by Vishvanath
The Opposition succeeded in putting the JVP-NPP government on the defensive, much earlier than expected, with the help of an effective propaganda campaign, highlighting the ruling alliances’ lapses, ineptitude, policy contradictions, and unfulfilled election promises. The SJB, the UNP and the SLPP also joined forces at the grassroots level to defeat the NPP in elections to a considerable number of key cooperative societies, causing much concern to the government.
With the next local government (LG) elections only a few weeks away, the NPP has sought to turn the tables on the Opposition; it has launched a counterattack, which President Anura Kumara Dissanayake himself is leading. He is leveraging his popularity in a bid to boost the image of the government and regain lost ground.
The NPP has so far held about five meetings, the first of which was held in Kalutara on Jan. 19. These rallies are basically party events aimed at boosting the morale of the NPP’s rank and file and mobilizing them for the upcoming LG polls. They arguably amount to preaching to the choir, but the NPP leaders are using them to counter the Opposition’s hostile propaganda by ensuring that their speeches, and renewed pledges receive maximum possible media coverage. Besides, President Dissanayake faced an interview with Sirasa TV on Jan. 21 as part of the NPP’s propaganda drive.
President Dissanayake, addressing an NPP meeting in Thambuttegama, over the weekend, promised a considerable pay hike for public employees from the upcoming budget. His pledge will go down well with the state workers, who number about 1.5 million, but there are more than five million non-state sector workers without any relief. Their woes will persist and influence how they vote in future elections. On the other hand, pay increases do not necessarily translate into an increase in popular support for the government that grants them, as evident from the experience of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government in 2015. President Ranil Wickremesinghe also granted considerable relief to the public sector workers, but he came a poor third in the last presidential contest, and the UNP suffered a humiliating defeat once again in the general election that followed.
Saturday’s arrest of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second son, Yoshitha, can also be considered a part of the government’s counterattack, which looks multi-pronged. Yoshitha has been remanded until today (28), when the Colombo Magistrate’s Court will decide whether to grant him bail or remand him further.
The reason given for Yoshitha’s arrest is an allegation of money laundering involving a property of his grandmother in Ratmalana. The Opposition was quick to claim that the government had launched a political witch-hunt by using an old allegation. Pivithuru Hela Urumaya Leader and attorney-at-law, Udaya Gammanpila, addressing the media, on Sunday, warned the Inspector General of Police of legal action against him for malicious prosecution, pointing out that the Yahapalana government, too, had resorted to politically motivated arrests and caused Yoshitha and National Freedom Front Leader Wimal Weerawansa to be held on remand for months without charges being filed against them.
Police Spokesman SSP K. B. Manatunga claimed at a media briefing on Sunday that the arrest of Yoshitha had been devoid of politics. He categorically stated that Public Security Minister Ananda Wijeypala had no hand in it. The question is whether the public will buy into his claim because the police have never been free of political interference, and NPP politicians have made statements which suggest that they had prior knowledge of Yoshitha’s arrest, as Gammanpila has pointed out.
The NPP government has antagonized the farming community, especially rice growers, who are being fleeced by a cartel of wealthy millers with political connections again.
Paddy harvesting has commenced in several districts and farmers are demanding a guaranteed price for their produce. They complain that the millers purchase their paddy at Rs. 98 per kilo, and they cannot even recover the production costs. Some farmers’ associations have accused the government of allowing the private millers to stock up on paddy before announcing a minimum purchase price for paddy. Consumers are troubled by a chronic shortage of rice, especially nadu and red raw varieties, and the prices of rice are unprecedentedly high. The same is true of coconuts, and some unwarranted remarks made by NPP politicians about the consumption of coconut milk and pol sambal have incensed the public beyond measure. They have been adding insult to injury. Delays in the Customs clearance of imported freight containers have angered importers and truck drivers, and the costs of those delays are likely to lead to increases in the prices of imported goods including essentials. Tens of thousands of people are still waiting for passports, but the government is not seen to be doing enough to obviate the delays. It also mishandled the electricity tariff revision, and therefore failed to gain political mileage out of the recent power price reduction granted by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka in the face of considerable opposition from the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Minister of Power Kumara Jayakody, who insisted in the parliament that an electricity tariff reduction was not within the realm of possibility due to the CEB’s losses.
The so-called anti-incumbency factor works in such a way that any ruling party has to be careful with its attacks on the Opposition, for they usually do not resonate with the public at large, especially in situations where it reneges on its election promises. Therefore, the problem with counteroffensives launched by governments in power is that they tend to be counterproductive. It may be recalled that an all-out propaganda onslaught carried out by the UPFA against its political rivals during the second term of President Mahinda Rajapaksa backfired. Several high-profile arrests including that of the war-winning Army Commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who unsuccessfully challenged Mahinda in the 2010 presidential race, led to a public opinion backlash for the Rajapaksa government.
The NPP government’s counterattack has already had a unifying effect on the Opposition parties, which were at daggers drawn. The SJB has pledged solidarity with Mahinda Rajapaksa over the government’s efforts to curtail his entitlements as a former President. The UNP has done likewise. Former President Wickremesinghe has taken up the cudgels for Mahinda, Chandrika and Sirisena. So have the SJB leaders. A drastic reduction in Mahinda’s security has led to a legal battle, which the government may not have bargained for. Most of all, the SJB and the UNP are in overdrive to forge a common alliance for the upcoming LG polls against the NPP. UNP leader Wickremesinghe has stressed the need for the two parties to redouble their efforts and achieve their goal latest by Feb. 10, as the LG elections are expected to be declared soon.
The challenge before the ruling NPP is to put the Opposition on the defensive on the political front, retain its electoral performance at the optimal level and score an impressive win in the upcoming LG polls.
