{"id":167372,"date":"2016-09-09T00:24:27","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T18:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=167372"},"modified":"2016-09-14T23:50:42","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T18:20:42","slug":"background-nature-of-the-crisis-within-the-slfp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/background-nature-of-the-crisis-within-the-slfp\/","title":{"rendered":"Background & Nature Of The Crisis Within The SLFP"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Asela Jayanath De Mel<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Asela<\/a>

Asela Jayanath De Mel<\/p><\/div>\n

The United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) became the two main competitive parties in post-Independence Sri Lanka. The UNP-led governments have ruled the country only 30 years but the SLFP has extended its control over 34 years since the formation of the first independent government of local people in 1947. \u00a0The country was under the control of both the parties during 2001-2004 and after January 2015. \u00a0The SLFP lost two consecutive elections in 2015, following a long stay in power, and the party faced an internal crisis after the defeat. This article examines the background and\u00a0nature\u00a0of this crisis.<\/p>\n

The SLFP was formed in 1951 and came to power in 1956 by a landslide. Political scientifically, it was\u00a0correct branding\u00a0the SLFP as a political party of the middle path, when its economic and foreign policies were\u00a0taken into account, but Marxists of the time more correctly branded it as the party of the national bourgeoisie, while the UNP was labelled as the party of the comprador capitalist class.<\/p>\n

From the perspective of a socialist, the SLFP-led governments took many progressive steps to change the ownership of the means of production and challenged the\u00a0monopoly of foreign capitalists, who had invested in various sectors on the island.\u00a0 Nationalization-program and protectionist policies of this party paved the way for a national capitalist class, while the\u00a0governments led by the SLFP simultaneously established the norm that the SLFP was the party of the ordinary\u00a0man and the UNP was\u00a0the party of the rich man belonging to the privileged\u00a0class. \u00a0\"Maithripala\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the wake of the neoliberal globalization, the economic policies and strategies of the SLFP came to be invalid and outdated by the end of the 1970s.\u00a0 After the devastating defeat in 1977, party was in search for an alternative economic policy and a strategy\u00a0to counter\u00a0very popular\u00a0neoliberal economic policies and strategies\u00a0of the UNP regime, but they failed to find\u00a0none of them until\u00a0Chandrika\u00a0introduced the policy called “open economy with a human face” in 1994. \u00a0Within a brief period,\u00a0Chandrika learned the lesson that not only socialism but also liberalism is not possible in a single country particularly at a time of spreading neoliberalism as the dominant economic ideology throughout the world.<\/p>\n

Nobody could be blamed for the disappearance of the ideological differences\u00a0between the UNP and the SLFP in terms of economic policies; ideological consensus in mainstream politics\u00a0was an inevitable and\u00a0unavoidable\u00a0outcome of neoliberal globalization.\u00a0\u00a0When Mahinda came to power as the successor to Chandrika,\u00a0the SLFP eagerly embraced rudimentary Eastern version of neoliberalism, in the midst of disturbances came\u00a0from the West.\u00a0 Middle path of the SLFP had totally disappeared, when Maithripala came to power; he can do nothing in this regard other than embracing both the versions of neoliberalism.<\/p>\n

In terms of foreign policy, the SLFP always followed a very prudent and far-sighted strategy; its\u00a0non-aligned policy brought not only security but also dignity for\u00a0the country. \u00a0Leaders of this party had special relations with some\u00a0countries of the socialist bloc, but they never attempted to attach Sri Lanka to any camp. \u00a0But, this independent foreign policy became submerged when Mahinda came to power, because\u00a0he undermined the non-aligned policy and became a puppet of the Chinese camp, as he was in dire need of the protection of a giant in the international political arena. \u00a0As a result of breaching the non-aligned foreign policy, the country had to suffer a lot. Maithripala has however managed to rectify this error to a reasonable extent by balancing good\u00a0diplomatic relations with countries belonging to both camps.<\/p>\n

As mentioned above, the SLFP emerged as the party of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalists in 1951. \u00a0Nationalist ideas had begun\u00a0to haunt Sri Lankan (Ceylonese) politics since the very late decades of the nineteenth century, but nationalism came to the island in its fullest form in the 1920s. \u00a0Two separate nationalist forces emerged among the Sinhalese and the Tamils, and they were mature\u00a0enough to form as modern political parties by the end of the 1940s; hence the SLFP and the\u00a0Federal Party. Bandaranaike\u00a0and Chelvanayakam respectively\u00a0became the political leaders of the two forces; Chelva as a real nationalist but\u00a0liberal minded Banda as\u00a0a politician with ambitions and\u00a0without alternative paths to power.<\/p>\n

