Sunday Times 2
When they go low, we go high!
View(s):By Harini Amarasuriya MP, National Peoples Power
The National People’s Power (NPP), under the leadership of our presidential candidate, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, is witnessing history being created in front of our own eyes. The two-party domination of Sri Lankan politics, which resulted in the concentration of power in autocratic, unaccountable and arrogant leaders who took our country down the path of economic, political and social devastation, is being challenged by the NPP, which always stood against the corrupt, dishonest and undemocratic practices of the political establishment.
Today, the NPP is not a mere political party; it is a national movement not only against corruption and abuse of power but also a movement for development, democracy and accountability. As the campaign unfolds and people join the movement in numbers, it is not surprising our political opponents have taken to underhanded tactics of spreading misinformation and prejudices against us.
A hit piece in the Sunday Times titled “JVP promises the sun, moon and stars in their utopian manifesto” by a columnist under a pseudonym is a prime example of the desperation in our opponents’ camps as judgement day draws closer. From the outset, gentlemen like Harsh de Silva, Eran Wickremarathne and Kabir Hashim, who had an outlook of decency, fought a strawman of their own making instead of engaging with our policies. Now that we have clearly spelled out our policies, some continue to stubbornly cling to their own ill-informed prejudices.
For example, the writer of this piece claims the NPP plans to acquire all fixed deposits to set up a bank. Not only is this a blatant lie and not mentioned anywhere in the NPP manifesto, but the writer also conveniently forgets that only last year more than 2.4 million members of the Employee Provident Fund had their interest rates cut as a part of the domestic debt restructuring. He/she also claims a development bank established under the NPP government will give away LKR 10 million to “wannabe entrepreneurs”. Development banking is a well-established mechanism to advance local entrepreneurs—particularly the SME sector. The proposal is not to give away LKR 10 million to anyone without any scrutiny but to provide credit facilities up to LKR 10 million depending on the feasibility of the project. There will be a thorough follow-up to see whether the funds are spent for the purpose of the project. The NPP firmly believes that development banks are essential to making credit accessible for industries, especially in the context of the current government increasing the cost of borrowing with high interest rates.
The writer then goes on to quote Harsha de Silva to say the NPP’s proposal for an alternative debt sustainability analysis (DSA) will jeopardise the IMF programme. This is categorically false, as there is evidence from Greece in 2015 and Argentina in 2020 to show that the IMF has supported DSA’s of debtor countries for deeper debt cuts. During a time when deliberative political discussion is essential to encourage informed decision-making, what we witness from our opponents is vilification and stigmatisation of political and economic ideas as mainstream as development banks and debt country DSAs.
The tactic of weaponising misinformation is not limited to economic policies. In a desperate attempt to portray the NPP as an anti-Buddhist political force, policies on religious freedoms, that all religions should be treated equally, are deliberately misrepresented to mean the removal of prominence guaranteed to Buddhism under Article 9.
The NPP is also baselessly accused of post-election violence when Anura Kumara Dissanayake repeatedly urges the public attending all meetings to refrain from any violence in the aftermath of the elections. It is certainly laughable when political parties with a history of election violence level these baseless accusations against the NPP when we have showcased our commitment to the democratic process in the country.
The ill-founded slander against the NPP is certainly not limited to what is already discussed here. Every day, on every political stage, in every advertisement, our opponents are more focused on slandering the NPP and our presidential candidate. From character assassination to classist jokes, the substandard nature of their campaigns is on ample display.
However, the NPP, unlike other contenders, has no intention of falling to their level. We believe the politics of mudslinging and spreading misinformation belong to a political culture that should be dismantled, freeing public space for honest and deliberative discourse on important policies.
Michelle Obama once said, “When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is: ‘When they go low, we go high’.” While Sajith Premadasa and Ranil Wickremasinghe rely on traditional politics of fear-mongering, the NPP will take the high road, fashioning a new way of election campaigning. When they go low, we will most certainly go high. We aim to usher in a new era of politics, and we will start now.