JVP won’t comment on accusations

By Shamindra Ferdinando

General Secretary of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) aka Peratugaami Pakshaya Kumar Gunaratnam has questioned the failure on the part of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to counter the fierce Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) onslaught over the second abortive insurgency during the 1987-1989 period.

Addressing the media in Colombo, Gunaratnam alleged that the JVP had conveniently remained silent, regardless of continuing attacks by the SJB, the breakaway UNP faction, in the run-up to the presidential election scheduled for Sept. 21.

In addition to the main Opposition SJB, the independent presidential contestant Ranil Wickremesinghe and SLPP candidate Namal Rajapaksa’s campaigns, too, relentlessly attacked the JVP in that regard.

Declaring his direct involvement in the second insurgency that was brought to an end in late 1989, Gunaratnam said that the JVP had taken up arms against the dictatorial JRJ strategy.

Dissident members of the JVP launched FSP in April 2012 under Gunaratnam’s leadership.

One-time Australian citizen, Gunaratnam emphasised that the JVP’s intervention should be examined taking into consideration the commencement of war in the North, disruption of DDC (District Development Council) election, setting Jaffna library ablaze, suppression of the student movement and the rigged referendum conducted in late December 1982 to enable the JRJ to prolong the life of Parliament by six years. The life of the then Parliament was to expire in August 1983.

Acknowledging that there had been shortcomings on their part, Gunaratnam alleged that incumbent UNP leader and independent presidential candidate represented the JRJ administration hence he is also responsible for bloodshed.

Declaring that about 60,000 people perished during the 1987-1989 period, Gunaratnam accused the JVP of moving towards the formation of a coalition with what he called the capitalist class.

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake is contesting the Sept. 21 presidential election on the Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB) ticket. The JVP leads the JJB represented in the current parliament by three lawmakers. The FSP has fielded Attorney-at-Law Nuwan Bopage as the representative of the Jana Aragala Vyaparaya at the presidential election.

Gunaratnam also alleged that the JVP had been in touch with the person who allegedly executed their leader Rohana Wijeweera at the Borella cemetery in Nov. 1989. We refrained from naming the person concerned and the position he had held during the Yahapalana administration (2015-2019) though Gunaratnam identified the former Army officer.

Referring to the fraudulent Lanka Marine Service (LMS) deal that had been perpetrated by the UNP-led UNF government in the 2001-2003 period but reversed by the Supreme Court, Gunaratnam pointed out the JKH that was involved in the LMS transaction attended the JJB’s business confab recently. The former JVP militant wing member recalled how the DSI Chairman lambasted Marxism as a failed concept at the same conference. Gunaratnam declared that the JVP had conveniently betrayed its founding principles and policies to build new relationships.

Gunaratnam alleged that in a bid to reach consensus with various parties pursuing different agendas, the JVP leadership had abandoned its policies much to the disappointment of its members.

Comparing the JJB’s policies with that of Wickremesinghe, Sajith Premadasa and Namal Rajapaksa, Gunaratnam emphasized that his former comrades were going ahead with the IMF’s agenda, while also accepting Indian interventions. Gunaratnam said that there was absolutely no basis for SJB’s accusations that the JJB was charting a Marxist course as both the SJB and the JJB followed the same strategy as dictated by the IMF.

A top JVP spokesperson, however, said that the party wouldn’t waste its time commenting on such unsubstantiated allegations. The official emphasized that their campaign was on track and couldn’t be disrupted by FSP agenda. Regardless of the combined effort by our political opponents, the JJB remained confident of victory at the next week’s national election.