Columns

• Basil returns to work out SLPP strategy
• NPP mobilises retired police officers in addition to other retired security forces personnel to support its campaign
• Gotabaya’s book alleges conspiracy to oust him, but presents no facts to back the claim
• ITAK leader attends funeral of Rajiv Gandhi killer; urges that other convicts be sent back to the country

By Our Political Editor

A noteworthy event for the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) was the return to Colombo of its founder and key strategist, Basil Rajapaksa. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power made forays into a new area—mobilise retired Police officers as a separate group. Parliamentarians frowned on the Central Bank’s top brass over their decision to unilaterally raise the salaries of their staff. Both the ruling party and opposition MPs felt they would earn the wrath of state sector employees who were without a pay increase. Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa published a book titled “THE CONSPIRACY to oust me from the Presidency.” If indeed there was a conspiracy, that was not bared, not even in a veiled way. There are increasing signs that he wants to return to politics.  Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) leader Sivagnanam Sritharan took part in the last rites of an assassin of late Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi and hailed him as a hero.

The return of the one-time Finance Minister, Basil Rajapaksa, last Tuesday was hugely different from those of the past. When the SLPP held sway, he was the cynosure of all parliamentarians in their fold. They turned up at the VIP Lounge at the Bandaranaike International Airport with garlands and floral bouquets to greet and welcome him. However, this time, the difference showed glaringly. There were only six MPs – his nephew Namal Rajapaksa, SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam, Jayantha Ketagoda, Arundika Fernando, Chinthaka Amal Mayadunne and Prasanna Ranatunga.

A controversy over using the VIP Lounge at the BIA on the last occasion in November 2022 notwithstanding, Rajapaksa used the same venue to meet visitors who had turned up to greet him. He arrived on Emirates flight EK-650 and was formally received by Prasanna Ranatunga, Chief Organiser of the SLPP. “I go to America every year to see my children. I will not enter Parliament. However, I will organise the SLPP to be ready for a presidential and parliamentary election,” he said. He asserted that “no matter who contests,” the SLPP would win. It was his nephew Udayanga Weeratunga who told a YouTube channel interview that Basil would enter Parliament and be the next Prime Minister.

A section of the gathering at the NPP women’s rally in Ratnapura.

The very next day (Wednesday) Basil joined his brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, for a meeting with President Ranil Wickremesinghe, at the former official residence at Mahagama Sekera Mawatha (former Paget Road). A considerable part of the time was taken to assess the current political situation. Both Mahinda Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa thereafter raised questions on matters relating to policy connected to the economy and political issues. The duo were seeking President Wickremesinghe’s views before the SLPP could eventually formulate the stance towards a presidential candidate. There were queries on Wickremesinghe’s ethnic reconciliation programme. As reported earlier, the move to remain without formally backing a candidate remains the SLPP’s position. However, as a high-ranking SLPP source pointed out, the party would seek to win a string of demands. That would include the accommodation of their senior members in a future government. According to this source, the prospects of an alliance to back Wickremesinghe were unlikely.

NPP mobilises retired Police officers

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna  (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) has embarked on the task of forming a unit made up of retired police officers. Interestingly, it has enlisted the support of a one-time Police Chief, several retired DIGs and other senior officers. The selection is being made by a committee appointed for the task. There will be district-level units.

The NPP has already formed units made up of retired Army, Navy and Air Force personnel. The Army unit is headed by retired Major General Aruna Jayatilleke, the Navy unit by retired Rear Admiral J. Seneviratne and the Air Force unit by retired Air Marshal Sampath Thuyakonte.

NPP leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake said the retired Police officer’s unit would be formed by the end of this month. “We are careful in selecting members. They are whetted by a committee,” he declared.

The NPP’s youth rally, the first before the presidential election, will be held in Matara on March 17. Early this month the NPP held its women’s rally in Ratnapura.

