By Sena Thoradeniya

• SUMMARISING JANUS-FACED NPP, THE MYTH OF MALIMAWA AND FALSE CONCEPTIONS:  A COMPASS WITHOUT THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE” – PART II

(Continued from September 7, 2024)

1. Obstacles of an Anura Kumara/ NPP victory

Since Anura Kumara acts as the Son of God” who was sent by the Almighty as his Messiah, to purify Mother Lanka from all evils and some think that  all other politicians were responsible for the present decay and  only the NPP was not at the helmof power, for  that reason alone, their let’s give them a chance and see what would happen” standpoint, should be investigated examining personal traits, skills  and eligibilities Anura Kumara possess to become the Head of State, Head of Government and Commander- in- Chief of Sri Lanka.

But there are many obstacles that prevent Anura Kumara achieving victory.

1.1 Ethnicity, religion, caste and marriage

A candidates’ ethnicity, religion, caste and marriage and to a certain extent education are among the demographic data voters take into consideration at a major election in Sri Lanka. Anura Kumara’s ethnicity, religion and to some extent his caste and education may not have negative effects in his progression; but the utterances of JVP/NPP front liners in the recent times against Sinhala nation, Buddhism, Sri Lanka’s cultural norms and traditions and safeguards enshrined in the constitution to Buddhism, NPP’s pledge to go beyond 13^th Amendment, and preaching of euro-centric multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-culturalshibboleths including representing of LGBTIQ rights do not appeal to the majority of voters. In addition, Anura Kumara’s marriage is a poser placed in his way to hold high office in the Eastern society, although the NPPers allege its opponents as tribalists.

When RW alleged that Anura Kumara needs to tender an apology to Tamils over a statement he has made in Jaffna, it was Abraham Sumanthiran who defended Anura Kumara that he is not a racist and that he has not issued a threat to the Tamils and ITAK/TNA is ready to work with NPP to achieve shared goals. What are these shared goals”? A few days later Sumanthiran expressed again ITAK’s willingness to work with Anura Kumara. This sanitization comes from the mouthpiece of LTTE, who declared that the LTTE was the sole representative of the Tamil people and who supported all the killings, destruction committed by the LTTE, recruitment of child soldiers, suicide bombing, assassination of MPs and leaders of Sri Lanka and India respectively. Sumanthiran expressed these views after ITAK having established an electoral pact with the SJB after the visit of Indian spy chief Ajith Doval. This indicates the secret deals all these politicians have with each other.

An anti-Sinhala, anti-Buddhist outfit which goes against Sri Lanka’s cultural traditions and norms, which acts as the carrier of euro-centric concepts cannot win the Presidential election.

1.2 What ideology Anura Kumara represents?

What ideology Anura Kumara represents? This question is more relevant as capitalist press still describes the NPP as a Marxist/Socialist party and its activists as Rathu Sahodarayas”. Even Donald Trump in his debate with Kamala Harris on 10, September called her a Marxist”! So, we should not worry about people labelling others as Marxists/Socialists” without an iota of knowledge about Marxism/Socialism. But some columnists in the English press call them Marxists/Socialists” for the simple reason to discredit Marxism/Socialism; it strikes a terrible blowto Marxism/Socialism as there is no discourse on Marxism/Socialism in Sri Lanka now and their scorn is one-sided; as a result people may foolishly think that the NPP’s orientation is Marxist/Socialist. What the NPP professes is neither Marxism, Socialism nor old type Social Democracy; it is neoliberalism coupled with petty-bourgeois subjectivism and Anarchism.What type of a state the NPP going to establish?Abourgeois-democratic state?A Socialist state? A Proletarian state? Or what?

What are Pohosath Ratak” and Lassana Jeevithayak” Anura Kumara promises? How is he going to make people rich and beautify their lives?  He does not uttera single word against capitalism, imperialism, neocolonialism, neoliberalism or US interventions and Indian expansionism, India’s connectivity programmes with Sri Lanka, QUAD and US activities in the Indian Ocean Region.

In its Election Manifesto under Section 03.1 the NPP promises a democraticeconomy- wealthy country”.What does it mean by a democratic economy-wealthy country”?  Are there undemocratic” economies? We are only familiar with primitive communist, slave-owning, feudalist, capitalist and Socialist as hitherto known economies to the mankind. It was true that there were undemocratic” features in slave-owning, feudalist and capitalist economies.  This is how the JVP/NPP combine hides its metamorphism, a capitalist economy and capitalist country” it aims at.

If the NPP advocates Marxism/Socialism as our bourgeois press harps on it will not prepare a massive 233 paged election manifesto as any other capitalist political party contesting elections. As it is not a Marxist/Socialist party it does not have a highest policy making body, a politburo; even the JVP has not made it public whether it has apolitburo. If the NPP has a specific programme designed by apolitburoand adopted by a Party Congress attended by nominated Party Delegates there is no need for the NPP to issue such an election manifesto. We have brought Politburo, Party Congress and Party Delegates to our discussion to show to the bourgeois press and columnists to confirm that the NPP is not a Marxist/Socialist outfit. Have we ever heard that either the JVP or its Janus-head NPP having a Party Congress?

