Saturday, April 10, 2004
JVP: New star in the Lankan political horizon
PK.Balachanddran Colombo, April 7
The April 2 parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka will go down in history for two reasons: the entry of a party of Buddhist monks into parliament for one thing, and the astounding performance of the radical Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) for another.
For a first-ever attempt, the monks' party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) did very well capturing nine seats in a house of 225.The JVP contested 39 seats, as part of the United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA), and won 36, also a very commendable performance.
Further, in terms of preference votes in the electoral districts, the JVP's candidates stood first in nine of the 22 districts, namely, Anuradhapura,Kalutara, Kurunegala, Gampaha, Badulla, Kegalle, Kandy,Matale and Monaragala. The party's candidates were second in 11 districts, namely, Colombo, Anuradhapura, Kalutara, Kurunegala, Galle, Gampaha, Puttalam, Matara, Polonnaruwa, Kegalle, Hambatotta, and Ratnapura. The JVP candidates were in the third position in the four districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Digamadulla (Amparai), and Matara.
Fast growth the JVP has grown very fast indeed. In the 1994 parliamentary elections, which it contested as the Sri Lanka Progressive Front, it won only one seat.In the October 2000 elections, which it constested as JVP, the party won 16 seats.In the December 2001 elections, it increased its tally 16. Come April 2004, it upped its tally to 39 (including National List seats).
Interestingly, it was on April 5, 1971 that the JVP first made a bid to capture, and that was through a putsch. This failed miserably and the party was banned and crushed. But in the second half of the 1980s, it had come into own again, this time as a mass based organization whipping up class and nationalist sentiments and using unbridled violence.
The party was again put down with brute force and virtually the entire politiburo was eliminated by the state. Thereafter, the JVP underwent self criticism, gave up violence and entered the democratic mainstream. The 1994 parliamentary elections was used to stage a comeback in a different "avatar".And it is clear now that his change has yielded a rich dividend. It has taken the party thirty three ears to capture power if one takes the abortive putsch of 1971 as the first bid.
Having captured power, the JVP is even becoming magnanimous. When its alliance partner,the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, wanted a few more seats to satisfy its members, the JVP magnanimously surrendered two seats to which it was entitled under the National List.
The JVP's top-most leaders have decided not to accept cabinet ministerships. "The Island" daily reported on Wednesday that frontliners Wimal Weerawansa and Nandana Gunatillake, were not going to be in the cabinet.
Keen on fostering economic development at the grass roots level, the JVP has asked for and got grass roots development-oriented ministries like Agriculture, Lands and Irrigation, Rural Economy, and Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.In view of widespread fear among the masses (69per cent according to a survey) that Western economic and Christian missionary influences were threatening the traditional culture of Sri Lanka,the JVP has taken the Ministry of Culture also. JVP generates hope as well as fear From the voting percentages it is clear that the JVP is a favoured party among the Sinhala-Buddhist hoi polloi of Sri Lanka.But it is viewed with intense suspicion by the ruling class and the minorities.
To the ruling class ( irrespective of ethnicity), the JVP is dyed in the wool radical Marxist party capable of launching another armed struggle.The ruling elite is more scared of the JVP than the separatist LTTE because the JVP threatens its lifestyle and its economic and political power.
Despite assurances that it would not upset the basically capitalist economy of Sri Lanka, that it would not curb imports and foreign investment and that it would only make necessary corrections, the entrepreneurial class was gravely apprehensive. The Casandras of the cocktail circuit kept saying that the stock market would collapse and foreign investors and tourists would cease to come to a land ruled by a set of "blood thirsty Reds".
To the minorities, the JVP is a Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinist party which also believes in violence.Indeed, the JVP is against devolution of power to the provinces created on an ethnic basis, especially a Tamil province ruled by the separatist LTTE.
But the JVP has been pointing out that while other parties had taken to violence, it has not committed a single political murder since the last insurrection in the late 1980s.It is also not chauvinist in the way as it was in the 1970s and 1980s.It was the only party to put up a burqa-clad Muslim woman and make her win in the April 2 elections.For the post of Prime Minister it backed Lakshman Kadirgamar, a Tamil Christian, while the rest of UPFA pressed for a Sinhala-Buddhist!
In a country known for an elite which indulges in conspicuous consumption, the JVP has been fighting for austerity. It said that MPs should be given only Maruti-800s, the cheapest car in Sri Lanka.Its leaders travel about in rickety vans rather than posh Mitsubishi Pajeros and Toyotas.It has been campaigning for smaller cabinets and smaller ministerial overheads in a country notorious for its jumbo cabinets and scandalous ministerial perks.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2004.