Protests as signs of democracy choking

President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s presidency has got off to a bumpy start. Within hours of his swearing-in on July 21, heavily armed military personnel and police commandos descended on the Galle Face protesters in a pre-dawn operation, which left over a dozen agitators hospitalized. A BBC journalist was also roughed up. That swoop was highly unnecessary, and its timing could not have come at a worse time. President Wickremesinghe has received heavy flak from the Opposition, human rights groups and the media. Foreign diplomats have also frowned on the forcible eviction of the protesters, who had offered to leave the Presidential Secretariat premises later in the day. It is only natural that the July 22 crackdown has come to be viewed as an act of military muscle-flexing by the government to intimidate protesters, and the Opposition.

The Opposition called for an emergency parliamentary session to discuss the Galle Face attack, but the government refused to do so; it said the issue could be taken up during Wednesday’s (July 27) debate on the extension of Emergency. Fireworks are expected in the House when the debate gets underway.    

Saying and doing

Politicians uphold democracy only when they are in the Opposition. They take up the cudgels for the rights of protesters, and even hold street protests to defend the democratic rights of the people when they are out of power. But their love for democracy and the public flies out of the window, the moment they begin to savor power. Sri Lankan politics is about protesting to grab power and crushing protests thereafter.

Wickremesinghe was one of the ardent supporters of the Galle Face protest movement. He not only condemned the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government for unleashing goons on the Go-Gota Gama protesters on May 09 and using the Emergency regulations to suppress political dissent, but also demanded the resignation of the entire government for doing so. He refused to cooperate with the government in view of attacks on democracy. But three days later, he was sworn in as the Prime Minister of the Rajapaksa government; he promised to defend the rights of the protesters and appointed Ruwan Wijewardene to liaise with them and ensure that they were provided with all necessary facilities.    

Wickremesinghe is not alone in promoting protests while out of power, and having them crushed after capturing power. This is the name of the game in this country. Sri Lankan politicians may hold different political ideologies, but all of them are followers of Machiavelli and go by his advice: “The promise given was a necessity of the past; the word broken is a necessity of the present.” This is why the most champions of democracy become the worst violators of human rights after being ensconced in power.

A brief history of hypocrisy

Sirimavo and her leftist allies (1970-1977)

In 1972, the SLFP-led United Front led by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike had no qualms about crushing a bank strike by sacking many workers who took part in it. This, it did while flaunting its commitment to Marxism and allegiance to the socialist bloc. The Finance Minister at the time was none other than Dr. N. M. Perera, whose party, the LSSP, led the 1953 hartal, which shut down the country and almost brought down the UNP government of the day.

In July, 1980, the LSSP and other leftist parties were instrumental in launching a general strike, which the Jayewardene government scuttled by sacking tens of thousands of strikers. They condemned the UNP for suppressing the workers’ rights!

Jayewardene and Premadasa (1977-1993)

The UNP organized a protest march from Colombo to Kandy in 1957 against the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact, claiming that the country was in danger of being divided, but it was stopped by SLFP politicians and their goons before it passed the Gampaha District. Three decades later, J. R. Jayewardene, who led that famous march, crushed protests against the Indo-Lanka Accord. His government and the JVP plunged the country into a bloodbath, which lasted for about two years.

A notorious criminal, named Gonawala Sunil, who was given a presidential pardon while serving a sentence for raping a girl, led the UNP goons used for numerous attacks on Opposition events and rigging elections. Another criminal, known as Kalu Lucky also carried out attacks on the rivals of the UNP. He was responsible for stoning the houses of the Supreme Court judges, in 1983, for giving a judgment in favor of legendary leftist leader Vivienne Goonewardene, who had filed a fundamental rights violation petition against the Police for assaulting her during a protest in Colombo.  

Jayewardene’s successor, Ranasinghe Premadasa also conducted various protests during the United Front government to mobilize the people. He was instrumental in reducing the SLFP to eight seats at the 1977 general election, where the UNP won a five-sixths majority in the parliament. But it was under his presidency that some of the worst attacks on democracy took place. Media freedom was throttled. Journalists were assaulted and Richard de Zoysa was abducted, tortured and murdered. An abortive attempt to impeach him made the situation worse.

Soththi Upali, an underworld figure, became more powerful than even the police. Some high-ranking police officers used to salute him. He was given a free hand to suppress the Opposition. He rose above the law. There were many other criminals working for the Premadasa government.  

The rise of Mahinda Rajapaksa as a national figure became possible owing to the suppression of the democratic rights of the people under the Premadasa government. Mahinda recast his image as a human rights lawyer and activist.  

Kumaratunga (1994-2005)

Another self-proclaimed savior of Sri Lankan democracy was Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, who took part in countless protests against the UNP, and campaigned for the 1994 general election on a pro-democracy platform. She undertook to eliminate the culture of dooshanaya and bheeshanaya (corruption and violence), but democracy continued to suffer heavy blows, and elections were rigged during her presidency. Her presidential security division stood accused of attacking Opposition activists.