Another word about its election manifesto. By carefully reading it one can discern that it is a product of an outsourced agency, something like a Prospectus published as in the case of Initial Public Offering (IPO), offer for sale of shares of a listed company or an Annual Report of a corporate. In its Sinhala version English terms shown within parenthesis and their ludicrousun-Sinhala translations show that it is an outsourced product. The NPP as the biggest and the largest NGO of Sri Lanka can manage to pay any amount to its service providers. NPP’s internal communication reveals that it has a Treasury; we poor mortals thought that only central governments and banks have Treasuries!

NPP Manifesto looks like a document prepared for a country which has just emerged from an undersea seismic movement or volcanic eruption,never existed before. Initial mistake done by its drafters was forgetting that this country was in existence for severalmillennia.  Institutions it proposes to establish,principles and action plans it introduceswere not unique and uncommon, many were in existence for so many decades. It is only an attempt to invent the wheel again in a different size using different material. 

Sajith Premadasa promises to bring about a common man’s era” (podu janathawage yugayak”); now he talks about self-reliance” (swa-shakthiya”). How were these slogans were avoided by Anura Kumara? Has Premadasa become socialist” over Anura Kumara?  

Sri Lanka does not need hypocrisy, chicanery ingrained at the highest seat of power.

1.3 Anura Kumar/NPP, a pack of liars

When asked by the Sunday Times” Political Editor in an interview with Anura Kumara published on 8, January 2012 about Kumar Gunaratnam, a leading cadre of the political and armed wing of the former JVP, famous for many heroics during 1988/89,(attacking Pallekele Army Camp in 1987, breakout from the Welikada prison in 1988) known as Kumaran”, Kumar” or Kumar Mahattaya”, later  defected from JVP and formed FSP, Anura Kumara said that, the JVP had many Kumaras, there were some public figures and there were others who have worked for the party behind the scenes, and I cannot say with certainty that this Kumara was a member of the JVP”!

Later in a YouTube interview when the host put words into his mouth Anura Kumara admitted that he learnt English from Kumar Gunaratnam’s mother and he knew Kumar Gunaratnam and his elder brother Ranjitham Gunaratnam who did a great service to the party. Again, in a TV talk show Anura Kumara vehemently denied that there was a person called Kumar Gunaratnam in their party and added that anybody can claim that they were leaders of the party, and some had written books to claim that they were leaders.

This is a stark lesson for the NPP bandwagon who have fashioned themselves as NPPers to reach a new grazing land shepherded by the NPP shepherds. Don Nandasiri Wijeweera testifying in his defense at the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) said that the 1971 insurrection was a conspiracy hatched by Loku Athula (Nimalasiri Jayasinghe), his able lieutenant, named by Wijeweera himself emulating the name of the hero of Marin Wickremasinghe’s historical novel Rohini”.

The news item carried by The Island” of 12 September under the byline of Shamindra Ferdinando titled FSP defends 1987-89 insurgency, allegesWijeweera’s killer is now with JVP” is a scathing accusation on Anura Kumara and his gang. The news item is about an interview given by Kumar Gunaratnam.  Kumar Gunaratnam has said that business captains who were involved in fraudulent activities had attended an NPP business confab recently; at the same confab, a business captain had lambasted Marxism as a failed concept (names given); Gunaratnam further said that the JVP has betrayed its founding principles and policies to suit its new relationships.

The massive salvo of Gunaratnam was his revelation that the JVP had been in touch with the” high-ranking army officer who allegedly executed Wijeweera at the Borella cemetery in November 1989. Questioning the power base of the NPP, we brought into our discussion retired tri-forces officers  joining the NPP in Part V of this series posted on July, 5, 2024 and stated that, the person who is alleged to have shot Nandasiri Wijeweera at the crematorium at Kanatta is in the NPPranks” now. CanAnura Kumara deny again that he does not know this Kumar Gunaratnam and the story about the retired Army officer is a malicious lie; only thing that he can concoct in his defense is that Wijeweerawas not shot at the Kanatta and he was already dead when brought to the crematorium!        

News manufactured by the NPP propaganda machine with respect to Anura Kumara’s visit to South Korea in 2023 was full of fabrications. (Please refer this writer’s article posted on 1, November 2023 in Lankaweb).

Anura Kumara has mastered the craft of ignominiously forgetting his past, his dealings with CBK, MR, Sarath Fonseka and finally with Sirisena-Wickremasinghe Yahapalana regime. As a result, there are many inconsistencies in his utterances;one such example is now attacking Arjuna Ranatunga for joining SJB, forgetting that the JVP formed an alliance and contested parliamentary elections under the DNA with JVP, Ranatunga, Sarath Fonseka and Alles in2020.

