KAMALIKA PIERIS

JVP was given a new lease of life when the UNP came to power in 1977. Under the previous SLFP government JVPers were brought before the Criminal Justice Commission, (CJC) a special tribunal set up through a special Act of Parliament. JVPers were charged with waging war against the lawfully elected government, breaking the peace, loss of human life, possession of arms and explosives.

The CJC had been permitted to accept evidence that would otherwise have been inadmissible under the Evidence Ordinance. The UNP government of 1977 declared that this was a violation of justice. The UNP government repealed the Criminal Justice Commission Act and all the JVP convicts including Rohana Wijeweera, became free in 1978.

Once they were freed, JVP started its usual activities, such as meetings. The police challenged the JVP at every possible turn.  When the police intervened at the Tissamaharama JVP mass rally in 1978 JVP complained to JR and Premadasa.  

JVP was allowed to register as a political party in 1981. The first elections the JVP contested were DDC elections.  JVP contested four seats in the District Development Councils election in 1981, and won two.  The seats were Colombo, Gampaha, Galle. I was unable to find out what the fourth was  , probably Matara. JVP participated in the District Development Council (DDC) elections of 1982 too.

JVP then started to  regularly contest the two major national elections, General and Presidential. JVP made sure that it had a presence, however small, in each election. Rohana Wijeweera contested the Presidential Elections in 1982 and obtained 4.16% of the votes cast.   He received more votes than Colvin R. de Silva. 

The next significant election, for the JVP, was the General election of 2000. The General election of 2000 clearly showed how well the JVP had recovered, when it won 10 seats in the parliament, said Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri, as opposed to the one seat it secured at the 1994 election, and recorded 6 per cent out of the total valid votes,.

JVP further broadened its voter base at the following election in 2001, with 16 seats and 9.10 per cent of the vote. There was every sign at this juncture of JVP emerging as a serious threat to the existing hegemonic two-party system, especially with its growing ability to attract the support of the semi-urban middle classes, said Dewasiri.

But at the 2015 general election JVP only got 4.87 % and six seats.  One reason was the rush to Hansaya. The Joint Opposition openly stated that the JVP was there to support the Yahapalana government. The Joint Opposition called them ‘Rathu Ali’. Verité Research however had ranked four of the six JVP MPs among the top five MPs for their work ethic.

The General  elections of 2010 and 2015 showed a link between JVP and UNP. It would be pertinent to mention that the UNP-led coalition, that backed former Army Commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka and Maitripala Sirisena at 2010 and 2015 presidential elections, respectively, included the JVP, said  Old Soldier

JVP  cuddled up to the UNP. the UNP and JVP are now almost conjoined. JVP often provides the   crucial support to decide between victory and defeat and survival for the UNP government in parliament,   concluded  Old Soldier”.

At the Presidential election of 2019, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, head of JVP, only got 3.16% of the total votes. This is the lowest percentage JVP has got so far, commented analysts. He was supported by 29 organizations  including civil society organizations, at a media briefing.

JVP only obtained 3.84% of the total vote at the General election of 2020. This election showed that the JVP support base was shrinking said Island editorial.    Analysts observed that a sizeable segment of UNP votes had gone to the JVP, which means the true JVP vote is less than even 3.84%.

Of the six seats JVP had in the 2015 Parliament, JVP could retain only three of them in 2020.These were in Colombo and an ]adjoining urban centre’  at Gampaha. JVP lost badly in the areas that constituted the heartland of its militancy such as Matara, Galle, Hambantota and Moneragala. The present-day JVP leaders have lost their hold on the Wijeweera belt, which stretches along the southern littoral, said the Island editorial.

These election results  show that voters still haven’t forgiven the JVP for atrocities during the 1971 and 1987-89 insurrections, said critics. JVP   replied we are far ahead of the rest. We fielded the best qualified candidates with unblemished records”. Our movement is honest, free of corruption and committed to working for the betterment of the country. The people know that, but that is still not enough for them to vote for us. .

The JVP has managed to survive as a political party with parliamentary representation only because of the proportional representation system. JVP  would not have had a snowflake’s chance in hell of making it to Parliament under a first past the post system, said Chandraprema, bluntly.

For the 2020 general election, the JVP formed a new party, the Jatika Jana Balavegaya. This is  nothing more than an ‘alias’ for the JVP . The three seats won by this JJB were taken by Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Head of the JVP , followed by  Vijitha Herath.

Another new thing in the 2020 election was that a set of University  academics got together and  urged the public to vote for   the JVP  Balavegaya. Several of them came from leftist parties and were open supporters of Separatism.

These academics made a strong appeal for the  JJB which they called NPP. Only the NPP has a sound plan to save this country, they said.” The NPP was formed with the hope of saving the country from its present predicament and people should extend their support by voting for it..”

The academics stressed the need for electing honest, capable candidates as MPs to solve the problems and threats the people were faced with. .” The NPP has experts and academics who have drafted a credible programme for Lanka’s economic future.  NPP has the only Parliamentarians with an unblemished record of financial integrity, incorruptibility and devotion to their tasks in the last three decades have been MPs elected from the JVP,  they chorused.  The academics said that The NPP will be a strong voice and the only real force standing both inside and outside parliament for a democratic polity and against dictatorship.

JVP is not a popular party.  The JVP have huge floats  of  Karl Marx and Lenin  in their May Day processions to hide the fact that  they have very few supporters marching with them. Bu it is determined to keep going.

