{"id":84516,"date":"2024-08-12T03:30:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T07:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=84516"},"modified":"2024-08-12T03:32:52","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T07:32:52","slug":"84516","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=84516","title":{"rendered":"The two Chief similarities between Sri Lanka\u2019s 2022 \u2018youth aragalaya\u2019 and Bangladesh\u2019s youth uprising in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy<\/p>\n

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those who unwisely murmur \u2018Bangladeshi people power a la Sri Lanka\u2019 in assessing the \u2018second liberation\u2019 of Bangladesh following the jubilant toppling of fifteen year one-party rule by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by thousands of youth earlier this month, must restrain their enthusiasm in no small part.
\nA lesson to all despots<\/p>\n

The 2022 youth protests in Sri Lanka precipitating the flight of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the collapse of his Government has led to significantly different outcomes in this country as compared to evolving \u2013 and still volatile \u2013 developments in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

In essence, there are only two similarities. First, both Hasina and Rajapaksa, consumed by their monstrous political egos, refused to believe that the \u2018hordes\u2019 were literally at the door of their respective \u2018palaces\u2019 until the eleventh hour.<\/p>\n

Thus do all despots believe would probably be the lesson that these inglorious spectacles teach us. Their enforced departures with scarcely the clothes on their backs when personal security could no longer be guaranteed against the (literal) battering on their gates by the frenzied populace were as ignominious as appeals to various countries to \u2018grant asylum.\u2019 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The former Bangladesh Prime Minister managed to get temporary safe haven in India given her affinity with the Modi Government.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s former President, on the other hand, traipsed like a gypsy from country to country to the eternal humiliation of his unfortunate people. Rajapaksa was later enabled by his chosen successor, President Ranil Wickremesinghe to return to Sri Lanka and benefit from all the perks and pension benefits of former Presidents. <\/p>\n

We now see the former President emerging out of the shadows and his nephew taking on the political mantle from his father Mahinda Rajapaksa to the hosannas of their (diminished but yet vociferous) party faithful.<\/p>\n


\nRevolutions are not pretty<\/strong><\/p>\n

But more on that point later. Second, the youth of each country played a central hand in overthrowing the hated regimes of these two political leaders. As Bangladesh\u2019s young delightedly caroused inside the \u2018presidential palace,\u2019 we were reminded of Sri Lanka\u2019s youth jumping inside the presidential pool. <\/p>\n

Even so, scenes of protestors carrying away tables, chairs, fans and even dustbins from the Bangladeshi Prime Minister\u2019s official residence were a trifle unnerving to say the least.<\/p>\n

Yet revolutions, like wars, are seldom pretty and rarely perfect. That said, the similarities between Sri Lanka\u2019s 2022 \u2018youth aragalaya\u2019 and Bangladesh\u2019s youth uprising in 2024 ends there.<\/p>\n

Bangladesh\u2019s turbulence has, up to now, taken some three hundred lives, counting deaths of protesting youth at the hands of the police as well as reprisal killings of Awami League loyalists. Anti-Hasina protestors have demanded the resignations of top public and judicial officers including the Governor of the Central Bank and the Chief Justice.<\/p>\n

While turbulence to such an unprecedented extent did not occur in 2022 here, government politicians who point to Bangladesh and proclaim that \u2018there but for Ranil Wickremesinghe would go Sri Lanka,\u2019 need to be roundly told off.<\/p>\n

If the \u2018aragalaya\u2019 demand for \u2018system change\u2019 had resulted in an interim Government headed by a Nobel Laureate who wears his badge of being the \u2018banker for the poor\u2019 with grace and humility, we may have prided ourselves on achieving something different.<\/p>\n

The \u2018corrupt and the ugly in the Government<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or if at least (since Sri Lanka does not have the distinction of a Laureate in its ranks), if an interim government after the 2022 uprising had youth leaders, well regarded academics and members of civil society who had grassroots legitimacy, there might have been occasion for joy. <\/p>\n

Bangladesh certainly has formidable problems in restoring law and order and returning to normalcy ahead of forthcoming general elections. But Sri Lanka post \u2018aragalaya\u2019 exemplified a completely different \u2013 and far from hopeful \u2013 reality.<\/p>\n

While President Wickremesinghe may well be credited with steering the nation though financially challenging times, there is little to hope from what he promises. It is overwhelmingly evident that \u2018the corrupt and the ugly\u2019 of the Rajapaksa regime cluster around him in numbers.<\/p>\n

