Batalanda Commission report: Wijeweera’s son in limelight

Those who pay floral tributes to Rohana Wijeweera’s portrait lack the courage to look at his eyes – Leader of Second Generation Uvindu Wijeweera

By Vishvanath

The Batalanda Commission report is still in the news. The parliament is going to have a two-day debate on it. The first day will be April 10, and the second nonconsecutive day will be in May. Ideally, the debate should have been held on two consecutive days for it to be effective.

The JVP-led NPP government mistakenly thought that the commission report had not been tabled in the parliament. Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe said so in an interview with Al Jazeera recently, and the government apparently went by his claim and tabled it in the parliament on March 14 only to realize subsequently that it had been presented in the late 2000 and even published as a sessional paper. However, the media has evinced a keen interest in the report, which is being discussed in television debates at length.

It is being claimed in some quarters that the JVP/NNP had to table the Batalanda report in the parliament and promise to take action based on it to serve justice to the victims of the Batalanda torture chamber because the Frontline Social List Party (FSP), a JVP offshoot, was trying to use the report to eat into the JVP’s support base.

The FSP has been hyperactive about the Batalanda commission report and trying to gain political traction at the expense of the JVP. It has been calling for drastic action against those named in the report, such as former President Ranil Wickremesinghe. It has been pressuring the JVP/NPP to have Wickremesinghe stripped of his civic rights although the report does not directly recommend such action against him. It says:

“… we have observed serious violations of Human Rights by both Senior Police Officers and a Politician of the then Government. Notwithstanding the jurisdiction vested in the Supreme Court, and the appropriate exercise of the said jurisdiction by the Court, we observe that such violations have been repeated with impunity. One reason for the continued violation of Fundamental Rights by certain persons representing the Executive is that their conduct is not reprimanded by immediate and appropriate sanctions. We recommend that the Supreme Court be vested with suitable additional jurisdiction, to impose suitable sanctions in the form of ‘deprivation of civic rights’, on persons who are found to repeatedly violate basic Fundamental Rights of Citizens.”

The mainstream Opposition parties have said the findings and the recommendations of the Batalanda commission are not legally binding, and its report is very weak. They are of the view the ‘charges’ against Wickremesinghe are far from damning and will not stand judicial scrutiny.  The FSP party is busy making the most of the commission report to gain political mileage at the expense of the JVP. However, a new political force is likely to eclipse both the JVP and the FSP as regards the Batalanda commission report. It is the Dewana Parapura (Second Generation) led by Uvindu Wijeweera, who is slain JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera’s son.

Uvindu exudes political pragmatism, and is known for his moderate views. Taking part in the Hiru TV Balaya programme on Thursday night, he spoke about the Batalanda commission report. Other participants in the discussion were General Secretary of the National Patriotic Front Dr. Wasantha Bandara, FSP Central Committee member Indrananda de Silva and former JVP MP and presidential candidate Nandana Gunathilake, who is currently a member of the UNP. Uvindu eloquently argued that the incumbent government led by the JVP was duty-bound to ensure that justice would be served to all victims of the JVP uprising and counterterror operations in the late 1980s. He said a large number of UNP members had also died during that period.  

Uvindu’s contention was that the JVP had deviated from its ideological path and ventured into a new terrain, where it had scored an electoral victory. In other words, he is of the view that the JVP under its current leadership has compromised its socialist ideals for expediency, and cannot be relied on to champion the party’s original revolutionary cause. There are ideological differences between the JVP and the other constituents of the NPP coalition, and Uvindu is apparently trying to drive in the wedge.

Uvindu made an interesting observation. Quoting Dr. Bandara, he said those who paid floral tribute to Wijeweera’s portrait did not have the courage to look at their slain leader’s eyes. What he meant was that the present-day JVP leaders felt guilty because they had abandoned the founding principles of the JVP, which Wijeweera cherished.  

The incumbent NPP government is following what the JVP used to condemn as neo-liberal economic policies. JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva, the public face of the JVP’s old guard, is all out to consolidate the power of the JVP core in the government, but it is the non-JVP constituents of the NPP that garnered votes in last year’s elections. The same phenomenon was witnessed in 2004, when the JVP contested a general election as a constituent of the SLFP-led United Freedom People’s Alliance (UPFA) under President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s presidency. It won 41 seats, but granted two of its National List slots to the SLFP. But the Democratic National Alliance of which the JVP was the main constituent could obtain only seven seats in the 2010 general election. Thus, the number of JVP seats decreased from 41 to seven, and perhaps, if it had not coalesced with the DNA of war-winning Army Commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who contested the 2010 presidential election, albeit unsuccessfully, the number of JVP’s seats would have been even lower. So, it can be argued that if the JVP goes it alone in future elections, it will not be able to maintain its electoral performance at the current level.

Over the years, democratic politics has had a mellowing effect on the JVP, which has been weaned from its original revolutionary ideology, and is now focusing on mainstream policies to appeal to a broader electorate. The FSP has retained some of the founding principles of the JVP, but lacks pragmatism and is not likely to gain electorally in the foreseeable future. The Second Generation of Uvindu is apparently trying to present itself as an alternative to the JVP, the FSP and the NPP.

Uvindu was also sighted at a protest staged by a group of unemployed graduates at the Polduwa junction near the parliament on Friday (21). He spoke with the protesters and flayed the JVP-led government for having reneged on its promises to the unemployed graduates. Having enlisted the unemployed graduates’ backing to win last year’s elections, the NPP government had caused roads to be barricaded to hold the protesting graduates at bay, he said.  The Second Parapura is apparently busy stepping up its presence in national politics.