Another lie the NPP propagates is that the JVP/ NPP has not participated in governance. JVP supported the Coalition headed by Mrs. Bandaranaike in 1970; JVP entered a Parivasa Aanduwa” with CBK and got 4 plum portfolios. JVP could not manage any of these Ministries given and looking for the first opportunity to leave. In Part IV of this series we have outlined the reasons for its disastrous experiment in management.

JVP supported MR without accepting portfolios; supported Sarath Fonseka along with UNP, TNA and other Tamil and Muslim parties, and again with the same reactionary parties Sirisena-Wickremasinghe Yahapalana government.Anura Kumara had a special office at the Temple Trees from where he operated his doomed anti-corruption crusade. Only relic Anura Kumara was able to preserve from this marriage is a stock of empty files and RW’s friendship!

Posing as paragons of virtue the JVP abused the national list from the day they entered mainstream politics. Part IV gives a detailed account of its manipulations.

Anura Kumara pledges that he would punish those who were responsible for Easter Sunday massacres; an ex-serviceman who joined the NPP was the Security Forces Commander East during whose tenure suicide bombers attacked Protestant Zion Churchin Batticaloa. Is Anura Kumara going to punish him too?  Is he going to punish the Deputy Commander of the Sri Lankan troops in UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti in which about 114 Sri Lankan troops were involved in sex exploitation of hundreds of children published in the Sunday Island” of December 24, 2023?

In our last piece posted on 7, September we made a shocking revelation how NPP trade union leader extorts kappan money from corporates. These days a letter dated 2021.05.14 addressed to the NPP trade union leader (name given) by a Chairman of a Sri Lankan MNC goes viral. The letter under hand of the said Chairman says that they have paid the NPP trade union leader, Rs.15 million as the second installment of annual sponsorship fee; he explains why his conglomerate pays the NPP an annual sponsorship fee, that is because NPP union had pledged not to launch strikes in his business establishment and not to criticize its brand in any media; the agreement was to pay the NPP union Rs. 40 million in 3 installments; a problem has arisen as another person of the NPP (name given) demanding kappan money despite paying the second installment, threatening to launch a strike if his demand was not fulfilled.

How authentic is this letter? The Company Secretary can deny this as fake. What else he or she can do? To our knowledge people who have certain colonial surnames write them differently in English and in Sinhala.

What a farce Anura Kumara declaring in Kandy that he will use trade unions in production activities?

Does Sri Lanka need a pack of liars and swindlers at the helm?

1.4 Anura Kumara turned into a traditional Sri Lankan bourgeois politician

With the passage of time Anura Kumara has turned into a traditional Sri Lankan bourgeois politician; going in a luxury SUV; getting a house from parliamentary housing complex, having a house within 25 kilometers from the parliament; flying business class, wearing haut couturedresses, exclusive custom fitted clothing and full suit;lamenting that there are no Sinhala films in Netflix and Sri Lankan goods in Foreign supermarkets.

Haven’t we selected traditional bourgeois politicians to steer the ship in the past?  

1.5 Appointing Harini Amarasuriya, as the NPP’s sole national list MP

Harini Amarasuriya representing comprador-bourgeoise consisting of colonial plantation interests, bankers and multi-national business conglomerates, trained in India and Europe, an NGO activist before joining the academia and spokesperson of LGBTIQ+ community, who considers herself as a liberal was appointed as the NPP’s sole national list MP. This was done at the behest of the NGO cabal. She was a member of the Public Representatives Committee on Constitution Reforms (PRCCR) appointed by Sirisena-Wickremasinghe yahapalana government. She was the first person in the NPP to back the full implementation of the 13^th amendment. Others were made to follow suit including Anura Kumara.

By appointing a Colombo-centric bourgeois liberal as a nominated MP from the vote the NPP received from ordinary men and women in 2020, Anura Kumara and the NPP had betrayed those ordinary men and women who gave the NPP, a national list slot. It is a clear indication that the NPP is ready to dump anybody for the furtherance ofits parochial interests. Who calls this a party decision? This was done to satisfy the business conglomerates, NGO cabal, LGBTIQ+ community and Western agents.  

Do we need a person as the Head of State who is preoccupied with the furtherance of his parochial interests?

1.6 Darling of Julie Chung and other US envoys

Julie Chung met with Anura Kumara just a few days ahead of July 9, 2022. She twittered: To me JVP is a significant party. They have a growing presence. They resonate with the public during recent times. They are a growing political party and their ideas are accepted by the public”. She very well knew NPP’s active involvement in Galle Face protest. Few days after her visit on July 9, 2022 GR was ousted.

Again just a few days ahead of Anura Kumara’s US trip Chung visited him at his party HQ on 19 October 2023accompanied by US Embassy’s Political Officer Mathew Hinson and its Political Expert” Nazreen Marikkar. Rumour was that she came to deliver his journey money.  Anura Kumara’s timidity was displayed at this meeting, how he behaved in front of Julie Chungcurtseyingherwith folded arms paying obeisance like her palour boy.Venues of his meetings in America were decorated with American flags.

