The JVP strikes out - can the UNF strike back?
By Our Political Editor

Late Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike described the late N. M. Perera as the man who "murdered my husband without killing him,'' or words to that effect. ( "mage swami purushaya nomara meru N. M. Perera")

That was for leading a wave of strikes that virtually made the country ungovernable when S. W. R. D Bandaranaike formed his coalition government in 1956. All too soon, and almost before Bandaranaike could get a handle on events, he was assassinated.
Now, the Janatha Vimukthi Permauna is taking the old left's most potent weapon, and attempting to immolate this government in a wave of destructive strikes. The JVP has sounded the warning: "you ain't seen nothing yet.''

The government's hour of reckoning may not have arrived, but this week was one in which there was an increasing sense both among government and opposition that there was some kind of ferment in the country.

The JVP march (as part of the Jathi Hithaiyshee Sanvidanaya) against the "sellout of the country'', plus the strikes had given the government the kind of jolt that kept the government think tank's doing extra time. At the pre-Cabinet meeting, there was a visible anger among many of the Ministers who said that this wave of strikes and disruption should not be allowed to go on.

The Prime Minister was listening, but he also attempted to put things in some kind of perspective. Over the weekend, he said, he will be meeting Treasury officials in a hideout in Bentota to plan for the forthcoming budget. This he said will be a people's budget that will attempt to pass onto the people some of the benefits from the peace effort and what he called "economic regeneration.'' There was a substantial pay hike on the cards.

Pre-empt
The opposition it was explained was, for one, trying to pre-empt this situation and create a wave of strikes, in order to sabotage the government's economic successes, and for another, trying to create enough noise to say when the real benefits come that "it was our agitation that compelled the government to concede these benefits.''
But, in spite of it, the Ministers pointed out that the JVPs plan should be met, as the government was appearing to be unable to get some of the strikes under control which was not good for its image.

Eventually, there was strong agreement on new legislation for instance to combat wildcat strikes. Though the exact moves contemplated are not certain, there are moves to legislate so that no strike can be carried out by unions unless held under secret ballot and having the approval of 66 per cent of the membership.

In this backdrop, some analysis of the JVP situation was in order. Was the JVP infiltrating the old unions that used to be commanded by the more responsible - - or at least the less bothersome (from the government's point of view) old left? To a great extent this was what the JVP was doing, which has precipitated the government's thinking on legislating to meet the new labour threat from the ranks of the new radical left in the form of the JVP.

Mobilised
There is also intense guessing among the politically conscious about the real strength of the JVP. Is the JVP really generating some real sympathy for its cause, and causing a kind of political upheaval that should disturb the UNF government, or was it just the JVP's block voters who were backing it - - and was it just its normal rank and file support that was being mustered in the marches and other exercises?
Apart from all of that, government frontliners were in a severe state of anxiety over how the JVP had mobilised funds for instance, for these kinds of public awareness exercises when the government itself has to take from state funds for the peace propagation drive that it seeks to launch in the interests of peace awareness?
Was the JVP in other words on a roll, and was it poised to increase its support to such an extent that any party will have to solicit JVP support if it wants, in future, to form a government?

This is the situation, of the JVP having to be a compulsory coalition partner, that the President for instance wants to avoid at all costs. But her party is not exactly buying the idea. The President has now appointed a new committee to pursue the talks for a tie up with the JVP - - and the impression of the party heavyweights who have pushed for a JVP alliance, this committee has been deliberately made up in such a way that the real voices that are seeking a JVP alliance are kept out. The MPs appointed to this committee are Sarath Amunugama, Maitripala Sirisena, Susil Premjayanth, and Tudor Dayaratne.

There is some splittism within the party over the JVP matter, and even if there is no split between them it is significant for instance that Mangala Samaraweera is one of the MPs pushing harder for a tie-up with the JVP than the President herself who had taken up the stand that the SLFP is the main player and that the SLFP cannot be made subservient to the JVP just because a coalition was probably an option in the interests of grabbing power.

