"Bell,Swan and Trophy": The JVP march of Folly
By Chakravarthy
“We have not formed any alliance with the UNP; we supported the General, the UNP supported the General and the other parties supported the General separately. The only agreement was that we will work in unity to make the General, President of this country; to hold a free and fair General election to bring back good governance, to bring back good governance and to make this society a dignified society.”
JVP’s senior leader’s tottering English alone showed how the qualities of the Marxists in this country has come down. In the yester year of Ceylon, it was the leftists who had the ability to mesmerize the local and international audience with their eloquent English oration. Probably this leader may be the last to speak the Queen’s language in his party - at least to this extent.
If, staying together, speaking together and sleeping together is not an alliance, then what it is? No doubt the JVP feels let down by the UNP for it adamantly opted to ride on the elephant thus making the bell soundless. As a result now the JVP has finally declared that it has severed connection with the UNP and chose to contest the election with ‘Trophy’ symbol under the command of the ex General.
Interestingly, a reader pointed out to the media the cup is the upside version of the bell. Let us wait and see whether the JVP can bell the elephant or their effort will go upside down.
Well, in the Ceylon history before the birth of Centre left SLFP, it was the rightists and the leftists who fought for the political glory. Once the SLFP was found to be gaining ground with her racial attitude, leftists who were interested in power slowly shifted camp, and eventually the known leftists parties too joined hands realizing that they could never come to power on their own with their policy of “religion is opium” in the country that is highly pious.
The remarkable victory was in 1970 election and the notable fall out was in 1975 when the LSSP was sacked by Mrs. Srimao Bandaraike on friction. The JVP that was known at that time as “Che Guevarists” - named after the Argentine Marxist revolutionary who was a major figure in Cuban Revolution, left Carl Marx, Lenin and Trotsky to the established left parties and followed Che in appearance and style.
Though they were accused of being the main culprit of the 1983 anti Tamil riots and got proscribed by the government, after some time the ban was lifted by the same regime, an act said to weaken the traditional leftists.
Once again the JVP took the country under the spell of terror in 1987-89 where a chit by a young boy to a shop, would make the whole country to put the shutters down. The suffering of the people were immense with many vital services like transport went on long strike.
The rebels proved their mark when 1989 UNP presidential candidate’s meeting in Matara was attended by none though the “never say no” politician spoke to the invisible audience for nearly an hour.
“Man of the people” president’s carrots were rejected by the rebels, so he had to go all out to annihilate the JVP carders ruthlessly as the tortured masses also approved it silently. In a way, democracy in this country would have become a thing of the past if the “ southern boys” were left to have their own way.
Those went underground, being unable to bear the heat exercised by President Premadasa, came out of the dark rooms after his death. They strained every nerve to make Chandrika Bandaranike’s bid for the presidency successful as their future also depended on her results like, life or death.
The ovation in her last meeting at the Campbell Park “Chandrika- Chandrika” for five minutes was really a stage managed drama. She also, strangely declared that it was not the JVP but the UNP that killed her husband. Politicians who speak or act against their conscience for petty gains, one day will repent as situation changes.
Though the JVP contested the 2004 election in alliance with the UPFA, the group could defeat the UNP but failed to muster majority in the parliament. At a point the JVP itself confronted the present king that prompted him to abduct or induct other men’s wives to his ‘harem‘. The result of this deed will be known on the 8th of March whether it was a marriage of convenience or mere infatuation.
The ex General’s quarrel with his former masters was a god sent gift to the shrinking JVP influence. No doubt it was they who encouraged him to jump into the pool as a swan. But could their effort alone have given him the cup? No not at all. He could have got smaller than a tea cup.
This is where the JVP faulted and fell short of wisdom to understand the ground reality. If not the UNP’s helping hand, the swan would have gone featherless. Out of the 4 million votes, leaving alone the election dispute, how much the JVP vote bank would have contributed apart from the Tamil and Muslim support?
It is chiefly the UNP votes that armed the ex General to fight otherwise his T56 rifle would have been sans bullets. Under this circumstance how could have the JVP treated the UNP and his leader? It was shabby. But without any icon of doubt, in case the ex General had won the cup, the UNP’s leader deserved to be the Prime Minister of a care taker government.
JVP’s scoffing at him was the greatest folly they made and it was an ungrateful act, where the passenger saying no changes and pay nothing to the porter who handled his baggage to the check in counter. Mind you some porters accept any currency.
And the political novice ex General also slanted too much on the immature JVP politicians. It was tragic he was learning the alphabet of politics from a tutor who could neither read nor write.
JVPers are good at election concerned activities. What is the vision of these non English speaking former rebels who are still suspected to be ‘once a thief always a thief’. Have they totally come out of the rebel mind set?