Anura Kumara knew very well what the Western envoys do in our country. Addressing a meeting of Sangha on October 11, 2019 in Kandy, he said: The method used by imperialists to conquer countries has changed. In the past they conquered countries using cannons, but now they conquer countries using suitcases”. He further stated: Sometimes these embassies choose the Presidential candidates, they sometimes choose the leaders of the parties”.

Was Anura Kumara talkingfor himself? Who chose him as the party leader and Presidential candidate? How Anura Kumara’s own words had boomeranged?

In September 2022, just a few weeks after the ouster of GR (see the timing), Harini Amarasuriya of NPP along with Sajith Premadasa, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Rishard Bathiuddin, Abraham Sumanthiran, Rauf Hakeem and Mano Ganeshan (see the combination) met with Samantha Power, the Administrator (Head) of USAID accompanied by Julie Chung.

Julie Chung met with Sri Lankan Women Parliamentary Caucus before their study tour to New Zealand funded by USAID and National Democratic Institute (NDI). Among the Women Parliamentarians were Harini Amarasuriya and Seetha Arambepola of GR’s Viyathmaga”; the latter shredded ACSA and SOFA into pieces at Viyathmaga” and Eliya” meetings. 

Donald Lu, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central AsianAffairs visited Sri Lanka in March 2022 with Victoria Nuland and Amanda Dory, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs just 8 days before Mirihana outrage.

On 13 May 2024 NPP stalwarts, Vijitha Herath, Samarasinghe and Nalinda Jayatissa of NPP met with Donald Lu.Julie Chung also took part in the discussion. Vijitha Herath received a memento from Donald Lu. In her ‘X” messageJulie Chung had stated that, the discussion focused on Sri Lanka’s current economic situation, the intervention of the IMF, the conducting of free and fair elections and the security of the Indian Ocean Region”. Was this a discussion or lecturing on the intervention of the IMF, the conducting of free and fair elections and the security of the Indian Ocean Region”?

Indian Punchline” reported that the hatchet man of the colour revolution in Bangladesh is none other than Donald Lu who visited Dhaka in mid-May 2024. Donald Lu specialized in fueling and masterminding colour revolutions which led to regime changes in Albania, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and the ouster of Imran Khan.

How can we rule out the hatchet man Donald Lu giving the NPP a lesson on post-election violence?     

Thus, top American officials made it a habit to meet their new accomplices whenever they visited Sri Lanka.

Coming closer to US and India Anura Kumara began to represent US and Indian interests.

Do Sri Lankans want to bring into power an American accomplice?

1.7 Anura Kumara competes with RW to be modern Vibishana

Anura Kumara’s complete metamorphosis from an anti- Indian Lilliput into a half-brother of India culminated with his Indian trip in February 2024.

Why this trip was arranged by the Indian Government?To brief him about connectivity programmes, silence him and the NPP about Indianinterventions and investments and enlist his support to QUAD and anti-China chorus?  

On 15 February 2024 we wrote why India is using the NPP. It was a planned strategy to tame the NPP using soft diplomacy. Anura Kumara showed to the Indians how he was tamed: The Hindu” quoted him as saying, we do know that India who is our closest neighbor has become a major political and economic center. So, when we take economic and political decisions, we will always care it will impact India”. It was also reported that Anura Kumara saying: we are mindful of India’s concerns including its security. We are not competitors, but India is”. Words of a submissive person!In other words, Anura Kumara accepted India as Sri Lanka’s security provider, showing his willingness to stand together with India and its major ally the US against China.

NPP election manifesto says: that the NPP does not allow any country to use Sri Lanka’s land, sea or air space to cause any threat or calamity to region’s security including India’s security” (our translation). It is tantamount that Sri Lanka must become either a friend or an enemy with nations as India wishes, that Sri Lanka cannot have relations with any nation that India feels is a threat to India, in other words accept that we are under Indian Rule, wrote a political analyst dissecting the NPP election manifesto.

In his election meetings Anura Kumara shouts about developing Trincomalee harbor as the most modern harbor in the region and oil farms to export oil to other countries! A smart idea! But does he know who owns Trincomalee oil farms?

We have given a detailed account of Anura Kumara’s India visit in our articleposted on 15, February titled Anura Kumara in India: The Village Boy Enticed by Gopis- Lost in Vrindavan”, how the village boy from Tambuttegama was enticed by Indian foreign affairs and security mandarins and MNCs. Anura Kumara has shown that he is an accomplice of the Indians.

Now Anura Kumara has started a tussle against RW to be the modern Vibishana.But for that matter Modi the modern Rama- has placed his bets on Ranil Wickremasinghe as his trusted Vibishana.

Why select another Indian accomplice when RW doing it better and with more sophistication, already turned Sri Lanka into another State of India, jeopardizing Sri Lanka’s sovereignty with his so-called land connectivity, maritime connectivity, air connectivity, energy and power connectivity?

1.8 Personal attributes

Personal attributes of acandidate profoundly augment his or her chances of winning.

