By Charles.S.Perera

It is perhaps because they are rich and that their parents  were from  UNP, that the UNP Parliamentary backbenchers do not see that the old capitalist system is not suitable  to Sri Lanka any more.

When we got our Independence in 1948 there was Colonialism. It was the Russian Revolution that influenced  Colonies to gain Independence. After Russian revolution Communism spread in Europe and the ideas of a Socialist  system of government, different from Capitalism began to take root in European Countries,  and even  those countries that got  independence from colonial rule.  

In Sri Lanka capitalism- a political  system, a step away from  feudalism that existed in pre-colonial Sri Lanka, was acceptable to the then political leaders, who  continued with the capitalist parliamentary system proposed by their  Colonial Masters. They interpreted the Socialist system of Government  the Communist and the Samasamaja Parties were proposing to the people ,   a system of government against religion,  and  against accepted Buddhist Cultural norms where they addressed everyone including their elders as Comrades.

The Marxists- the Samasamaja and the Communist parties found  that their revolutionary political ideas  were more easily accepted by the working class, and hence neglected  the farmers and the peasants of the villages outside townships.

However the leaders of the  Marxist Parties,  N.MPerera, Colvin R De Silva, Bernard Soysa,Dr.Wickramasinghe, Keunaman, Philip and Robert Gunewardhan brothers, William Silva were becoming popular political figures as people began to understand them through their speeches that Socialism they proposed was a people friendly system  more acceptable than the  capitalist British system of the less  talkative political leaders – of the Sinhala Mahasabha the  predecessors to the UNP system.

By 1951 the UNP Government started having political difference within the party. D.S.Senanayake died in 1952. The UNP then as they are today were leaning heavily towards the Western Countries , and they were not willing to change their western capitalists  system to a people friendly system of Government.

The political leaders of the UNP then,  as they are  now were  more concerned  about themselves  and kept the people dependent on their capitalist  system, placing them-selves above the ordinary people and within their feudal hierarchic system. The people were   depending on them as the slaves of their Capitalist system of Government. Even today we see how much they look for their place in the social hierarchy, when a wife of a UNP Presidential hopeful tells the people at a public meeting  that she is the future first lady of Sri Lanka.

Seeing that UNP will not move from their  assumed  social superiority to form a people friendly Government, SWRD Bandaranayake left the UNP to give the people of Sri Lanka their  cultural and national rights denied to them by the Colonial rulers, as well as by  the UNP Government,  SWRD Banadaranaike  formed a government  of the people giving the rightful place to  Buddhist Monk,  the physician,  the teachers, and the peasant and the farmer.  He further put right the wrong political system by which the country had been ruled since independence by joining hands with the left wing politicians of the Samasamaja Party, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Communist Party. He made meaningful the National anthem and the National flag.

The UNP Backbenchers should look  back and see for themselves  the failure of their  Capitalist System of Government, which has not contributed to the development of an Independent Sri Lankan Culture, society, or  even such an economy. There was a  cultural revival in Sri Lanka only after 1956 and that was not under the UNP.

The UNP Backbenchers should note  that  the system of government necessary for the benefit of  Sri Lanka,   and its people, is a system away from Western Capitalism, a socialist system. That is the demand of the people. It is why  Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna has become a popular party of the people, within a short time it was  announced as a Political Party.

The people will not vote for the present SLFP too if it contests any election in future as they have failed in 2015 to respect the  very reason that made SWRD Bandaranayaike leave the UNP in 1951 to form a Socialist Government in 1956 and join with the leftwing Political Parties.

To-day the General Secretary of the SLFP Dayasiri Jayasekara unable to feel the pulse of the people, is making a great effort to  make SLFP an independent party without joining the progressive Sri Lanka Socialist political Camp led by  Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. This may be  because Dayasiri Jayasekara  comes from UNP and he can  not sense the thinking of SWRD Bandaranayake when he left UNP to form the SLFP.  Today SLFP has lost the reasons for which it was organised by its founder and therefore  SLFP is reduced to a mere a name board. It is likely to break up and some of its members  may even join the UNP.

The UNP, states   as a criticism against the former Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse , that it  antagonised the Western Countries led by USA, and boasts that the UNP has now established friendly relations with those countries.

The UNP backbenchers when they speak in TV debates etc.,  should make sure of what they say without repeating what had been told by the UNP leaders.  The UNP backbenchers should investigate the truth.  