But the President is also aware of the ferment within her party, and when the enfant terrible Dilan Perera for instance raised this issue when a group of her MPs were hosted for a meal at the President's house, the President's answer was that anyone who wants to participate in any meetings with the JVP can do so. But soon it was clear that her interest was to make sure that MPs did not participate in large numbers.

Handful
This she was able to accomplish, because it was only a handful of PA Ministers who participated at the meeting of the Jathi Hithaiyshee Sanvidanaya held last week in Nittambuwa for instance. Reggie Ranatunge, Arjuna Ranatunge, Mangala Samaraweera, Sripathy Sorriyaracchi and Anura Bandaranaike were among the few.
The JVP and the opposition line of attack is mainly on the peace issue which is sold as a sellout of national interests and the labour and cost of living issues, the labour issue being mainly the pivot on which strikes and other destabilisation is being carried out.

But, new fronts were opened up for attack last week, and these were issues based, even though some issues have been genuinely raised by the government's apolitical critics. One such was the issue of the PMs speech on Iraq at the UN sessions at which the Premier had said something to the effect that the US intervention in Iraq was justified.

The JVP particularly with support from Anura Bandaranike and others from the main opposition party portrayed this as a deliberate and stupid provocation of the Muslims of this country. By the middle of the week this had government MPs scurrying to do damage control, and their main line of argument was that the American invasion was not so much the issue - - because the real issue was that nobody was for Saddam Hussein who was a tyrannical despot.

Arab League
But when this argument did not cut much ice because even the UN had not sanctioned the intervention, the UNF MPs responded by saying that the Arab League does not appear to be against the intervention - - so what was all this noise that was being made about the Sri Lankan Muslims being against Ranil's statement?
Then there was the issue of Cancun. Has the Sri Lankan government bartered away its self respect for some sop offered by the Americans at Cancun?

With newspapers claiming that the government had sold out to American interests in Cancun, going against the Third World sentiment on mattes such as free trade agreements etc., the government again went on damage control. The government's version of it was that it played the game sagaciously, with the interests of the government at heart while not alienating key players such as India for example.
While the EU countries were going on the so called Singapore principles, such as unimpeded investment, untrammelled competition etc., the Americans were for opening up of markets with a carte blanche.

The Sri Lankan side, so says the government, took all issues piecemeal, and said that it supports India for instance on the issue of agricultural products for which Sri Lanka agreed on restrictions on trade in view of the current agricultural development drive.

But, on the issue of free market for example, the Sri Lankan government went on the basis that free market is good because the textile quotas were hurting the country with a whopping part of the GDP raised on textile exports.

Therefore, the rationale was to approve some measures even if it is to ally with American interests because that will be good for the local economy. Even on the Singapore principles, the government agreed on the issue of investment etc,. but wanted the issue of “competition’’and clarified, because the government was not encouraging monopolies. So the explanation is that it was not a sellout to foreign interests in Cancun -- but a piecemeal carefully calibrated strategy. But the flak continues to come for the government on that, and the debate continues.

Developing politics
Overshadowed by all these developments in the South was a key development which had some bearings on the developing politics in the North and the East. This is when the President on Tuesday night met with leaders of a new coalition of parties called the Tamil Development Front. The four parties include the EPDP, the EPRLF Varthan wing, the EROS and the PLOTE.

These parties while urging the President to pursue her own peace agenda as articulated in the proposals that she mooted when she was in power, also urged her that the North East merger be respected as that is now a permanent fact in Tamil politics in the region.

The LTTE meanwhile seemed to be following the strategy of getting non-governmental organisations to voice certain views which will be presented as authentic views of the Tamil people when the LTTE's counter proposals for an Interim administration are presented to the government.

For instance the Jaffna Union of School Principals have asked that an Interim administration that is called an ''autonomous interim administration'' be negotiated with the government, with full land, fiscal, police powers, and the powers to raise its own funds through foreign aid and other means.

The LTTE Dublin meeting on the other hand though termed a wrap up sessions before the Interim administration proposals are presented to the government may not be a wrap up season after all - -- because there is likelihood that still more talks will continue before the proposals are finally put to the government.