{"id":61140,"date":"2018-10-20T01:11:26","date_gmt":"2018-10-20T05:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=61140"},"modified":"2018-10-20T06:07:58","modified_gmt":"2018-10-20T10:07:58","slug":"media-reports-about-president-sirisena-telling-cabinet-of-a-plot-by-indian-intelligence-to-assassinate-him-reveals-deepening-conflict-between-coalition-govt-partners-unp-and-slfp-faction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=61140","title":{"rendered":"Media Reports About President Sirisena Telling Cabinet of a Plot by Indian Intelligence to Assassinate him Reveals Deepening Conflict Between Coalition Govt Partners UNP and SLFP Faction."},"content":{"rendered":"

By K. Ratnayake <\/strong><\/p>\n

Media reports that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena told his cabinet on Tuesday that \u201cIndian intelligence\u201d was plotting to assassinate him have created a political furore in Colombo and New Delhi.<\/p>\n

Sirisena has denied making the remarks. The response to the alleged comments, however, has revealed deepening conflicts between the coalition government\u2019s ruling partners\u2014Sirisena\u2019s faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s United National Party (UNP).<\/p>\n

The controversy over Sirisena\u2019s alleged remarks comes as the government is increasingly wracked by mounting economic problems and social opposition to its widely unpopular austerity measures. Above all, the government\u2019s deepening crisis is bound up with the geopolitical rivalry between India and the US on the one hand and China on the other.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wickremesinghe\u2019s UNP holds the majority of MPs in the ruling coalition. Sirisena has the allegiance of only two dozen SLFP MPs. The majority of the SLFP\u2019s parliamentary representatives have lined up with Sirisena\u2019s arch rival, former president Mahinda Rajapakse. Two dozen SLFP MPs quit the government last month, expressing support for Rajapakse.<\/p>\n

The Hindu, a prominent Indian newspaper, carried a report on Wednesday alleging that Sirisena told a cabinet meeting the previous day that \u201cIndian intelligence\u201d was \u201ctrying to kill him.\u201d He reportedly said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi \u201cmay not be aware of the plan.\u201d The Sri Lankan media covered the claims.<\/p>\n

Nervous that the reports would cause frictions with New Delhi, Sirisena telephoned Modi on Wednesday to deny that he had made the remarks. India, along with the US, is pushing for greater strategic ties with Sri Lanka, as part of a confrontation with China.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s ministry of external affairs issued a statement repeating that Sirisena \u201ccategorically rejected\u201d the media claims. According to the statement, Sirisena told Modi that the allegations were \u201cmischievous and malafide,\u201d \u201cintended to create misunderstanding\u201d between him and the Indian prime minister and to damage the \u201ccordial relations between the two friendly neighbours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The media outlets that reported the claims are sticking to their story. Many of Sri Lanka\u2019s largest news outlets are aligned with the competing political factions.<\/p>\n

Claims of a plot to assassinate Sirisena were first made by a police informant named Namal Kumara at a media conference last month. Kumara claims he has a voice recording of a conversation involving Nalaka de Silva, Sri Lanka\u2019s Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), discussing a plan to kill Sirisena.<\/p>\n

Kumara stated that an Indian citizen was also involved in the conspiracy. Police later arrested and detained M. Thomas, an Indian national. The Indian High Commission has described him as a \u201cmentally unbalanced\u201d person.<\/p>\n

Kumara is a dubious individual, who is posing as the leader of an anti-corruption movement.<\/p>\n

Silva was in charge of the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID). The government interdicted Silva on Wednesday. Both he and Kumara are being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Port and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, a Sirisena loyalist, accused ministers of giving false information to the Hindu to \u201cdamage\u201d relations between the president and Modi. Samarasinghe did not name the ministers but implied they were from the UNP.<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s media advisors told a separate press conference on Thursday that the government, by which they meant the UNP, is not interested in investigating the assassination plot. These remarks would not have been made without the president\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

Cabinet spokesman and health minister Rajitha Senaratne told a press conference the previous day that there was \u201cnot sufficient evidence\u201d yet to prove Kumara\u2019s claims of a conspiracy.<\/p>\n

The differences between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe have nothing to do with the democratic and social rights of working people. They are over how to best advance the interests of the corporate elite.<\/p>\n

Sirisena came to power in the January 2015 elections, ousting former President Mahinda Rajapakse. He exploited widespread opposition among workers and the poor to the previous government\u2019s attacks on democratic rights, austerity measures and atrocities carried out in the war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.<\/p>\n

The US and India backed the regime-change in Colombo. Both were hostile to the Rajapakse government\u2019s ties to Beijing. Sirisena immediately signalled that his government would deepen Sri Lanka\u2019s alignment with Washington.<\/p>\n