The very armed forces they despised and killed in 1987/89, were courted by them from 1994 pretending to be the greatest patriots. What was the cause for the DIG Udugampola who was notorious for his illegal arrest, illegal detention and the illegal removal of JVP cadres, to say “….It is a fact that I hit the JVP hard and crippled them”?
UNP is a rightist party based on capitalist theory which in a way saved this country from the rampant shortage and poverty under Mrs. B’s auspicious rule. As an opposition party the SLFP opposed every new thing the UNP introduced like the Rupavahini television and the construction of the new parliament building at Sri Jayawardenapura. Today it is the UPFA that enjoys the best of it. Just imagine how the government’s presidential candidate would have fared in the absence of the Rupavahini and the ITN?
As the JVP leader said early they can not form any alliance with the UNP where the policies of the two parties are at vertical like the South Pole and the North Pole. But one should be grateful to the other for the help rendered. JVP showed no gratitude.
It is understandable that the JVP would feel uncomfortable to ride on the elephant who is a sworn enemy by policy. But today’s politics is to court the enemy, some times in secret. An enemy’s friendship is as tastier as stolen mangoes.
The UNP candidate, without any doubt, could have lost with this kind of barrage of all sorts. Yet see how good they were in accommodating the ex General and the antics of the JVP during the election.
What is the guarantee that the JVP would not now do what they did to Chandrika under a common symbol in 2004? Though the JVP paints a picture with a nationalist brush, in reality many of their actions are - were deemed as backward and hindrance to the growth - development of the country.
Now it has come to the feet of the ex General with whom a section of the people sympathize for his present fate. But does the ex General has a chance to become the Prime Minister with the cup? Never. Therefore how do we expect the masses to waste their vote going for the General who may be a mere MP - some times?
Besides, why did the JVP, in support of the ex General,fail to cripple the administration with their trade Union power to press for a recount or arrange street protests like in Pakistan “Go Musharaff Go” and later “Go Zardari Go”, while the “Captain for life” was all out to avoid a repeat of how Nawaz Sheriff was ousted. Is the JVP a spent force, lacks political wisdom or an advice from Beijing to go slow?
Finally, the JVP is not Usain Bolt. This is a match fixing game where the name of the winner is already engraved on the cup. Let us wait and see how the wind blows.
9 Comments
rubbish,totaly rubbish
“JVP’s senior leader’s tottering English alone showed how the qualities of the Marxists in this country has come down. In the yester year of Ceylon, it was the leftists who had the ability to mesmerize the local and international audience with their eloquent English oration. Probably this leader may be the last to speak the Queen’s language in his party - at least to this extent.”
Sir, Your English is excellent but your thoughts in English language are in very inferior quality and you may be insulting to your own intelligent. You may think that Sri Lankan politicians (new left parties) should follow English ability of old left parties which were discarded long time ago by the Sri Lankan people. I am a no fan of JVP though I believe that they are the only party in the country who are not corrupted and cannot be bought. I admire JVP for that regardless of their so called utopian romanticism.
That is only my opinion. I am not writing here about your analysis about JVP rather I was crestfallen by your ‘critical thinking’ about ‘critical thinking in English language’. You may be in the impression of that your English is superior to others but sir, here is a quote from Walt Whitman, “Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all.” Please don’t insult to anyone on their knowledge of any thing because as humans, we know nothing or know very little either about any particular language or any subject in this universe.
If you try to do so, you are insulting to yourself and it is certainly not appropriate for a person like your caliber. On the other hand, Marx himself is no Englishman and he wrote his books in German language. Castro does not speak in English as eloquently as he speaks in Spanish. It is sad that in Sri Lanka, so-called ‘intellectuals’ think that they are ‘intellectuals’ because they speak, write and eat English. I do not label you as anyone because if I do so, I insult to my ability of ‘critical ‘thinking’. In Democracy, any party and any individual could get together (not necessary an alliance) to achieve common goals but same time they can have different opinions in different things because reasonable minds differ.
As you are entitled to write anything, political parties also choose their own strategies. And also, it is a normal strategy of stratagems in politics. History will tell us whose strategy is better for the country. For your knowledge, here is some quote of English Language. Notably, all these people are native English speakers.
“FEAR is an acronym in the English language for "False Evidence Appearing Real"”
Donald Walsch
“Not only does the English Language borrow words from other languages, it sometimes chases them down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and goes through their pockets”
Eddy Peters
“The English language is nobody's special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.”
Derek Walcott
“"Give us this day our daily bread" is probably the most perfectly constructed and useful sentence ever set down in the English language.”
P. J. Wingate
Please publish this and give a chance to free expression
How could JVPers speak in English once they donot know how to speak in good sinhala. We heard JVP leader Somavansa speaking in Mother Languaga of all the languages at Lipton roundabout recently.
