The government seems to have adopted a fatalistic attitude; it seems oblivious to the danger of anarchy descending on the country. Having pinned all their hopes on the IMF, its leaders are apparently keeping their fingers crossed while the economic crisis is worsening by the day with street protests intensifying across the country against the fuel shortage and the soaring cost of living. The number of buses on the roads is decreasing rapidly, and trade union actions are disrupting the train service much to the consternation of the commuting public. The country is grinding to a halt without fuel, slowly but surely, and at this rate a breakdown of the food supply chain will be inevitable.
The Opposition and the SLPP dissidents have gone on the offensive in what appears to be a determined bid to bring down the government, and form an all-party caretaker administration. The SJB MPs protested in the parliament on Tuesday, asking President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was present there, to step down. Their government counterparts shouted slogans in support of the President, who left the Chamber after a while, as he usually does when he attends the parliament to fulfil a constitutional requirement.
Tuesday’s parliamentary session was a stormy one. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe clashed with Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. He sought to rubbish the JVP’s offer to rescue the economy and grant relief to the public within six months if it is allowed to form a government. He offered to resign if Dissanayake could present a comprehensive programme spelling out how the JVP was planning to turn around the economy in six months. Their heated exchanges only disrupted the parliamentary proceedings. Instead of seeking the cooperation of its rivals to control the crisis, the government has adopted a confrontational approach, which will make crisis management even more difficult.
Self-criticism
On Monday, former Rajapaksa loyalist, Wimal Weerawansa, tore into the government, in the parliament, claiming that the President was nowhere to be seen while the country was burning, and the Prime Minister was at sea. Insisting that the government had outlived its usefulness, he urged the parliament to address the problems the people were beset with instead of spending its time on other matters, which could wait.
The legislature had to show that it cared for the people, who were crying out for relief, Weerawansa said. Other Opposition MPs expressed similar views, and SJB MP Chaminda Wijesiri went so far as to justify the destruction of the houses of the politicians who, he said, had stolen public funds. Chief Government Whip and Minister, Prasanna Ranatunga, whose house was also burned down by a mob in May took exception to Wijesiri’s statement. He said that if the properties of those who had acquired wealth at the expense of the public were to be destroyed, the properties of all Opposition MPs would not be safe. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena was seen struggling to stick to the agenda for the day with several MPs demanding that the burning issues of the day be taken up for discussion. In the end, there was no serious discussion on how the parliament could make a contribution towards controlling the crisis.
Having read the public mood accurately, some Opposition MPs are taking up people’s problems for discussion and issuing ominous warnings in the aftermath of mob attacks on the Libyan Parliament building, a part of which was gutted on Friday; thankfully, the place was empty at the time of the attacks. There have been several instances where angry crowds tried to march on Sri Lanka’s parliament, as well, and the Sri Lankan legislators had better tread cautiously without incurring the wrath of the public anymore if they are to avoid trouble. They should bear in mind that protesters are demanding that all 225 MPs go home. This is an indication that the people have lost their faith in the entire legislature.
Grand alliance in the making
The Opposition is finally waking up to the realization that divided it cannot stand, and has to present a united front against the SLPP by forging a grand alliance to topple the current regime and install a unity government. The SJB, the SLFP, the JVP-led National People’s Power (NPP), the TNA, etc., have been working in silos, conducting separate protest campaigns, and their disunity has been to the advantage of the government. There are signs of some Opposition parties making an effort to come together under one umbrella to push for an all-party interim government. A meeting they had at the Opposition Leader’s Office on Monday could be considered the beginning of a joint Opposition campaign. It was co-chaired by the leader of the Opposition and the SJB, Sajith Premadasa, and the SLFP leader and former President, Maithripala Sirisena. Several civil society activists were also present there.
The Opposition parties with parliamentary representation met again on Tuesday (05) at the parliament complex. The NPP was conspicuous by its absence. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, SJB spokesman, Tissa Attanayake, said the Opposition would muster a majority in the House to topple the government. This is going to be a tall order where the current numerical strength of the Opposition is concerned, but the worsening crisis and public protests could weaken the government, which has already lost more than 40 MPs, and its two-thirds majority.
SJB-SLFP marriage on the cards?
Sirisena’s criticism of the government has become very vocal of late. There is no love lost between him and the Rajapaksa family. They have wronged each other. But adversity is said to make strange bedfellows, and after their break-up in late 2014, they smoked the peace pipe in 2018, when Sirisena had the UNP undermining him as the President, and the Rajapaksas were trying to make a comeback. They buried the hatchet and formed a political alliance, but Sirisena’s affinity for Sajith remained intact.
Sirisena, as the President, chose to remain neutral at the last presidential election although the SLFP was part of the 17-member Sri Lanka People’s Freedom Alliance or Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Sandanaya, which fielded Gotabaya Rajapaksa as its presidential candidate on the SLPP ticket. He allowed his party members to back either Rajapaksa or SJB presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa. But allegations abounded that the Sirisena loyalists supported Premadasa on the sly, and even used the Presidential Secretariat for that purpose. Sirisena thus refrained from burning bridges, despite closing ranks with the Rajapaksa family, and his party secured 14 seats in the current parliament by hitching its wagon to the SLPP, which was on a winning streak. After the SLPP’s victory, at the 2020 general election, he did not join the Cabinet. It was a clever move because he could thereby avoid the blame for the omissions and commission of the SLPP government. His strategy seems to have worked for him, and he is now presenting his party as an alternative to the SLPP, which has become extremely unpopular.
It will be well-nigh impossible for the SLFP to win a future election under its own steam, and, therefore, has to coalesce with another party with a sizable vote bank. It has to leave the SLPP, which has ruined the prospects of winning an election in the foreseeable future thanks to its colossal blunders which have led to the present crisis and the suffering of the people; the SJB is the best choice the SLFP is now left with. The SJB also needs an ally that is capable of eating into the SLPP’s vote bank. So, a political alliance between the SJB and the SLFP is mutually beneficial to each other.
The JVP/NPP is not likely to enter into an electoral alliance with the SJB and the SLFP, for ideological reasons, but will not mind joining an all-party caretaker government that is not led by the SLPP as all parties represented in the parliament are coming under pressure from various quarters to form a national unity government and help resolve the crisis.