Mahinda Rajapakse and his government did not want to antagonise USA and the west, but they wanted them kept away from Sri Lanka until they  completed the military operations against terrorism.

But again Mahinda Rajapakse government  had invited USA to help Sri Lanka  to defeat terrorism, which USA did by locating the most of the ten LTTE ships transporting arms and ammunitions for terror purposes.

Yet other than that can the UNP backbenchers say whether USA had really helped Sri Lanka at any time in the past ?

USA is a country which has still not helped any developing countries in the world to develop even by giving them  loans.  JR Jayawardhan the UNP President had accepted USA as his close friend.  JR was in fact called Yankee Dicky. When he became the President he had no fear even about terrorism as he thought USA  would stand by him to defeat terrorism and help him bring peace and security to Sri Lanka.  Did it happen ?

When India dropped dry ration”, to the terrorists in the North, and asked the President to enter into a peace agreement and amend the Constitution of Sri Lanka to include the 13^th  Amendment. USA looked away , and President Jayawardhana had nobody to help him. USA had betrayed him. Therefore, he entered into a peace agreement with India and mutilated  the Constitution of Sri Lanka by including the 13^th  Amendment proposed by India.

Though there is no developing country in the world  that USA helped to develop, there is no difficulty to name many countries destroyed, their leaders assassinated  or  their development hampered by USA ?

Cuba  under Fulgencio Batista was  some what like what  Sri Lanka would be under  Ranil Wickramasinghe preparing to sign  the SOFA Agreement with USA. Batista leased the sothern part of Cuba to USA  which is now a USA army base called Guantanamo.

Under Fulgencio Batista,  Cuba  became the play ground for the rich Americans. There were  prostitution, casinos, drug dealers ,and so on. It was  that Cuba,  Fidel Castro made a free and an  independent country. Yet Americans was all out to destroy Cuba. There were planned military attacks,  having failed in that America imposed trade embargos against Cuba. Cuba faced all that but never allowed America to  enter into the country. That is why Cuba survived.

China is a rich and a great country today, because they did not allow America to interfere in to China.  USSR was divided by USA, because Russian  leaders began to have ultra diplomatic relations with USA. After that USA did not allow USSR to unite again. However Russia  did not allow USA  to interfere into Russia. Thanks to President Putin, Russia is a rich and a  developed country today because  Russia had severed connections with USA.

USA cannot be trusted. Sri Lanka should learn  to avoid dealings with USA as USA can bring about only ruin to Sri Lanka. The UNP Backbenchers should pay serious attention to persons like Mangala Samaraweera in the UNP, who is a party to  selling  Sri Lanka to America. He proved that  by even sponsoring a Resolution by America  against  his own Country-Sri Lanka, without even the permission of the President and the Parliament.

India too claims an economic growth, but is that growth seen on the ground and amoung the people. There is a never ending caste problem in India and  many are subject to utter misery  many without even proper sanitary facilities.

 Sri Lanka was progressing fast towards development when unfortunately the people voted Yahapalanaya  into power which has  brought Sri Lanka back to being a poor country.

The UNP  Backbenchers please see and understand how much you are correct about USA.  Though you   repeatedly say  at TV Debates that the Government of  USA is  friendly  towards Ranil Wickramasinghe, and you had  seen the  Ambassador for USA Alaina Teplitz played a very close role  alongside   UNP in October,2019  when the President had dismissed  the Prime Minister, do you think that USA ws playing a protective role to help the PM Ranil in the development process , or was only looking after America’s own benefits, without  development of  Sri Lanka not even in their thoughts ?

This is what the UNP Backbenchers should seriously contemplate, think of, and understand from what the UNP had been doing in the past. Today UNP  is like an old race horse. It has run out of breath. It can never run any more races. It should be tethered and perhaps kept as a museum piece, it cannot plough, it will only  ruin the ground.

It is now time for the UNP Backbenchers to start from scratch and  initiate action to form a new political party or reconstruct the UNP getting rid of the destructive elements in it such as Ranil Wickramasinghe, Sajith Premadasa, Karu Jayasuriya, Malik Samarawickrama, Mangala Samaraweera, Ravi Katunanayake, Lakshmn Kiriella, Daya Gamage, Rosy Senanayake, Thalatha Athukorala, Amaratunga and the whole of that lot, including the Muslim MPs. who do not toe the line in the formation of a new political party.