The JVP is undoubtedly the best organised political party in Sri Lanka. It is also the richest party in Sri Lanka. Its base includes the youth and adults and disenchanted voters of other parties.
Prior to every election, the JVP takes pains to support the ground campaigning of other parties instead of its own. Is there a particular reason for this? Is their role limited to playing mischief maker in Parliament or simply as a whistleblower while propping a new party to the throne of governance?
Leaving aside the ground support and the funds from foreign branches, who are the real brains that dictate how JVP functions politically? Is their instructions for JVP – not to win elections? Do they plan to “fail” elections and only secure the votes to ensure they are in Parliament?
Power
The JVP successfully brought to power Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Sirisena-Ranil duo. JVP failed in its effort to bring Sarath Fonseka and Sajith Premadasa to power – was this intentional? Is there a particular reason for this?
The ground campaign of all the above irrespective of their winning or losing was outsourced to the JVP. Their support base was used overseas across branches and islandwide to campaign for the contestant they were told should become winner. This next raises the question, why does the JVP shy from taking the leadership mantle instead of helping others to come to power? Can the JVP themselves provide answers.
Each time after falling out with the political parties they partnered, the JVP end up their foes until another election and instructions come to decide who they are to campaign for.
We saw the manner the JVP supported Chandrika and attacked others.
We saw the manner the JVP supported Mahinda and attacked others.
We saw the manner the JVP supported Fonseka and attacked others.
We saw the manner the JVP supported Maithripala-Sirisena and attacked others.
We saw the manner the JVP supported Sajith and attacked others.
At presently the JVP is anti-Mahinda and now suddenly the JVP has gone anti-Ranil.
If anyone is confused to understand how the JVP thinks or functions, it should be to JVPers themselves!
Notice how the leadership and key players find enough and more reasons not to want to sit on the hot seat though they can produce list after list of complaints about governance and how they will do better.
Another puzzle is the manner that inspite of their organising capabilities, their powerful slogans, their campaign capabilities the best they could achieve was three seats and that too thanks to the proportional representation system.
The only conclusion we can derive from this is that this party is playing a political role for other purposes.
From the 1970s, the JVP has succeeded to tap the youth and brainwash their minds. The country’s human assets are heavily influenced by the JVP and no action has been taken to curb this influence taking root within the educational system.
The JVP was used for two insurrections that eliminated the best of youth to the gun, while using the same youth to eliminate the best of Sinhalese in the military, police, academia, artists and so on.
Over 60,000 Sinhalese died because of the JVP. What could these youth have become had they been alive. What would these fallen soldiers, police, artists and academic be today, had the JVP not killed them? The JVP destroyed many public property too – similar to the destruction seen during the last few days. Is there a pattern to the envy and jealousy they suffer as echoed in the recent statement by the JVP General Secretary.
Fronts of JVP (People’s Liberation Front) Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya
Patriotic People’s Armed Troops (attacked SLAF in Pallekele).
Socialist Students Union – Samajavadi Shishya Sangameya.
Jathika Jana Balavegaya (NPP) National People’s Power.
Uniforms
The Deshapremi Janatha Vyaparaya DJV (Patriotic People’s Movement) aligned to the People’s Liberation Front (1987-1989) was the militant branch of the JVP– banned in 1988 as a terrorist organisation after throwing a grenade at the Parliament.
The DJV wore uniforms similar to soldiers of SLAF & targeted military bases as well as police stations.
The DJV opposed the Indo-Lanka Accord. It brought the country to a virtual standstill with its posters and death threats and assassinations.
The DJV comprised undergraduates from the University of Peradeniya.
Interestingly, where the JVP and Tamil organisations get linked was in the supply of arms – the primary motivation for this was to get rid of the IPKF. JVP had even trained alongside Tamil militant groups.
The DJV also received international funds – from whom & for what?
Patriotic People’s Army (PPA)
Militant arm of the JVP/PLF
The PPA and DJV attacked civilians and Sri Lanka Security Forces. PPA attacked the army camp in Pallekele, John Kotelawala Defense Academy and the SLAF Katunayake base. Death threats were issued calling for military personnel to desert and join them.
Socialist Students Union – Samajavadi Shishya Sangameya
The SSU is a member of the Inter-University Students Federation and is the oldest student union in Sri Lanka. In 1988 the SSU and the Patriotic Students Union was banned.
Jathika Jana Balawegaya – National People’s Power (NPP)
The Coalition of 28 political parties, worker unions, women’s rights groups, youth organisations and ethnic communities and was established in 2015 by Anura Kumara Dissanayake leader of the JVP. Anura Kumara is the leader of the coalition while General Secretary is Lakshman Nipuna Arachchi. The NPP ideologically centres around communism but is also supporting democracy and secularism.
The crimes of the JVP are unknown to most – not only the loss of human lives but the massive loss to public property – buses and depots, transformers, state centres – all gutted down. Were these damages valued – Did the JVP pay for these crimes? Before pointing fingers at corruptions of others – shouldn’t the JVP clean its house of guilt first?
Let’s look at how the JVP has fared in elections:
1994 General Elections Sri Lanka Progressive Front – 90,078 votes / 1 seat
2000 General Elections – Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 518,774 votes (5.99 percent) / 9,128,823 total voted Total seats = 10 (8 district / 2 national list)
2001 General Elections – Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna=People’s Liberation Front 815,353 votes (9.0 percent) / 9,449,813 Total seats = 16 (13 district/3 national list)
2015 – People’s Liberation Front 544154 votes Total seats = 6 (4 district / 2 national list)
2020 – Jathika Jana Balawegaya (established in 2015) 445958 votes (3.8 percent) Total seats = 3 (2 district / 1 national list)
JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake contested the Presidential Elections in 2020 and secured only 418,553 (3.16 percent)
Under the camouflage of a political party, advancing its ideology combining socialism and democracy, the JVP is tasked to play a bigger role.
A. Swaying Sinhalese away from ethno-nationalism.
B. Swaying Sinhalese away from embracing and defending Buddhist history and heritage.
C. Swaying Sinhalese away from preserving, protecting and promoting its traditions and cultures.
D. Drilling envy, jealousy and hate into the minds of university students the majority of whom come from poor/rural homes.
E. Brainwashing these poor/rural students who inherently suffer inferiority complexes by turning that into seeking revenge from those who have instead of inspiring them to take their talents to greater heights and doing well in life.
The success of the above five areas that the JVP has been outsourced to do can be seen in the behaviour of not only university students but even academia and adults that support not only their ideology but their line of thinking as well.
Is the JVP only tasked to carry out election campaign contracts and somehow pass the finishing line to place at least three in Parliament while their bigger role in social-education-cultural transformation continues?