Many people may not be familiar with the above-given free verse poem, which has resurfaced recently, and is being widely circulated via social media. It used to be more or less the JVP’s revolutionary anthem, several decades ago. Roughly rendered into English, it means ‘the dark era which robbed you of your happiness, filled your heart with sorrow, troubled you with pangs of hunger and made you wear rags, is over. Your turn has come. Rise, ye, rise, without cringing and crawling’. It was a call to arms, and the slain founder leader of the JVP, Rohana Wijeweera, used to recite it at all major political rallies, especially during his presidential election campaign, in 1982. It had an electrifying effect on his audiences, which his fiery oratory would reduce to tears and infuse with a great deal of passion for rising against the government of the day, and the state at large. Wijeweera called for a ‘system change’.
Wijeweera’s successor, Somawasnsa Amaraweera, used to recite the party’s anthem at public meetings, from time to time, in a bid to jazz up his speeches, and pump up his audiences. It is doubtful whether the present-day JVP activists, especially those born after the second JVP uprising in the late 1980s, are even aware of it.
JVP anthem in present context
One may wonder what the relevance of Wijeweera’s favourite poem to the current socio-political context is. It is of much relevance and significance today. Doubts that any seasoned political observer may have had about the claim that the JVP was also behind the Galle Face protest would have been cleared, the moment he or she saw this poem being circulated by some organizers of the ‘Gotagogama’ agitation, which was made out to be an apolitical movement. In this country, virtually nothing is devoid of politics, which has not spared even religious leaders and institutions. The person who posted the poem at issue may not have thought it would expose the JVP’s active involvement in the protest, which had to be made to look free politics so as to attract people across the political spectrum.
JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva happened to admit, at a recent media briefing, that the JVP had been behind the Galle Face protest right from the beginning. He said so in answer to a question from a journalist why the JVP leaders had been free to visit the Galle Face protest site whereas Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa was assaulted there. He blamed Premadasa for having been there in a luxury SUV, the sight of which, he claimed, had incensed the protesters!
Silva said the JVP leaders had refrained from visiting the protest site until 09 May, when a large number of SLPP local councillors and their goons descended on the protesters there after meeting the then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaska at Temple Trees. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake himself rushed to the protest site, and pledged solidarity with the victims of the SLPP goon attacks.
JVP Politburo member K. D. Lal Kantha has gone on record as saying that when the Galle Face protest came under attack, the JVP sent around a message to its activists, urging them to take to the streets. Thus, it became evident that the JVP was involved in the Galle Face protest as well as protests that the SLPP goon attacks triggered. The Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) has admitted that it was also behind the Galle Face protest.
The spate of counter-violence, triggered by the unprovoked goon attacks on the Galle Face protest, left several persons dead including an SLPP MP, and properties of a large number of ruling party ministers and MPs gutted. The victims are demanding compensation for the losses caused by anti-government mobs, and their critics are insisting that they be made to explain how they acquired those properties, and whether they had declared them to the Inland Revenue and paid taxes. Hundreds of people whose properties suffered damage due to cooking gas explosions, a few months ago, because the state-owned gas company allegedly compromised safety standards, are demanding that they be compensated before the SLPP politicians.
Protest running out of steam
The Galle Face protest has been running out of steam since the wave of violence that swept many parts of the country following the SLPP goon attacks, the resignation of Prime Minister Rajapaksa, and the appointment of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister. Tens of thousands of people visited the Galle Face Green in support of the protesters before 09 May. The place was overflowing with food and beverages courtesy of members of the public and some unknown well-wishers believed to be members of the business community and NGOs. Various conspiracy theories were also concocted; one was that some foreign embassies, hostile towards the government, were funding the protest to further their interests. These are unsubstantiated allegations, and conspiracy theories abound in the country. However, one thing is clear; the uncommon elan of the supporters of the Galle Face protest has manifestly fizzled out. Why? Was it due to counter-violence which engulfed the country much to the horror of the law-abiding people, who supported the Galle Face protest? Did the revelation that the JVP and the FSP were behind the protest lead to the disillusionment of the public? Did the business community pull out its support after Wickremesinghe became the PM because it has faith in him, and does not want to cause trouble? It is no secret that some private companies even encouraged their employees to visit the Galle Face protest site and granted them leave and provided them with transport. Is it that the protest was aimed at ousting Mahinda, who is considered pro-Chinese, and the organizers lost interest in it after achieving their objective? There are many such questions being asked about the Gotagohome Gama agitation, but it is not possible to figure out exactly what caused the Galle Face protest to lose vigour, and the reason may be a combination of several factors mentioned above. Anyway, it is extremely difficult to sustain the momentum of a protest campaign over a long period of time because it loses magic and involves huge costs. The Galle Face protest is entering the second month.
In an interesting turn of events, a fundamental rights petition filed by a protester seeking a Supreme Court order against an alleged move to remove the makeshift structures, providing shelter to agitators at the Galle Face Green, was dismissed in limine, on Thursday. The ruling was by a three-judge bench, consisting of Justice Buwaneak Aluwihare, L. T. B. Dehideniya and A.H.M.A.D. Nawaz.
The petitioner was N. Hameem, and the respondents were the Inspector General of Police, the Army Commander, the Secretary to the President and the Attorney General.
It will be interesting to see what action the police will take based on the Supreme Court ruling. The protesters are blocking the entrance to the Presidential Secretariat, and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has had to operate from the President’s House. PM Wickremesinghe says the protest must go on, and the government will not interfere with it.
A JVP-FSP merger on the cards?
The JVP does not tolerate dissent, and its internal problems led to a crippling split in 2012. Thereafter, there were clashes between it and its offshoot, the FSP, which grabbed power in university student councils previously dominated by the JVP. They did not see eye to eye on virtually anything. Curiously, they did not fight at the Galle protest, and, in fact, fully cooperated, and much to the surprise of political observers, their senior members had a meeting at the JVP headquarters, Battaramulla on Thursday (02). It was their first powwow after their break-up a decade ago.
Thursday’s discussion was widely seen as the first step towards the JVP and the FSP forming a joint front. Lal Kantha and FSP Education Secretary, Pubudu Jagoda, however, sought to play down speculations about a merger of the two parties. Speaking to the media, after the meeting, Lal Kantha said the two parties had only reached an understanding on the need to work together over certain issues, and talks would continue. Jagoda told reporters that the FSP had been meeting Opposition parties, and nothing had been discussed, at Thursday’s meeting, about forming an electoral alliance. But the JVP watchers insist that the JVP-FSP coming together is likely to go beyond a mere political arrangement to make common cause on vital politico-economic issues. How group dynamics in the JVP and the FSP will work, and whether they will facilitate an alliance between the two parties or stand in the way of such a coming together remains to be seen.
