The crisis of the Bell

Why the latest crisis within the JVP has defied all rhetoric to confirm the fact that the once Marxist party is just like the mainstream political parties they love to hate…

By Dharisha Bastians
Wimal Weerawansa is the quintessential tragic hero, his tragic flaw, of course, being arrogance. There was a time not too long ago when Weerawansa alias Wimalasiri Gamlath alias Vibhuthi was the JVP – the party’s mouthpiece, its dictator of policy and direction. How Weerawansa went, so went the JVP.

Victims of the politician’s vitriolic tongue lashings will no doubt look on smugly at this latest turn of events with great smugness. Someone with such a bloated sense of self-importance had to fall flat on his face at some point and the latest turn of events with the JVP leadership and the party strongmen would certainly seem like just desserts for Weerawansa.

Why his alleged ouster has made such waves in the political scene needs to be first understood.

Picking up the pieces
During the 88-89 JVP insurrection, Weerawansa was nothing more than a poster boy, a semi-urban youth with a passion for revolutionary politics. Once the JVP top tiers had been systematically annihilated and the leaders who had escaped death managed to flee to exile abroad, it was a party that was seriously depleted of its resources and cadre that was left behind to pick up the pieces.

It was in this political vacuum that Weerawansa and many other contemporary JVP bigwigs, including Tilvin Silva and Nandana Gunethilake, thrived. Picking up the pieces during a period when it was dangerous to be associated with even what was left of the JVP, it was this trio that worked to infuse new blood into the JVP and ensured that the party shed its bloody garb and entered the democratic mainstream to become what it is today – the third largest political party in Sri Lanka.

So Weerawansa, while he was no revolutionary, certainly earned his placed as a contemporary hero in the JVP setup. This is probably the reason why the former JVP strongman was able to command the support of nearly one-third of his party’s Parliamentary group when he bid adieu to the party last Tuesday.

For all the big talk that preceded their walkout, even the Mangala Samaraweera-Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi combine could not muster any more members from their parties over to the opposition. For that, Weerawansa must be given due credit. Of course, how long the rebels will remain rebels, knowing full well that their political futures hang eerily in the balance once they sever ties with the Mother Ship, is anyone’s guess.

Adding to this concern is the fact that the nine rebels who remain with Weerawansa are virtual non-entities, JVP personalities to whom the public can barely put a face. On the other hand, the party’s strongmen, K.D. Lalkantha, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Bimal Rathnayake and Sunil Handunnetti, have stood resolutely with the party leadership during the crisis.

Some might argue, however, that Weerawansa’s presence alone on the other side, fairly tips the scale in their favour, given the firebrand politician’s sharp tongue and capability to bulldoze any opposing position or argument.

But this waiting on the principle of hubris and nemesis to unfold in Weerawansa’s political life is not the crux of the crisis that plagues the JVP. Since the split, the only thing that has been abundantly clear is that the JVP, for all its holier-than-thou attitudes and its lofty rhetoric about ‘unuth ekai’ and ‘munuth ekai’ has been reduced to a state of degeneration hitherto resonant only with the SLFP and the UNP.

As we listen to JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe air the party’s dirty linen in public and hear Weerawansa dish out more of the same, we are reminded of how Ranasinghe Premadasa began his unending allegations against Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake only after the duo quit the government in protest of the President’s policies.

For a more recent example of such about-turns, Mahinda Rajapaksa waxed eloquent about the misdeeds of Mangala, Sripathi and Tiran – his former pets – once he realised that they were not entirely on his side. The JVP in crisis today – well it’s just more of the same.

Weerawansa was the JVP’s blue-eyed-boy as long as he toed their line, as long as he did not disturb the agendas of the powers that be. To Weerawansa, there was no world beyond the JVP and in his enthusiasm quietly directed the party away from its Marxist ideals, transforming its politics to something far more right wing than its founders could have ever imagined.

Introspection
Today, the JVP appears to have taken a step back and surveyed some of the damage. Having eagerly embraced the rabidly nationalist Patriotic National Movement and Manel Mal Movement once upon a time, Somawansa and Co. appear to have rethought the move after Weerawansa turned on them. Who knows what they might say without party sanction? Who knows what Weerawansa might put them up to? What if they incite communal feeling? Suddenly, the JVP is against all that.

Someday down the line, we might look back on the tumultuous events of this week and remember it as the one where the JVP decided it was time for some introspection; a time when the JVP moved away from Weerawansa politics and moved back towards its Marxist ideals where nationalism has no place. It will be interesting, certainly to watch how the party changes its positions in the future, on the ethnic conflict and human rights.

In an interview last week, Amarasinghe vowed that the JVP was not a communal party and accused Weerawansa of insisting that the party shapes itself along communal lines. Now that Weerawansa appears to have made the grand exit, will Amarasinghe steer the ship differently, is the million dollar question.

The fact of the matter is that not very long ago, both Weerawansa and Amarasinghe were very much on the same page in terms of political policy, by the JVP Leader’s own admission. Weerawansa, Amarasinghe and Gunethilake were firmly of the view that the JVP should stick close to the government until 2010, when the mandate of the UPFA expires. The thinking was that the party could then utilise the state machinery to strengthen its party infrastructure by acquiring a TV station and other resources, after which they could break with the administration in 2010 and face an election on its own.

Needless to say, the trio faced massive opposition from the party rank and file, which realised full well that the Rajapaksa administration was becoming unpopular on a daily basis, given the rising living costs and blatant corruption within government ranks. Now, both Amarasinghe and Weerawansa are adamant to steer clear of the government permanently. It remains to be seen of course, whether somewhere down the line, the rebels will be tempted by the perks of office.

As if all this was not enough, another dimension in the JVP drama is unfolding. A former JVP strongman, Kumara Guneratne, has just returned to Sri Lanka. Guneratne, alias Kumara Mahattaya, is the brother of one Ranjitham Guneratne, a JVP member from Kegalle who died in the insurrection.

Kumara Mahattaya was a JVP Central Committee member and the Convenor of the Inter University Student Union back in the 80s. The son of a Tamil mother and Sinhalese father, Guneratne was part of a JVP unit that attacked an Army camp during the insurrection and, having been in hiding, managed to escape.

Not just a coincidence?
The interesting thing about Guneratne is that he is believed to be the leader of the JVP’s secret politburo, made up of ex-revolutionaries. Guneratne is one of the few remaining JVP members who believe that the party should not shed its militant avatar and insists on bringing about change through violent means.

Since the departure of Nandana Gunethilake from the JVP, information regarding Guneratne has been reaching the higher echelons of power. To escape this scrutiny, Guneratne fled to Australia. This is why he is often referred to as Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s ‘videshagatha nayakaya’ or ‘leader who is overseas.’ Guneratne’s return in the face of Weerawansa’s departure might be more than just a coincidence, insiders claim.

One way or the other, the JVP had better gear up for a lot more dirty games and mudslinging that would put the two main parties to shame in the days to come.