This week saw a growing increase in the diplomatic community’s interest in the NPP. A host of diplomats met NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and other seniors. They included Dr Zuhair M.H. Dar Zaid, Ambassador of the State of Palestine, Ms. R Demet Sekercioglu, Ambassador of Turkiye, Ariful Islam, High Commissioner for Bangladesh, Ms Gustina Dobing, Republic of Indonesia, Herui Prayitino, Head of the Chancery of the Indonesian Embassy, Badi Hisham bin Adam, High Commissioner for Malaysia and Ms Fathimath Ghina, Acting Ambassador for the Republic of Maldives. Also present were National Executive members of the NPP, Bimal Ratnayake, Dr Nalinda Jayatissa, Dr Rizwie Salih and Muditha Nanayakkara.

Basil Rajapaksa greets his supporters after arrival in Colombo. Also in the picture are Udayanga Weeratunga (left) and Sagara Kariyawasam, General Secretary of the SLPP (behind).

CBSL TOP BRASS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC FINANCE

It was no doubt an embarrassing moment for the Central Bank Governor, Nandalal Weerasinghe. He turned up in Parliament before the Committee on Public Finance. There were seven others accompanying him besides Deputy Governors. It was Gevindu Kumaratunga who raised a query. “Who are these people,” he asked.

Governor Weerasinghe replied that they were trade union representatives. A chorus of voices declared they had not been invited. Weerasinghe said he had brought them along to explain matters. However, they were not allowed and told to remain outside.

There was some shock and awe when Governor Weerasinghe declared that the pay increase for CBSL (Central Bank of Sri Lanka) employees had been made not utilising government money. After it was pointed out that the Constitution (Article 148) said Parliament was in overall control of public finance, Committee Chairman Harsha de Silva read out the provision. Parliamentarian Charitha Herath, a former Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), was locked in an argument. He sought the help of an official of the Attorney General’s Department, present at the meeting, to clarify issues. She ruled in favour of Herath.  Chairman Harsha de Silva was to declare the next day on the floor of the House that the CBSL had the right to increase the salaries of its staff.

The CBSL presented a 22-page document titled “Salary Revisions under the Collective Agreements between Trade Unions and the Management.” Most parliamentarians complained they could discern by how much salary increases have been effected and the amounts received by the beneficiaries. The document did not give specifics of the salaries increased but listed them in percentages. The document noted that “the authority to determine remuneration of CBSL employees has always been with the Monetary Board/Governing Board…. It added, “Since 1950, the Monetary Board always determined salaries of employees under the provisions of the Monetary Law Act. This practice was followed as provided under the new CBSL Act by the Governing Board in January 2024. For this purpose, ADDITIONAL AUTHONOMY has NEITHER BEEN GRANTED NOR USED by the Governing Board under the new CBSL Act.”

A more damning statement was made by a parliamentarian who now sits in the opposition. “I believe the CBSL did not want to give us the figures. I heard that the salary of a labourer is more than Rs 280,000 a month, much more than the salary of the Secretary to the President,” said Herath.

GOTA’S ALLEGATIONS OF A CONSPIRACY IN A NEW BOOK

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa released a book titled THE CONSPIRACY to oust me from the Presidency. A source familiar with the development claimed that he plans to return to politics. The idea is to return to Parliament as an SLPP National List member after the next parliamentary elections. This, however, could not be confirmed independently.

As the title of the book claims, there was a conspiracy to oust him from the presidency which he has held for two years by then, there are little or no facts or even suggestions in the book about the conspiracy itself. It is a very tame narration of several events, more particularly around the aragalaya or protests. He does not explain the reasons for fleeing the country, first to the Maldives and thereafter to Singapore. Particularly about the Maldives, factual references appear to have been changed perhaps to avoid causing embarrassment to the government there. He arrived in the Maldivian capital of Male when then-President Ibrahim Solih was on a pilgrimage to Mecca. There are, however, several takeaways. They come in the form of confirming some key events and laying bare others. Here are some of them:

<  ON LOSS OF TAX REVENUE: Former Secretary to the Ministry of Finance S.R. Attygalle pointed out in his submissions to the Parliamentary Select Committee on the causes for Sri Lanka’s Financial Bankruptcy, one of the main reasons for the reduction in tax inflows during 2020 and 2021 was the banning of the import of personal vehicles. He pointed out that in 2019, USD 843 million worth of personal vehicles were imported into the country. At an average tax of 150% on each vehicle, the revenue earned would be around USD 1,264 million which at an exchange rate of Rs 200 would work out to something like Rs 252 billion a year in lost revenue after the ban on the import of personal vehicles.