However, amid a deepening economic crisis, including mounting debt problems, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government has been forced to turn to China for financial aid.<\/p>\n

In a bellicose speech last month, marking an escalation of US plans for war with China, Vice President Mike Pence cited the Sri Lankan government\u2019s Hambantota port deal with China Merchants Port Holdings as an example of \u201cChinese debt trap diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pence declared that Sri Lanka took on massive debt to let Chinese state companies build a port. \u201cTwo years ago, that country could no longer afford its payments, delivering the new port directly into Chinese hands,\u201d he stated. Pence\u2019s comments underscored intense US hostility to China\u2019s influence on the island.<\/p>\n

The government has also been compelled to obtain an International Monetary Fund bailout loan tied to a drastic austerity program aimed at slashing the fiscal deficit by increasing the price of essentials and gutting social spending on subsidies, health and education.<\/p>\n

These attacks have provoked a spate of social struggles involving railway, postal and ports workersm along with teachers and other sections of the working class. Students have carried out continuous protests against the privatisation of education. Farmers and fishermen have taken action against cuts to subsidies. And some 200,000 plantation workers are protesting to demand a 100 percent wage increase.<\/p>\n

The trade unions, backed by the pseudo-left groups, have played the key role in preventing these struggles from developing into a political confrontation with the government.<\/p>\n

Last February\u2019s local elections underscored the deepening unpopularity of the government. Sirisena\u2019s SLFP came third and the UNP second, while the majority of seats were won by Rajapakse\u2019s faction.<\/p>\n

The government is also being squeezed by a currency crisis, with the Sri Lankan rupee depreciating by 11 percent this year. This is part of a trend throughout the region wracking India, Pakistan and other so-called emerging markets.<\/p>\n

Admitting that the economic crisis is \u201cturning to the worse,\u201d Wickremesinghe last week stated that he hoped \u201call parties will shed their political differences and support the government to overcome this crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sirisena has hypocritically sought to distance himself from his own government\u2019s austerity measures. He has claimed that corruption is the main cause of mounting economic problems and has publicly criticised ministers and state officials. This week, he demanded the resignation of the boards of the Bank of Ceylon and the People\u2019s Bank over alleged corruption. UNP ministers have expressed opposition to the move.<\/p>\n

Sirisena is also seeking to promote nationalism to divert mounting social anger in reactionary directions.<\/p>\n

Shipping Minister Samarasinghe presented a paper to this week\u2019s cabinet meeting calling for the development of Colombo Port\u2019s eastern terminal by the national ports authority. Wickremesinghe countered the proposal, saying the government had already agreed to develop the terminal with Indian investment. Sirisena declared this was inimical to the country\u2019s sovereignty.<\/p>\n

Stating that \u201che can\u2019t work with Wickremesinghe,\u201d Sirisena even tried to establish an agreement with Rajapakse on a proposal for a \u201ccaretaker government.\u201d The media reported that the two held a secret meeting last month. Neither Rajapakse nor Sirisena denied the claims. Rajapakse, however, appears to be aiming to exploit the government crisis to form an administration that he leads.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Hindu last month, Rajapakse said: \u201cA government must be strong and speak in one voice.\u201d He warned that investors were turning away as there was no \u201cstable government\u201d in Colombo. Rajapakse is rallying Sinhala chauvinist groups and appealing to the military, accusing the government of victimising \u201cwar heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The competing factions of the ruling elite have all signalled that they want to deepen Sri Lanka\u2019s ties to India and the US.<\/p>\n

Wickremesinghe flew to New Delhi on Thursday for discussions with Modi on Indian investments in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

In September, Rajapakse visited New Delhi to seek its blessing if he was to form a future government.<\/p>\n

The infighting within the Sri Lankan political establishment expresses a deepening crisis of capitalist rule. Each of the competing factions are calculating how best to advance the interests of the capitalist class, by lining up with the major powers and deepening the offensive against working people.<\/p>\n

These developments underscore that workers can only defend their rights by turning to an internationalist and socialist program aimed at establishing a workers\u2019 and peasants\u2019 government. The Socialist Equality Party alone advances this perspective.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:World Socialist Web Site<\/em><\/p>\n

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By K. Ratnayake Media reports that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena told his cabinet on Tuesday that \u201cIndian intelligence\u201d was plotting to assassinate him have created a political furore in Colombo and New Delhi. Sirisena has denied making the remarks. The response to the alleged comments, however, has revealed deepening conflicts between the coalition government\u2019s …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Media Reports About President Sirisena Telling Cabinet of a Plot by Indian Intelligence to Assassinate him Reveals Deepening Conflict Between Coalition Govt Partners UNP and SLFP Faction.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61141,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61140\/revisions\/61141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}