By Jagath Asoka –

Dr. Jagath Asoka

What is JVP’s ultimate goal, Presidency? Do you think that Sri Lankans would elect comrade Anura Kumara Dissanayake as our president? Things that seem impossible and politically unpalatable today, with time, can turn into things that are real and politically palatable. What are Anura’s barriers? Has the JVP already dug Anura’s grave because the blood of our brothers and sisters that the JVP has killed continually cries out to us?

It seems like most Sri Lankans think that Anura Kumara is not only an honest, intelligent, educated, hard-working, sincere leader, but also an intrepid orator and skilled-politician; he is an out-of-the-box thinker, who has the ability to stir the spirit of our nation, because he approaches burning topics like corruption, murder, freedom of speech, from a unique point of view, without fear, which makes Sri Lankans redefine and rediscover their own deep-rooted values. Juxtapose Anura and our educated dhobis who have served as ambassadors, VCs, judges, and even some newly appointed Janus-faced educated dhobi-ministers who were sycophants of Rajapaksas, who claims that Impeaching CJ was a hasty and inappropriate move, and I Did Not Sign; but I wonder what this Janus-faced educated dhobi did when they impeached Shirani Bandaranayake? Compare and juxtapose!

Anura’s criticisms of Rajapaksas were so heated and bitter; his denouncing of Rajapaksas was Philippic and convinced most Sri Lankans to defeat Rajapaksas in order to avoid sinking our nation into the abyss of a new Dark Age. Remember, there was a time, not a single cartoon of Gota the gonibilla was published in Sri Lanka; there were no Charlie Hebdos in Colombo. But now, the mad dogs and their fleas are dancing and singing to Bruce Springsteen’s music. What a progress! Even the educated dhobis of our nation—the bloodsucking fleas of our nation—disguised as intelligentsia, political pundits, and some newly appointed ministers, are ecstatic and euphoric with this newfound freedom of speech. It seems like our educated dhobis keep writing their convoluted essays as they whirl to the music of Bruce Springsteen. How fortunate are you to live in a time like this in our edenic paradise, intoxicated without liquor, transfixed by the political dervishes of our educated dhobis?

All Sri Lankans know that the JVP is a communist party based on Marxist-Leninist ideology. In a nutshell, here is its history: It was formed in 1965; was involved in two armed uprisings against the ruling governments in 1971 and 1987. After 1989, it entered democratic politics in the 1994 parliamentary election; now they have become the watch dogs of our country.

In 1965, why did we need another leftist party, when we already had four in our country—the LSSP, the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CP), the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), and the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist). Now, is the JVP the only leftist party left in Sri Lanka that has not betrayed the aspirations of our proletariats? The JVP continues to claim that neither the United National Party (UNP) nor the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), who have governed the country since independence, have not been able to implement even a single measure to resolve the major economic, political, and ethnic crises that Sri Lanka has been facing since independence. If that is true, why don’t Sri Lankans elect the JVP? How can Sri Lankans erase from their memories all the brutal killings of thousands of hapless Sri Lankans?

Now, most Sri Lankans think that the JVP members are doing a commendable job that is worthy of accolades: the watch-dogs of our society, the invigorating voice of justice and skepticism. Sri Lankans admire the choices that the JVP have made—to name a few: to live ordinary lives, donate their salaries, stick to their messages, fight against corruption and injustice, commitment, passion, and dedication to help the working class, or in other words doing everything that is essential for good governance; it seems like the JVP has a well-established team to investigate corruption and has placed informers who would provide information in government departments and other institutions in Sri Lanka; yet, do you think Sri Lankans are ready to elect them as our top-dogs? Do you think the majority of Tamils and Muslims would support the JVP? Do you think that they will never enter the mainstream because they are just a bunch of jobless young Sinhalese university and high school graduates from the south, who would drop their Marxist-Leninist proletariat ideology once they establish themselves as bourgeoisie?

Is it possible to explain what is happening to JVP by using enantiodromia? When things get to their extreme, they transmogrify into their opposite; the superabundance of any force inevitably produces its opposite; we can never know that evil may not be necessary in order to produce good by enantiodromia, and that good may very possibly lead to evil.

Recently, the underdog became the top dog, because the top dog was so smug and arrogant that he thought he was going to have a sciamachy, literally. The watch dogs have been barking over the last ten years, and like a mantra, we have been hearing that Percy, his brothers, and his cronies are just a bunch of corrupt thugs, who have stolen billions from us, misused and abused public funds, killed journalists, supported drug dealers, taken bribes, broken the laws of the land, appointed sycophants as VCs, judges, and ambassadors, who also have openly violated the laws of the land; now, we are hearing that this gang of thugs want to come back and rule our country again? If Sirisena and Ranil reprieve, what are these watch dogs going to do? If the watch dogs were to find a way to establish the laws of the land, would they become heroes of the impatient public who are demanding justice, not tomorrow, but now?

It seems like Percy is not ready to retire. What is the impetus for him to contest as our PM? Is he greedy and conceited, or is he like a mad dog infested with fleas, and these blood-sucking fleas want him alive for their own survival? If the JVP made their mission to prosecute Percy, would that make them an incorruptible, formidable force that deserves peoples’ mandate to establish real, lasting good governance in Sri Lanka, which people seem to crave?

What is the best way to deal with your past? Take the bull by the horns? Sin and atonement is a recurring theme, a leitmotif in politics. What have they—the JVP—done to atone for their sins? Is Rohana Wijeweera, a hero, or was he a bloodthirsty rebel, the southern counterpart of Prabakaran? Can they afford to ignore their sins, hoping that with time people would forget and forgive? If that is what they think, I recommend that they read the Buddhist, Biblical, and Hindu scriptures to find out about the plight of murderers and bloodthirsty rebels.

I am a lover of Sri Lankan music and movies; when the JVP started killing pacifists and poets like Vijaya Kumaratunga and Premakeerthi de Alwis, most Sri Lankans became indignant; if the JVP did not kill Premakeerthi, why cannot they repudiate such allegations vehemently and find the real culprits?

Do you think, the JVP is somewhat gullible and outdated with their economic and social policies?   In a nutshell, the goal of Marxism–Leninism is to establish a socialist state—a “dictatorship of the proletariat”—through revolutionaries, who come to socialist consciousness—to each according to his contribution—as a result of their class struggle. The socialist state is governed by the revolutionaries through the process of democratic centralism—diversity in discussion, unity in action—to establish socialism, first, and then to develop socialism into communism: a classless society with full social equality, with common ownership, and abolition of private property. Neither a state nor money would be necessary in a communist country; so far we do not have a single country that has established communism through socialism. In the Marxist view, from each according to his ability, to each according to his need will be possible because a developed communist society will produce enough to satisfy everyone’s needs. Is it gullible to think that the JVP can establish communism in Sri Lanka?

Forget about communism, but if the JVP can be our watch dogs would that be more than enough for you?

The time has come to take the bull by the horns; perhaps, Anura Kumar can write a book and tell us what he thinks about the JVP’s indelible, heinous murders. How are you going to atone for your predecessors’ sins? This generation of JVP members, are they culpable?

If Anura Kumara had been a member of a different party, would you elect him as our president?