<  CALLING UP0N FAMILY MEMBERS TO QUIT: During protests (aragalaya), Chamal Rajapaksa, his son Shashindra and Namal Rajapaksa came to see me at my Mirihana residence one day and during the discussion that ensued, Chamal Rajapaksa suggested that members of the Rajapaksa family other than Mahinda Rajapaksa and myself should resign from the positions they hold in the government in order to defuse at least some of the anti-government feeling building up in the country. Such a move would pacify some disgruntled sections of the ruling coalition as well. At this meeting, Chamal Rajapaksa, Namal and Shashindra declared they would resign from their positions forthwith and convince Basil Rajapaksa to do so.

<  ON THE ATTACKS ON HIS HOUSE AT MIRIHANA: All service commanders including Army Commander Shavendra Silva and Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne were at a wedding reception at the Shangri La Hotel in Colombo. I informed both Shavendra and Kamal of the unfolding situation. SIS Director Suresh Sallay who was also at the wedding reception, arrived at the scene and when he arrived, only around a hundred or so had been at the demonstration. But the Police, STF and Army deployed in the area have been inactive. Sallay had taken a video call to Shavendra and Kamal and shown them the crowd present, but instructions still did not come down the hierarchy to disperse the crowd. Ultimately, Sallay and some other army officers had taken it upon themselves to disperse the mob as some elements in the crowd had turned violent, with stones and other objects being hurled at security forces personnel and damage being caused to properties in the vicinity.

<  COMPOSITION OF THE PROTESTORS ARAGALAYA : There was the NGO foreign-funded liberal political activists, youtubers, and social media activists, then there was the usual opposition types associated with various political parties, the JVP, FSP (Peratugami Party), SJB and the UNP. According to one prominent UNP functionary the UNP alone had 17 tents at Galle Face.

<  APPOINTING A PRIME MINISTER IN THE MIDST OF VIOLENCE: There was a need to appoint a member of the opposition as Prime Minister in response to the calls for a change of government. Hence, I phoned the leader of the opposition Sajith Premadasa and offered him the position of Prime Minister. He declined the position on the grounds that he could not run the country without a majority in Parliament. Then I spoke to Sarath Fonseka and offered him the position of PM. He told me to make the announcement that I would be appointing him as PM and to take things forward from there. He did not really accept the position that was offered to him, and the country could not function without a Cabinet. Subsequently, a delegation of SJB Parliamentarians came to see me and said that Premadasa would accept the Premiership if I appointed him as PM and then resigned from the presidency – terms that I declined to accept. When I spoke to the leader of the United National Party Ranil Wickremesinghe and offered him the position of PM, he readily agreed, and I appointed him as the new Prime Minister.

<  ON ESCAPING IN A NAVAL CRAFT: On 8 July 2022, I instructed Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne to shift the Operations Room from the Defence Force Headquarters to President’s House. I took this precaution of getting all the defence chiefs to President’s House because of the bad experience we had at Temple Trees on the night of 9 May 2022 where there was an inordinate and unforgivable delay in the induction of troops to evacuate the Prime Minister. At 8 a.m. on the morning of 9 July 2022, the police curfew imposed in parts of the Western Province was lifted.

<  DEFENCE CHIEFS ADVISE GOTABAYA TO LEAVE: The Defence Secretary and the service chiefs told me that I should leave the premises immediately. It had not been even an hour since the mobs had started gathering in the vicinity of President’s House. Earlier, officers in my security detail told me to keep some things packed as a precaution and we had prepared two suitcases with some clothes and toiletries etc. We came downstairs with the baggage and just as we were getting into our vehicles, the crowds broke in through the front gate. Basil was also at the President’s House when this happened, and he too got into our vehicle. We took the rear exit to the Navy camp into the Navy camp next door where the Navy commander had made preparations for the evacuation. The TV screens in the Navy camp showed that the protestors were already inside the President’s House.