Look at Anura Kumara’s facial expressions at meetings, press conferences and interviews, whether he expresses any affection or support to masses. His facial expressions are more suited to his venomous outbursts full of malicious glee and expression of contempt. Experts in body language say that micro expressions are difficult to conceal, they are involuntary and precede the thought process. Our faces leak the truth in our micro expressions even when our words lie. Look at his wide opened, rounding eyes, how he shapes the mouth, twist and curlhis lips; the way he smiles; his vocabulary and nonce words he uses. 

One should not be an expert in understanding his nonverbal bahaviours, the way he behaves in front of foreign dignitaries, kowtowing to Chung as his parlor boy. Brisk walk to the stage, putting both hands in trouser pockets, gesturing signs of arrogance and ridiculing opponents do not make a good leader. His appearance at the Iranian Embassy writing his message of condolences at the death of the Iranian President using a smart phone was pitiable and comical too.

But he lives in a cloud cuckoo land, as he has won the presidency. As he has an inferiority complex being a short man the way he walks, talks and behaves are not natural; they are artificialand acquired.He declares that already he has won the Presidential race and selected his cabinet without a single vote has been polled yet.

Are Sri Lankans naïve to select a showman as their President?

1.9 Anura Kumara’s lack of knowledge and originality

Anura Kumara shows his lack of knowledge, ignorance and naivety, shallowmindedness, that he is not adequately informed and widely readat every meeting he addresses; demonstrates his lack of political knowledge, that he is clueless about the political economy of the country, basic rural sociological issues and agrarian relations, traditions and folklore; he has not studied about our existing institutions. Oratorical outpourings abounding with histrionics and tantrums do not add any intellectual contribution for the audience to think and learn anything from him.All are promises, catchy words; how he is going to fulfillwhat he promises is the question. 

He is very smart in copying other contenders’ catchphrases; repeating what other rivals say using different terminology displaying absence of originality. Here we do not intend to comment on his election manifesto as it is full of trash not worth the 233 pages included which looks like a Company Prospectus prepared for a share issue! His rhetoric is full of populist fantasy promising unrealistic welfarism which do not address real economic issues. Dhammika Perera’s PohosathRatak”, was borrowed by him unashamedly and Dilith Jayaweera’s Sathutu Deyak”became his Lassana Jeevithayak”; he repeated verbatimBasil Rajapaksa’s exclamation nayath nea, bayatha nea” to challenge his contenders. He does not have the capacity to address different audiences to suit different needs of them; utters the same muck at public rallies, press conferences and at meetings with selected listeners. He lacks resourcefulness, ingenuity and portrays himself as a leader with no vision.

Anura Kumara’s addresses gravitate around corruption, catching thieves and bringing back stolen wealth; thus, more important economic, political, geopolitical, socio-cultural issues are ignored.

Does Sri Lanka need another Sirisena who was dubbed as a farmer’s son”, this time a person born to a subaltern family in the Dry Zone, who reached the highpoint of riches engaging in politics, without doing any job, and acquiring any managerial skill to test and experiment with? At least Sirisena as a Gramasevaka knew village level administration and local-level planning and implementation of such of planning.

Does Mother Lanka lack Right People to be elected to Right Places?

1.10 Rata Anurata”: Inflated ego

Anura Kumara’s dress code and mode of transportation do not fit his proletarian origins and what he says about his childhood poverty. On his London trip a double-decker bus carried his large visual image.It was said thatin Japan he has employed highly paid Japanese bodyguards.  All his propaganda material is centered around the slogan Rata Anurata” (this country to Anura), as he and his propaganda machine have thought that Sri Lanka as his fiefdom, the men who have castigated Rajapaksas as the country has being bestowed upon Medamulana, the Rajapaksas bastian.

Not a single previous Presidential candidate requested the voters to give the country to themselves or the country belongs to themselves. From JRJ up to GR although the main campaign theme conspicuously changed nobody claimed country’s ownership. Another first by a man of Dry Zone subaltern origins! 

Lenin did not organize workers and peasants requesting them to give power to him. The Bolshevik Party which he created fought against Tsardom and to establish Soviet Power and then fought against foreign military intervention. Lenin wrote in 1917 All power to the Soviets”; he did not say Power to Lenin”! Then Stalin fought for socialist industrialization, collectivization of agriculture and to defend the Fatherland from Fascism. Mao fought to establish new democracy and then a socialist state. Ho Chi Min fought to defend the North, to liberate the South and for unification of Vietnam. We thought that it is appropriate to remind the history to muddleheaded Anura Kumara who is immersed in liberal – bourgeois ideology shedding his socialist” skin. Snakes shed their skin to feel comfortable.

Anura Kumara is overestimating himself displaying his warlord mentality; fighting in many fronts simultaneously against, UNP, SLPP, SJB, FSP and other friendly forces; as Sun Tzu said he is a tired man fighting in severalfronts simultaneously. Know your enemy, know yourself and know your environment” saidSun Tzu.

