by

Vishnuguptha

“Sooner or later those who win are those who think they can.”
~Richard Bach

The emergence of a politician to the position of a ‘party leader’ is no mean event. As in almost all human enterprises, politics too is infested with jealousies, envy, cut-throatisms, fierce competition, intra-party rivalries, caste and class differences and so forth and they all have contributed to a plethora of news-worthy snippets, historical innuendos and fascinating biographies. Election of Anura Kumara Dissanayake to the leadership of the Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is one such event. Its historical significance would be written about much later and may be in about twenty or thirty years’ time. But its contemporaneous consequences cannot be understated by any means.

As a revolutionary political party, the JVP has had a very turbulent time. Its two uprisings, one in 1971 and the other in 1987 to1989 period, claimed many lives, not so many of the ones the JVP was fighting against but of its own cadres. Born as an expression of the frustrations and humiliations silently endured by a particular segment of Sri Lankan society, the youth who were attracted to the JVP ideology did have some legitimate grievances. Being cornered in a society that was inherently caste and class-conscious and deprived of equal opportunities compared with those who were educated in English, these youths found a new fountain of thought in the vociferous presentations made by their founder-leader Rohana Wijeweera and others.

Many books, articles and biographies have been written on the lives and times of the leading activists of the movement and it is not my intention to add to that endless list of writings. Yet the emergence of a non-’71 activist as its leader lends a lot of encouragement to a writer to pen some relevant thoughts, theories and riders regarding the movement’s projected journey, the socio-economic circumstances under which the new changes are taking place and what the impact, if any, these changes would bear on these socio-economic fabric of the country. They are indeed some worthy subjects any writer would like to write about and comment.

One of the original flaws that the JVP had in its armory of strategies and tactics was its indulgence in exhibitionistic politics. Lionel Bopage, one of the key leaders of the ’71-JVP, in his famous “Resignation Letter to the Central Committee of the JVP”, spent a lot of ink on this particular aspect of the then JVP. Being essentially a ‘cellish’ party, the JVP had almost total control over its membership and sympathizers. This control enabled its Politburo and the Central Committee to galvanize their members, even at grassroots levels, towards their well-organized public events such as mass rallies and seminars. What they used to organize as May Day rallies were thoroughly successful ones and the numbers that participated and the extremely disciplined manner in which they conducted themselves during the celebrations impressed many an independent observer.

However, this exhibitionistic posture adopted at almost all their public functions, while helping to swell the egos of the leaders among others, also took them on a journey of delusion. Therein lay one of their many fatal flaws. The basic folly was committed by engaging in exaggerated public events; instead of calculating their real strength by way of a more sober and realistic means such as the establishment of branches or ‘cells’ and recruitment of members at regional levels etc., the methods that they repeatedly implemented paved the way for assuming a strength that they really did not have. The angry and irksome reaction to the clobbering that the JVP leader received in the 1983 Presidential Elections was a manifestation of that flawed strategy.

Even during the ’87 – ’89 insurrection, the JVP continued to rely so much on these exhibitions of party strength that they really did not have. Nevertheless, the picture changed since their entry into mainstream politics in the late nineties. After the total decimation of the fighting units and its grassroots, the JVP managed to enter Parliament through democratic means. By this time the United National Party had lost all its star power. Successive assassinations of R Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake had reduced the Grand Old Party to utter mediocrity, not only in public appeal and speech-making, but more so at the thinking and political strategizing levels. Into this vacuum entered three budding stars: Vijitha Herath, Sunil Handunhetti and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, all representing the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.

Unlike the other Opposition Parliamentarians, these three did not squander the opportunity to make an impression of invaluable dimensions. They not only added much needed firepower inside the walls of the Chamber, their argumentative skills reminded one of the great left-wing debaters of yesteryear such as N M, Colvin and Bernard. What gave validity and credibility to the present-day JVP is that debating prowess of this trio and the evident sincerity in which they argued their cases in Parliament. Instead of getting buried in parochial issues, they debated about matters that really mattered to the mass of the voters; they addressed each and every issue that they thought would have a long shelf life. While never attacking or insulting the soldiers on the battlefield, they fearlessly criticized the Government and its mishandling of the human rights issues.

Yet their performance at the elections was dismal, to say the least. A progressively diminishing voter-base reflected a staying away from the JVP on the part of the masses. A part of this may have been attributable to the lackluster leadership provided by a man of yesteryear- Somawansa Amarasinghe- who did not enjoy any kind of acceptance from the thinking public.

By catapulting Anura Kumara Dissanayake to be their third leader, the JVP may have stemmed the seemingly inevitable erosion of their voter-base. However, some part of that strategy or lack of it may become evident in the forthcoming elections in the Western and Southern Provinces. While the leading Opposition party, the UNP is embroiled in a leadership mess, the peaceful and civil manner in which the JVP leadership was changed must have stood as a shining example of ‘decent and serious’ politics in this country. The youthful leadership would undoubtedly matter, especially among the young voters and if an effective and crafty campaign is executed by the JVP, without referring to the failed policies of socialism and communism, then they might stand to make some gains.

However, even if some gains are possible, given the limited time to show any tangible results, such gains by the JVP would be marginal in the forthcoming elections. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, being a young man, has a lot of time on his hand to build a fairly reasonable image around himself and his Party. Provided he keeps himself within the constraints of civility and decent politicking while being his usual self as a Parliamentary firebrand, Dissanayake’s main challenge would be manifold.

He would need to project a totally fresh image, vision and philosophy for the JVP. He should not waste the socio-political capital that he has been accumulating over the last few years. In a discerning man’s mind, Anura Kumara Dissanayake still occupies the space that is usually reserved for the fringes. How can he dispel the gory history of the JVP violence? How can he dispel the archaic Marxian economic policies and principles normally attributed to the JVP? In other words, if the JVP is going to make any meaningful headway, it has to ‘undo’ a lot more than ‘do’. It is a challenging task in these challenging times.