In 1999, the SLFP-led People’s Alliance unleashed violence and resorted to large-scale rigging to win the North-Western Provincial Council election. UNP supporters including women were stripped naked, beaten and paraded on roads. Government thugs led by the ministers of the Kumaratunga government chased away polling agents and stuffed the ballot boxes in full view of the police. Journalists such as Rohana Kumara and D. Sivaram were murdered. A dangerous criminal called Baddegana Sanjeewa was appointed a Reserve Sub Inspector of Police and attached to President Kumaratunga’s security division. Editor of The Sunday Leader Lasantha Wickrematunge was roughed up.  

Rajapaksa (2005-2015)

    Kumaratunga’s successor Mahinda Rajapaksa made a name for himself as a champion of human rights, re-entered Parliament in 1989. He had kept the flag flying for the Opposition, and been critical of the Kumaratunga government. But after his election as President, it became clear that his commitment to democracy was only a facade. Attacks on the Opposition continued and political dissent was stifled in every conceivable manner. Sunday Leader Editor Wickrematunge was murdered in broad daylight and several other prominent journalists including Upali Tennakoon were assaulted. The war was used as a cover for attacks on democracy.

Sirasa and Siyatha television stations and The Sunday Leader press came under attack. There were other instances of violence against the Tamil medium newspapers such as theUthayan, but no proper investigations were carried out, and a government involvement in them became evident.

Minister Mervyn Silva openly took on the media. He even stormed the state-owned television station, Rupavahini in December 2010, and roughed up its News Director only to get his just deserts at the hands of irate Rupavahini workers, who attacked him and a thug and held them incommunicado for hours. Some of the workers came under goon attacks later. President Rajapaksa refused to take any action against Minister Silva, who was considered his pet.

The police carried orders to shoot protesters, and a military crackdown in 2013 on a protest against groundwater pollution caused by a factory at Rathupaswala led to the killing of three persons. Pro-government thugs operated openly alongside the police at Opposition protests in Colombo.  

The then Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa stood accused of having a hand in attacks on democracy.

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe (2015-2019)

Democracy got a breather of sorts during the Yahapalanagovernment. Some instances of excesses were reported during anti-government protests, but they were not as bad as those under the previous regimes. Perhaps, that government was too weak to resort to aggression because it was at war with itself with President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe being at loggerheads.

The yahapalana government, however, compromised national security badly and its serous lapses led to the Easter Sunday carnage, in which more than 250 lives were lost in terrorist bombings.

Gotabaya (2019-2022)

 Those who voted for Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the last presidential election did so because they wanted a strong leader; they had had enough with weak leaders of the yahapalana government, and the Easter Sunday carnage made them fear for their safety.

Gotabaya’s political opponents predicted that he would be an autocratic leader and would not hesitate to order military crackdowns on protests. Initially, he was seen to be taking a hardline on errant public officials, and bulldozing his way through, but some of his tough decisions would prove his undoing. He made a fatal mistake by banning agrochemicals overnight, and allowing the rupee to be defended with scarce foreign reserves and taxes to be slashed at the expense of a huge chunk of state revenue. Strangely, he did not get tough with protesters and even let them pitch tents in close vicinity to the Presidential Secretariat thus inviting trouble.

Perhaps Gotabaya was troubled by the many allegations his opponents levelled against him when he was the Defence Secretary, and wary of doing anything that would turn international opinion against him and his government. He also came under diplomatic pressure to refrain from using excessive forces against protesters. His leniency emboldened protesters and led to an increase in agitations, which started near his private residence at Mirihana on March 31 and snowballed into a mass protest movement, causing his ouster.

Present situation and uncertain future

President Wickremesinghe is apparently determined to do everything in his power to keep protesters at bay, and restore political stability. His approach is diametrically opposed to that of his immediate predecessor, Gotabaya. This is not something anyone expected of Wickremesinghe, who was known as a pacifist during the war. But he has read the protesters the riot act and sent a clear message to him by having the Galle Face protesters removed forcibly.

Protests are like fever; they are only symptoms. It is the causes of multiple ailments the Sri Lankan democracy is afflicted with and not the symptoms of them that have to be tackled. The current political upheavals boil down to the prevailing economic meltdown, which is basically due to lack of foreign currency.  

Queues have become the order of the day as the government is without enough dollars to pay for essential imports such as fuel, medicine and food items. The country is likely to run out of oil again unless it manages to secure a substantial loan, the Central Bank has warned, calling for political stability to expedite the process of obtaining IMF assistance. If what is feared comes to pass, the political situation will take a turn for the worse with people joining street protests again in a bid to bring down the government. There is a limit beyond which India cannot go in assisting Sri Lanka. It does not need more problems to contend with. A bridging loan is not forthcoming.  

Worryingly, political instability and the country’s economic woes have entered a vicious circle, which has to be broken if a solution is to be found. Both the government and protesters will have to act responsibly. Easier said than done. When pumps dry at filling stations, and shelves become empty at shops with children crying, unable to bear pangs of hunger, people tend to take to the streets out of desperation. The government has demonstrated a resolve to neutralize protests if they spill out into high security zones. It fired a warning shot on July 21 at the Galle Face. But there is no known antidote to public anger, which could be as inflammable as fuel when the public is in a state of despair. Hence the need for all Opposition political leaders, the organizers of protests including trade unions and the government to act with restraint without derailing efforts being made to rescue the economy, whose revival alone could ameliorate the suffering of the public and help restore political and social order.