Hehas not made any attempt to form a United Front, to unite all oppressed classes against oppression, exploitation, comprador- bourgeoisie and imperialists; as a result he does not have friends, no friendly forces and allies; we have clearly explained that the political entity called the NPP is not a United Front; it is JVP’s Janus Face.

Do we need a frog who was amazed by the size of a cow and tried to inflate until it burst, as the President of Sri Lanka?

1.11 Poor leadership qualities

In Parts III and IV of this essay, we discussed about the Trait Theory and made an attempt to apply ittoAnura Kumara along with the comments made of him by his former leaderSomavansa Amarasinghe and his former comrade-in-arms Wimal Weerawansa respectively; all these comments are available in book form.

Mere platform oratory does not make a leader. We do not observe that Anura Kumara thinks ahead rather than his dream Presidentship. Helacks conceptual, analytical and diagnostic skills and he does not attempt to link whatever he says to a well-established, any accepted theory, Marxist or otherwise about politics, economics, art, literature and culture.  He does not possess any knowledge ofMarxism-Leninism,of what great theoreticians had said and apply those to concrete conditions of Sri Lanka; in this sense he is an ignorant, unexposed greenhorn; his utterances arefull of unscientific nonsense of a populist nature. He has not written anything for us to peruse; not made any theoretical contributionor has waged any ideological struggle other than crying hora and horu allanawa”.

Anura Kumara has not shown any achievement academically, professionally, politically, creatively or personally; or introduced something new, a concept, a theory, a strategy, the way Sri Lanka forge ahead or at least interpreting or developing an existing theory. Wijeweera in its crudest way was able to introduce a thing called Lanka Line” in 1971 although it brought disastrous consequences. Mao said: Three year- olds have many ideas which are right, but they cannot be entrusted with serious national or world affairs because they do not understand them yet .

Can three year- olds be entrusted with serious national or world affairs?

1.12 Deela balanna” syndrome and expatriate Sri Lankans                                                          

This should be given more emphasis as Colombo-centered upper class liberals and other middle class segments who do not have any political knowledge, who are disillusioned by what had happened in 2022 as they cannot understand geopolitical intricacies and games played by the US and India in this region, who have come to the conclusion that all are rogues and rogues should be thrown away from politics. They are afflicted with a new syndrome called wenasakataeka serayak deela balanna”(Let’s give them a chance and see what would happen”).

If it is so, Anura Kumara should possess extraordinary leadership qualities any other contender lacks. But the people who are afflicted with this syndrome are not interested in any leadership quality Anura Kumara possesses is the most ridiculous thing.

The catchword, let’s give them a chance and see what would happen” is mostly propagated by expatriate Sri Lankans, who enjoyed life and all pleasures under UNP/SLFP dispensations, who were well paid even in Sri Lankan standards , who had migrated for personal reasons, initially against changing the medium of instruction to Sinhala and Tamil, JVP insurrection in 1971, 1988/89 mayhem by the JVP/DJV, Tamil separatist war; some who went abroad on government scholarships without returning started a  lucrative life in the West, Australia and to a lesser degree in New Zealand.

There is another category who left Sri Lanka with the help of human smugglers mostly settled in Italy or France. Some others were lucky enough to leave especially during war time pretending that their lives were in danger and were given refugee status in France, Switzerland and in some Scandinavian countries. Others left the shores employing legal or not so legal methods and adopted themselves successfully especially Down Under. The latest wave started with the young professionals who are enticed by the Mammon who have some unexplainable enmity towards Sri Lanka, the country of their birth and gave them a free education up to University level. The last two categories of expatriates are the most vociferous of these groups who act as Unofficial Consul Generals” of the NPP. But according to our information no one of those have played an active political role in their student days or in their early professional lives.

Why these do goodies are so interested in Sri Lankan politics? Why living in clover, they attempt to bring a village boy to power as they have become proletariats to lead the delayed” revolution in Sri Lanka?

Some of these nincompoops are arriving in Sri Lanka under the guise of came toyuthukama itu kireemata”.These second-class citizens of USA, UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, but patriotic” sons and daughters of Sri Lanka, who used the limited resources of Sri Lanka for their free education and further their individual aspirations promptly ditched the motherland when it suits them. Stricken with multiple personality disorders – they live on parallel worlds. Earning the dollars but thriving in the vitriolic politics of Lanka, they should be asked to stay in Sri Lanka to photograph, video and transmit all over the world the arson, killing and destruction that will follow the elections and assess what they have done under the guise of their yuthukama itu kireema” to poor mortals of Sri Lanka.

These identity crises plagued blokes, mates, geeks, wonks and nerds arrive dressed as Yankees, to impress poor Lankans and their parents. They should tell in one word what they have done to yuthukama itu kireemata”to their parents, brethren and how they have paid back what they owe to Lanka except coming here with the erroneous beliefto enthrone a village nincompoop.  After doing their national duty” and in the same breath they will leave to their cushy overseas lives after pushing the nation into an abyss of gloom and doom. It is mandatory for the blokes who have applied for Australian PR to come to Sri Lanka for a fortnight or so and return immediately. The most hilarious part is that they also deceiving others saying that they came to yuthukama itu kireemata” .   