He has argued that he has \u2018not interfered\u2019 with the courts in bringing the corrupt to justice in a meeting with the media recently. But what does the President mean by saying that he has \u2018not interfered\u2019 with the judiciary, I wonder?<\/p>\n

His frequent admonitions, hectoring and angry asides to the Court, certainly amounts to \u2018interfering\u2019 with the judicial process. That said, one must confess to a certain measure of relief given that expulsions of parliamentarians who unequivocally violate the discipline of their respective parties, are increasingly being upheld as valid by the Court.<\/p>\n

For decades, the public has detested the sight of politicians \u2018crossing over\u2019 with gay abandon from one side to the other for perks, privileges and political power.
\nTwo crossovers, too many?<\/p>\n

This has contributed to the degeneration of what is euphemistically referred to as the \u2018political culture,\u2019 though not even a shadow of that \u2018culture\u2019 has been preserved for most of our lifetimes. <\/p>\n

The most recent decisions are this week\u2019s upholding of the expulsions of two parliamentarians of the Opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB), who \u2018crossed over\u2019 to accept high profile Ministries in the Wickremesinghe Cabinet following the Gotabaya Rajapaksa exit in 2022.<\/p>\n

The Court found that natural justice safeguards had been properly followed in the expulsions and that there had been an unambiguous breach of party discipline. <\/p>\n

The same considerations in considering whether expulsions are valid under Article 99 (13) (a) would apply to members of the National List as well as elected Members of Parliament who cross the floor, it was ruled. <\/p>\n

Through these judgements, perhaps we will see a welcome retreat from the practice earlier where parliamentarians \u2018crossed the floor\u2019 of the House with gay abandon.<\/p>\n

A relatively innocuous proviso to Article 99(13) (a) provides that upon an expulsion, an MP can appeal to the Supreme Court within defined time limits. The Court must then determine whether such an expulsion is invalid and if found to be the case, then, by virtue of that constitutional provision, the seat does not become vacant.<\/p>\n

In the string of expulsions that dot our jurisprudence like pockmarks, it became a \u2018cursus curiae\u2019 that expulsions from a political party must be subject to the rules of natural justice, including the right to be heard.<\/p>\n

An Anti-Defection law
\nHowever there may be exceptional circumstances which justify the relaxation of this rule (Dissanayake v Kaleel, reported 1993). <\/p>\n

Both the majority and the minority opinions (Fernando, Kulatunga and Wadugodapitiya JJ) broadly agreed that the party constitution had primacy, the party \u2018is pre-eminent and carries the \u2018mandate of the electors.\u2019 <\/p>\n

That said, Justice Kulatunga\u2019s dictum was that an expulsion will be deemed valid only if there are \u2018overwhelming reasons\u2019 and \u2018only in the most exceptional circumstances permitted by law and in furtherance of the public good\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

This dictum was employed later by judges to routinely rule expulsions as invalid, allowing an MP to remain in Parliament even after leaving his or her party. This trend of judicial decision making seems to be changing. <\/p>\n

Last year, the Court upheld the expulsion of a dissident Sri Lankan Muslim Congress member of parliament for voting against the party whip in Parliament (Nazeer Ahamed v SLMC and Others, 06.10.2023).<\/p>\n

This was on the basis that the political party \u2018had tried its best to get an explanation\u2019 from the MP concerned but he had not \u2018cooperated.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Welcoming that decision, (\u2018Will the saloon door of political parties swing more cautiously now?\u2019 Focus on Rights, Sunday October 22, 2023), it was observed that the \u2018public good\u2019 is no longer a consideration for \u2018crossing over.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ahead of Sri Lanka\u2019s forthcoming Presidential Elections, we need to see a promise to enact an Anti-Defection law included in the manifestos of all political parties.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Sunday Times<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene Those who unwisely murmur \u2018Bangladeshi people power a la Sri Lanka\u2019 in assessing the \u2018second liberation\u2019 of Bangladesh following the jubilant toppling of fifteen year one-party rule by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by thousands of youth earlier this month, must restrain their enthusiasm in no small part. A lesson to all …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘The two Chief similarities between Sri Lanka\u2019s 2022 \u2018youth aragalaya\u2019 and Bangladesh\u2019s youth uprising in 2024’ »<\/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\/84516"}],"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=84516"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84519,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84516\/revisions\/84519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}