MP Siyambalapitiya could have simply withdrawn his letter of resignation handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa about a month ago, the CP veteran said, adding that the whole exercise was meant to compel the divided SLPP to vote for the Kegalle District MP, to counter growing challenge to Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa and thirdly prevent possible threat to the Leader of the Opposition as a result of the emergence of a larger parliamentary opposition.

SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara told a hastily arranged media conference on Thursday the SJB had no option but to field a candidate of its own in the wake of Prof. Peiris declaring the SLPP’s support for the Opposition candidate.

Strongly endorsing Minister Sabry’s reading of the current situation, ex-Minister Gunasekera said that despite the SLPP showing a near two-thirds majority in Parliament, both the government and the country remained vulnerable to a toxic combination of political crisis, economic fallout and rising public anger. Asked whether the rapidly growing public protest campaign could be suppressed by a police crackdown and a show of military force, the former MP said “absolutely not. I am sure, those at the helm of political authority quite clearly realized that the public are not in a mood to give up the high-profile protest campaign.

The CP man said that the ‘Go Gota Home’ campaign completed 28 days on Thursday whereas the ‘Go Mahinda Home’ campaign reached 10th day. Against the backdrop of police tear gas attacks on protesters, mostly members of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) on Thursday late evening, they have put up another protest site near Polduwa junction, Gunasekera said. They would continue to receive wide public support if the government failed to address the economic issue expeditiously, the ex-MP said, drawing the government attention to the growing public discontent.

Despite assurances given by the Presidential Media Division (PMD) early this week, the government could not prevent countrywide strike with all key public sector services joining the campaign. Unfortunately, the government was still struggling to settle issues within the SLPP and save Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa’s position at any cost much to the disappointment of the vast majority of those who voted for the SLPP at the 2019 presidential and 2020 parliamentary polls.

The outspoken CP veteran reiterated that the incumbent Cabinet including the Prime Minister should quit now to facilitate a consensus among all stakeholders. Noting even Dullas Alahapperuma, MP, quite politely asked for the entire Cabinet-of-Ministers to resign, ex-MP Gunasekera said unless political parties represented in Parliament restored much needed stability the country could not expect the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to proceed with negotiations.

Gunasekera said that long suppressed public anger exploded at President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private residence at the Pengiriwatte Road, Mirihana, on March 31. That was followed by the countrywide protest on April 03 and then they launched the ‘Go Gota Home’ protest on April 09, the former MP said.

It would be pertinent to ask whether the government had taken tangible measures to address the issues raised by the Opposition as well as the public against the backdrop of the worst ever economic crisis experienced by Sri Lanka, Gunasekera said.

Asked whether he had an opportunity to advise the SLPP seniors, Gunasekera said that they were in no mood to listen or to engage in a dialogue. Instead, they continued to pursue the same old strategies that might not be relevant in the current situation, the former Minister said.

Gunasekera said that it would be a mistake for the SLPP grandees to think the re-election of Ranjith Siyambalapitiya meant the rebel SLPP group had given up their struggle. That was not so, the former Minister said, urging the government to address the issues at hand or face the consequences.