Now some of these expatriate nonentitieswrite to English dailies in Sri Lanka, issuing character certificates to cleanse Anura Kumara and NPP lamenting that the NPP is often misunderstood and wrongly labelled as a purely socialist entity”. These unknowns write further that Anura Kumara advocated for a development model similar to that of South Korea”. This person should tell us what type of a political and economic system South Korea has and its dealings with the US. It is laughable the people who have criticized copying Singapore model now finding a South Korean model, another way of subjugating our country. He says NPP vision is rooted in pragmatism, not outdated dogma”. Pragmatism and dogma capitalist rubbish! Enough for his pragmatism and dogma. To please whom and to gain what these hurrah boys write like this? There were some Sri Lankan expatriates who eulogized the Galle Face protesters. No sooner they had to eat the humble pie! A similar fate will be befallen on these unknown praise singers! We urge these good guys to write at least a few lines to a community newsletter where they live.

Another interesting fact about these overseas NPP blokes is that very few of them have Sri Lankan citizenship. If they have not renounced Sri Lankan citizenship, they will cry for voting rights. NPP is also silent about this matter. Born in tropical Sri Lanka, living and dying in cooler climes!

No other reasons are necessary to say that Anura Kumara can’t win when he has friends like them.

1.13 Anura Kumara playing with numbers

At the 2019 Presidential ElectionsAnura Kumara polled only 418,353 (or 3.16%) votes. Of total registered electors 83.72% of electors used their voting rights. For the 2024 Presidential Electionsaccording to the Election Commission of Sri Lanka sources 17,140,354 voters are eligible to vote. Assuming for the argument sake (our view is this time it would be lower than in 2019) that this time also 83.72%  of registered electors would use their voting rights (i.e. 13,349,904) to obtain a 50% Anura Kumara should poll 7,174,952 votes or 6,756,599 votes more than he polled in 2019, an increase of 1,715%, an historic fête!

To obtain 7,174,952 votes Anura Kumara should secure an average of 326,134 votes from each electoral district, which includes Jaffna (853), Vanni (662), Batticaloa(348), Trincomalee (2226), Digamadulla (5060) and Nuwara Eliya (5043) electoral districts, (figures given within parenthesis are the number of votes Anura Kumara obtained in 2019). To get the district average of 326,134, NPP must poll (326,134- 853) 325,281 more votes from Jaffna, 325,472 more votes from Vanni, 325,786 more votes from Batticaloa, 323,908 more votes fromTrincomalee, 321,074 more votes from Digamadulla and 321,091 more votes from Nuwara Eliya respectively, which is unthinkable.

This loss can be computed as 326,134 votes into 6 electoral districts = 1,956,804votes.To compensate this loss, 7,174,952 – 1,956,804 = 5,218,148,the NPP must poll (5,218,148/16) 448,435 votes each from other 16 electoral districts. (For the argument sake we have excluded the above-mentioned 6 electoral districts, as the NPP polled only 14,192 from these 6 electoral districts.

To illustrate this impossibility, we take only the Colombo electoral district, a highest voter base of the NPP at the 2019 presidential elections; NPP polled only 53,803 votes in Colombo electoral district; to get 448,435 votes NPP should poll 394,632 more votes than it polled in 2019. We refrain from bringing forward this argument to 60% and 70% as claimed by the bigwigs of the NPP as that exercise will make us look like clowns!

Matale, Polonnaruwa and Moneragala electoral districts have less than 448,435 registered voters. NPP to get 448,435 votes from each of these three electoral districts all other 38 contenders should get zero votes!

At the 2020 parliamentaryelections the NPP polled445,958 (or 3.84%), a gain of27,405 votes than what it polled at the 2019 Presidential Elections. Allarguments for or against an Anura Kumara victory should be based on this block vote. Reaching 7,174,952 votes, an increase of 6,728,994 votes (or 1,609%) in four years cannot be written even in a modern fairy tale!

Using his own logic,we would say in 2019, of the 13,387,951 of the electors who used their voting rights 12,969,418 (or 96.87%) voters had rejected him.   

Forget arithmetical calculations and consider economic, political, historical, socio-cultural factors influencing an Anura Kumara victory. Such factors which were favourble to winners in 1956, 1970, 1977, 2010, 1994, 2005, 2010 and 2019 do not exist now in favour of an Anura Kumara victory. In Part IIof this series (posted on May 18, 2024) we have outlined the economic, political, historical, socio-cultural factors which werefavourable to all preceding Prime Ministerial and Presidential candidates and concluded that Anura Kumara has none of those favourablefactors.

Does Sri Lanka need a President or a dishonest data entry operator?

2. Outcome of the election: Impending Catastrophe and how to combat it”

We borrowed the above title, Impending Catastrophe and how to combat it” from Lenin (1917: Vol. 25).