It is pertinent to note the dilemma of one of the most powerful men in Sri Lanka being thrust into such a helpless and desperate situation. For over three decades, he had remained a military strongman ruthlessly conducting a separatist war that saw the defeat of Tiger guerrillas. He had the power, only days earlier, to order the shift of the Operations Room from the Defence Ministry’s headquarters at Akuregoda to the President’s House. How then did he not have the power to order the defence and military top brass, almost all of them his own appointees, to take preventive action rather than heed recommendations to exist through the backdoor at President’s House? Even in the aftermath, he has not been frank enough to identify the failures of those responsible. Back to a few more highlights from the books.

<  GETAWAY BY NAVY SHIP: The Navy had kept two vessels on standby in the harbour and we got into one and the other vessel was sent in the opposite direction so that nobody would know in which vessel I was travelling…….After leaving the Colombo Harbour, we went to Trincomalee and after spending the night at the Naval base, the next day I returned to Colombo to the Katunayake Air Force Base by helicopter and spent the second night there. The following night, I flew to the Maldives in an Air Force plane and reached Male at around 3.00 a.m on 12 July 2022. The Maldivian government had arranged for me to stay at an island resort 200 km from Male and it was morning by the time we reached the hotel by boat. The plan was to fly to Singapore in a private plane, but the Indian authorities had not allowed this private plane to fly to Male. So gave instructions that tickets be obtained on a commercial flight to Singapore…. I was accompanied by my wife and two security officers. While in the Maldives, I appointed Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Acting President since I was out of the country.

<  FRICTIONS AT THE TOP: One structural issue was that there was much of a seniority gap between the Defence Secretary, Kamal Gunaratne and the Army Commander, Shavendra Silva. Both of them were divisional commanders during the war and had got used to seeing themselves more or less as equals. Whether the two got on well was doubtful. The Army Commander and Defence Secretary were working at cross purposes at times with the Army Commander disregarding the instructions of the Defence Secretary, Kamal Gunaratne, may not have had the same control over the armed services that I had as Defence Secretary because of these reasons.

ITAK LEADER SRITHARAN
PRAISES RAJIV KILLER

The body of Santhan, alias T. Suthenthirarajah, a released convict in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, was flown to Colombo on Friday, March 1, from Chennai. He died on Wednesday, February, 28, ironically at the Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital in Chennai. He was 55.  Santhan was convicted in 1991, when he was just 23 years old. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was charged with being responsible for former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s murder by a suicide bomber in Chennai.

Santhan’s body was taken in an open truck from Vavuniya to his birthplace in Uduppiddy, where his mother and sister still live. Large crowds paid their respect en route. At Killinochchi, Sivagnanam Sritharan, Member of Parliament and who was elected leader of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), paid his respect by draping Santhan’s body with a large red and yellow flag symbolising the Tamil National colours. He later tweeted “At Kilinochchi, I paid my last respects to the heroic son of our Nation, the hero Shanthan”

In a further ten-part-long tweet in Tamil, Mr Shritharan refers to Santhan as a “freedom fighter of our nation”. There he states that “Gandhi’s country captured the freedom fighter of our nation.”  Sritharan also on Wednesday, made a speech in Parliament in memory of Santhan. He said that he is making a formal request to both Governments of Sri Lanka and India and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu that at least let the remaining released convicts Murugan, Robert Piyas and Jeyakumar return to their families in Sri Lanka where they are living unlike in Santhan’s case when he was dead.

Today, the UNP will hold a public rally in Kuliyapitiya (Kurunegala district), an event that is a forerunner for the presidential election. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has called for the immediate activation of the United National Party (UNP), will chair the event.

Contrary to earlier reports, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by one-time president Maithripala Sirisena, will not have a tie-up with another ex-president, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Sirisena is to go it alone with the SLFP. Backing him in this new exercise is Sajin Vass Gunawardena, a former close associate of SLPP leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa. He rejected moves by Gunawardena to return to the fold. One of the costly mistakes Gunawardena made was the ouster of a Chairman of SriLankan Airlines after he refused to accommodate Rajapaksa (then President) on a flight to Colombo after offloading fare-paying passengers. That saw the end of the tie-up SriLankan had with Emirates when profits were recorded. Now, the government wants to absorb over half a billion rupees—funds provided by the Treasury—to keep the national carrier afloat.