The views of original writer is correct. JVP has no princilples. It is true that Srilankan elite thinks ability to speak English is the qualification to rule the country. But general public or poor villages have more political sense than all these so called Colombo English speaking elite. Good example is the MR's victory.
One reason the JVP was desimated twice over becase villages did not support them. In the case of LTTE it lasted long because it was supported by most of the Tamils. If you take the English out of the equation I support the writer. JVP is the biggest hypocrit ever. They have no right to contest elections who tried to gain the power twice by using the gun and intimidation. All these guys who had connections should be chareged for murder.
Must give JVP a chance.They are not corrupt.
Interesting point. Linguistic proficiency in any language is not an issue in the present day's politics.
Indeed those nostalgic days of Dr.Colvin, N.M. et.al have gone. Those were the days we never missed an issue of the Hanzard, not only to learn English, but also to learn multitude of subjects relevant to the day-to-day life argued in the Parliament by eminent persons competent in the respective fields. Today the Hanzard is not worth paper it is printed on. In fact, the language and the subjects discussed are nothing better than those of the criminal world, the parents should take care that these offensive documents do not fall into the hands of their children. Almost X rated.
On the other hand, it appears that any intellectual arguments or orations do not seem to permeate the skulls of the present day's society. Only phrases dangerously boardering on filth seem to attract them. Some speculate that this is the fall-out from the 1956 Sinhala only approach and ironically it has even corrupted the proper use of native languages as well.
The JVP and the UNP alliance looked like a silverline, in the context of forming a strong challenge for impunity, corruption, lawlessness etc, but unfortunately it is cracking up on proprietory reasons attached to the symbols. Both parties should realize they stand to lose out to the crafty enemy in the forthcoming elections.
Reference to Daya’s Comment:
I do not know that ‘Sinhala is the mother language of all the languages’. If you know that, you are the greatest ‘Genius’ of all the time. Congratulations!!! By the way, I believe that Sri Lanka in sorry state today (divided in every way) in certain ways, because most of the English speaking people (so –called English speaking Elite, that’s what they think about them) behave like they are the intellectuals in the country and Most of the Sinhala Speaking 'educators' think that they speak the greatest language in the earth. Both people who belong to these two categories do not help for peace, reconciliation and social harmony in the country. They are just proud of ‘emptiness’ of their imagination.
After this General election JVP's funeral take place and there is nomore a single MP in next Parliament.After next election they can ubderstand their vote base. JVP'ers are the number one conspirator today in SL. They are the main obstacle to develop this country.
I have a reason to believe that after this election they might turn again into violent path, using university students and some trade unions against government. And might take arms again as in 71 or 89 period.
A very well written article.The present day PRETENDERS,I wouldnt call them Marxists couldnt hold a candle to the likes of NM,Colvin.Leslie,Dr.Wicks,Bernard,Sarath M to name a few.They were respected even by the opposition and stuck to their principles.R.Premadasa considered NM his Boyhood hero,called Sarath M "the opposition" whether one agreed with their policies or not,they were men of calibre,a learning experience to listen to I once listened to a debate between NM and JRJ,it was a quality debate unlike the gutter Politics that takes place in the Parliament these days.Despite the landslide in 1977 most of them lost by narrow margins which shows the amount of personal votes they would have received.I would like to see how many present day leftists from the JVP will obtain a block of Personal votes in any constituency they choose to contest.Should they not enter a no contest pact they will lose even in their own backyards.
Colvin ran the State Plantations like a Model Corporation,he employed the top Planters irrespective of the party affiliations,which was unheard of in the 1970-77 period in SLFP run Ministries
where the MPs chit was the order of the day. Anil Moonesinghe ran the CTB in a very skilful manner for the first time Buses were clean,Drivers and Conductors took pride in maintaining them and ran close to time and the Chairman himself was often seen during Peak times at busy Depots-such was the commitment.
The JVP had a golden opportunity of being a strong third force in Sri Lankan Politics but they squandered it by being old fashioned Ultra Leftists not willing to tread the middle path and chose violent disruptive methods for their advancement which never happened instead has taken them backwards in their Political march.It was quite transparent that their battle was a battle between the Haves and Have nots.You cannot win a National Election with such bitter Policies.Today China and Russia are the USAs top trading Partners.Can the JVP enter into an educated debate over this ?but they will bluff their way through over such issues.
The LSSP and CP joined Mrs.B as they had similar policies.How can the JVP justify joining the UNP.Ranil W as well as the JVP were fighting for their political survival.Has anyone heard of a JVP Manifesto ,do they talk about foreign Policy or the Northern issue,the solutions to the latter has been contradicted by their own members at different periods during the last three years but lets not rule out a Political alliance with the Northern Parties post General Elections by the JVP that will be the last throw of the Dice for the JVP