The local and foreign handlers of Galle Face protesters succeeded in disintegrating the nationalist forces and making the national movement weakened and leaderless. RW, Premadasa or Anura Kumara cannot substitute the leadership of the nationalist forces. 

This election is fought to retain the US and Indian agenda; US and India factor will be crucial in the election. We do not know exactly now who pumps money to the three groups supposed to be in the frontline of the race. Former US Secretary of State said that US provided US $ 585 million to Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Myanmar to stabilize democracy” in 2005. A similar statement can be made by Antony Blinken in future.

US State Department knows that Julie Chung’s presence is needed in Sri Lanka during the Presidential Elections and immediately afterwards. Her task is notaccomplished yet. Although a successor was named months ago a new person cannot handle what she was capable to do.

Outcome of the election will not change the status quo; It can be a change of faces or keeping the same face, sometimes aggravating the crisis.

India’s Externa Affairs Minister Jaishankar visited Sri Lanka again in June, his first bilateral visit after the formation of new Modigovernment; he discussed with all political party leaders and he reportedly said that it is important that India-funded projects such as renewable energy projects including solar projects, grid connectivity, land connectivity, and proposed petroleum pipeline between India and  Sri Lanka are not derailed by any incoming government, stressing the need to ensure that these projects continue under any incoming government after the upcoming Presidential election. He hailed the pledge given by RW, SP and Anura Kumara to fully implement the 13^th Amendment. 

Ajit Kumar Doval, india’s National Security Advisor, the ace spy visited Sri Lanka on 27 August and met with party leaders of ITAK, TELO, PLOTE and ACTC;  heexpressed his concerns regarding the Tamil Common Candidate”; he said not to waste the votes of the Tamil people and try to negotiate with a candidate who could win and safeguard the aspirations of the Tamil people through talks. A few days later ITAK decided to support Premadasa and not to support the Tamil Common Candidate” and to persuade the Tamil Common Candidate” to withdraw. It was rumoured thatDoval attempted topatch up differences between RW and SP.

Why the US and other western embassies show a greater interest in the NPP? Most plausible reason is that they have found a reliable ally to foster their geopolitical interests and counter China.

EU Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) soon after arrival met with Julie Chung even before conducting its press conference. Commonwealth Observer Group (COG)declared in a statement that it will assess all factors impacting the credibility of the electoral process including counting and tabulation.  When they say credibility of the electoral process it is sure that they are prejudiced and file a report that the there was no credibility of the electoral process, helping outsiders to intervene. 

US State Department, UK and some other western countries said Bangladesh elections held in January 2024, were not credible free and fair”. The groundwork was prepared for her overthrow.

Volker Turk, of the UNHCHR in his statement issued on 9, September said that the newly elected administration must commit to concentrate transformational changes needed to ensure accountability, justice and reconciliation. Those in power must protect fully the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly prior, during and after the upcoming elections”. This is tantamount to dictate what Sri Lanka should do. His statement further explains how these Western mandarins call for regime change”.  He mentions about the protest movement which ousted GR two years ago; says, mass protests demanded democratic reforms, and an end of corruption and the abuse of power” but those demands remain largely unfulfilled”. Does Volker Turk as any other Western diplomat has placed his bets on a candidate? 

Does Anura Kumara utter a single word about these interventionists? No. He can’t. Because he is only a collaborator.  

The outcome of the September election cannot be predicted by either employing absurd quantitative techniques, quantifying numbers attending public rallies, platform oratory or handouts the ruling party provide playing savior role or pledges made by all contenders to hoodwink the masses.

More than any other party this election is very crucial to the NPP. Its future as the well-funded massive NGO of Sri Lanka hinges on how it fares at the elections. What was shown superficially at meetings will not be reflected in the people’s choice at an election. The hurrah boys and girls will become more and more disillusioned and decamping process will begin in a massive scale. In such a situation the NPP has no other alternative than remaining as a destabilization force.

Internal contradictions within the NPP are abundant; now these contradictions appear be non-antagonistic, because all are overconfident of winning the presidential election comfortably, are swept under the carpet. The imminent electoral setback will crumble the NPP into pieces with all internal contradictions coming into the surface and contradictions between various groups will becomeirreconcilable as antagonistic contradictions among enemies of differentfactions, every faction attempting to find scapegoats for their defeat.

Election result will show Anura Kumara and his followers that Anura Kumara is the modern-day Icarus in Greek mythology.  Icarus was warned not to fly too low nor too high, lest the sea’s dampness clogs his wings or the sun’s heat melts them. He ignored instructions not to fly close to the sun causing bees wax in his wings to melt. He felt from the sky, plunged into the sea, was drowned and doomed.

Lenin said: Perish or forge full steam ahead. That is the alternative put by history”. No sooner the people will learn their lesson and more easily they will find the correct way out”.

Sri Lanka needs a new anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, patriotic political alliance against the pseudo-saviors and political babes in the woods”!

CONCLUDED