JVP has its  memorials. This is not well known.60 students at  Sri Jayewardenepura University were killed,  including two female students in the  1987-89 insurgency. An exhibition and a musical program were held to commemorate them in 1992 and in 2008. A memorial too was erected. The chief guest at the event was the mother of one of the victims, medical student Wenura Edirisinghe. 

JVP has absolutely no economic  or development plan for the country. They never had. This is seen over and over again in their numerous, verbose, utterly  empty utterances. Sometimes it is nonsense. Here is an example. When JVP  was asked what its development plan was, JVP replied,  ‘We need to give priority for education and create a new structure with education. That is the way out of all miseries. Education is the base for that.’ 

JVP gets much attention in Parliament and on television today, because Its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake keeps speaking and speaking  , holding audience attention,  using  long sentences,  in  slow measured tones. His statements are without exception  completely empty . I once listened to him give a speech at a function. He spoke for  some time and avoided saying anything of substance.

There are indications that JVP have not abandoned their  terrorist tactics. Gamini Samaranayake  drew attention to the JVP controlled Inter-University Student Federation, IUSF. This name is only a cover, he said. The IUSF is a ‘terrorist movement’. The IUSF was very active during the Yahapalana period.

JVP supports separatism. JVP said  in 2015 that seats in the new parliament must accommodate fair representation for the ethnic and religious minorities. DJV had links with the international community which supported devolution , said Sampanthan. 

Analysts  have shown connections between JVP and LTTE . JVP was the Sinhala twin of the LTTE said Rohan Gunaratna. The  original JVPers,  such as Victor Ivan,   have consistently taken a separatist or anti-national stance. For years Ravaya argued that the LTTE couldn’t be militarily defeated and did their best to demoralize troops and sabotage the efforts of the security forces.

The NPP programme calls for devolution of political and administrative power to the regions, The Tamil and Muslim minorities in this country have been in distress for decades and been taken for endless rides by the two main parties. The NPP is a trustworthy ally  The NPP demands release of political prisoners, protection of Muslims from injury and insult, establishing a new Truth and Reconciliation Commission, empowering the Commission on the Disappeared to deliver justice to families of victims, releasing military occupied lands, terminating ethnic based colonization and economic upliftment of war affected areas. said Kumar David, speaking on behalf of the JVP  in 2020.

in 2011 it was reported that JVP had 13 international branches in UK, US, Italy, France, Cyprus, Sweden, South Korea, Australia,  Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAR, Qatar and Oman. This did not surprise those  suspicious of the JVP .Many consider JVP to be a  tool used by foreign handlers.

Nalin de Silva observed on two separate occasions, in 2004 and 2010 that JVP was a western tool. JVP was being used by the western forces, he said.  JVP is an agent of the west and is attempting to create trouble in the country, he declared.

Wimal Weerawansa said  in 2010, that JVP is run with the help of funds given by some foreign embassies. JVP was getting huge sums from US and Norway to support Fonseka in Presidential election ,he added.

JVP are  outrageous hypocrites, said ‘Old Soldier’. They may  mystify some with their verbosity, but who and what do they represent? Could they be working as a proxy for a shadow organization,  he asked in 2019.

JVP has its admirers. The JVP has come a long way since its two armed insurrections and the passing of the leadership from the old school and discredited past of Somawansa Amarasinghe to the younger generation of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, said JVP admirers.

JVP bashing should end   said K. Siriweera  writing to Island”. In parliament,  at political meetings and  elsewhere, JVP members are criticized for incidents that took place in the  1971-89 period.  Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his group were not involved in these criminal acts. Further they have shown excellent behavior since they came into the political scene. It is sickening to see politicians who are involved in anti social activities shout about events that happened decades ago to demonize a group who are thousand times better than them, concluded Siriweera.

JVP admirers are in a minority. ‘Old Soldier’ has summarized what most  of the public think of the JVP .  The JVP has a blood soaked, murderous and genocidal history, he said.. The JVP brutalized a generation twice, once in 1971 and then in 1989-90.

Their favourite method of murder was by slitting the throat. Their preferred way was not with a knife but with a blade, slowly, enjoying the agony of the victim. They then hanged the head of the murdered on a pole, gate, and fence or placed it on a wall.

After their first abortive attempt in 1971, they brought the country to a virtual halt in 1989-90 by placing ‘death notice’ chits in work places and murdering innocents all over the South. They attempted to destroy the state by attacking the armed forces and police, the state administrative structure and staff, including the judiciary, health services, education, transport and national infrastructure amongst other things. Apparently this was their way of showing their opposition to the invading IPKF and the LTTE’s campaign of terror. They did not however threaten or attack  IPKF or LTTE ,but turned on the Sinhalese people exclusively, continued Old Soldier.

The JVP believes that by swamping the people with other issues, the people will forget its gory year of murdering that dehumanized a peaceful Sri Lanka . Sri Lanka  must never forget how the JVP ordered the closing down of hospitals and made death threats to the doctors and staff if they attempted to work. They threw the entire health system into disarray. It caused the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of seriously ill patients adding to the 60,000 deaths they were responsible for by murder, said Old Soldier

Though Wijeweera died, some leaders escaped. They got back into society. They pretend to follow democratic politics fooling many but not all, and biding their time. They have survived by cunningly playing one political party against the other. [The behavior  of their  supporters] protesting and blocking roads and government offices almost daily and making it almost impossible for universities to function, should give more than a glimpse of what will follow,  ended Old Soldier, writing in 2019. ( Concluded)