There were many leaders like DS,\u00a0Kotelawala and Dudley (Dudley was a liberal leader, but he led the conservative front in the absence of a liberalist movement)\u00a0to lead the conservative front, while Phillip, NM and Colvin led the Left.\u00a0Because there was no liberalist movement in the country, the only alternative path for Banda was the middle path between conservatives and leftists, but he had to embrace Sinhala nationalism to become the leader of this third front, as\u00a0Sinhala nationalists formed its\u00a0mass-base.<\/p>\n

The ideological stand of the SLFP on the national question changed from time to time, but it did not exceed the limits of a moderate nationalist party until 2005. \u00a0All the\u00a0three leaders who came from the Bandaranaike family were able to maintain a good image amongst the people belonging to\u00a0non-Sinhala communities as well, even though its mass-base among ethnic minorities was generally\u00a0far below that of the UNP.<\/p>\n

However, the SLFP presidential candidate Kobbekaduwa was able to win Jaffna district, defeating not only the UNP candidate but also Kumar Ponnambalam of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress in 1982, and Chandrika attracted a vast majority of minority votes throughout the country in 1994, even though, as many critics say, the SLFP was\u00a0responsible for boosting Tamil separatism by introducing the Sinhala only Act in 1956, republican constitution in 1972 and education\u00a0standardization program in 1973.<\/p>\n

But, circumstances changed when Mahinda came to power in 2005; he made the SLFP an extreme Sinhala-Buddhist\u00a0nationalist party, going far beyond the limits of a moderate nationalist party. \u00a0On the one hand, this move expanded the mass-base of the party among the Sinhalese, but on the other hand, it significantly contracted the party’s ethnic minority vote-base, changing the proportion in favour of the\u00a0opposition. As a result of this change of proportion and due to some other critical reasons, the party\u00a0lost\u00a0two consecutive elections in 2015.<\/p>\n

Now, the party has faced the challenge of a split. \u00a0This is not the first time that\u00a0the SLFP is faced with such\u00a0a challenge. \u00a0History shows\u00a0five major splits within the SLFP; many party stalwarts\u00a0led by CP de Silva made the first split in 1959. Maithripala Senanayake\u00a0and Anura Bandaranaike devastatingly broke the party first into two and then into three pieces in 1980. \u00a0Four years later, an ideological conflict between the progressive and regressive fractions within the party made a huge split, compelling many social democrats led by Illangaratne, Vijaya and Chandrika to leave the party and form the\u00a0Sri Lanka Mahajana Party. \u00a0SB, GL and some other giants of the party made another split in 2001, and some party stalwarts followed Maithripala Sirisena,\u00a0when he became the common presidential candidate in 2015, leaving the marks of another temporary split.<\/p>\n

It is true that the party lost all elections held after each split, but recovery followed every defeat. However, the current crisis within the party seems to be extremely serious, because both the factions are very powerful; one in terms of popularity and the other due to authority accumulated in the hands of the party leader. Many similarities and differences can be detected, when the current crisis is compared with the previous ones, but the consideration of the\u00a0major difference is sufficient to get an insight into the background of the pending split.<\/p>\n

It was not difficult in detecting\u00a0Ideological differences, authoritarian leaderships, personality-clashes,\u00a0different agendas\u00a0and external pressures as the common features of\u00a0each split in history; all of them, except\u00a0a\u00a0conflict stemming from disagreements over ideology\u00a0are observable behind the current crisis as well. Power-struggle has taken over the place of ideology today.<\/p>\n

Naturally, politics without ideology takes a pragmatic form and causes chaos; neither faction has a\u00a0firm ideology over any main\u00a0issue. As a result, pre-split political battle has significantly\u00a0lacked quality. \u00a0Under these circumstances, ordinary party-supporters seem to be very confused, because they have faced the dilemma of choosing between their loyal party and\u00a0beloved leader. \u00a0If they love their party, they have to back Maithripala, but their desire to follow their war-hero, urges\u00a0them to gather around\u00a0Mahinda.<\/p>\n

Both the factions have put their weight to attract the majority towards their camp, gradually\u00a0playing the trump cards they have in their possession, but it is still uncertain, whether\u00a0a new party would be formed. \u00a0What is the reason for delay? \u00a0Are they trying to catch the power in the SLFP or\u00a0timing to form the new party? \u00a0Or,\u00a0do they have another obstacle to form a party? \u00a0An implication came recently, when Maithripala addressed a gathering in Matara; he threatened Mahinda and other\u00a0rebellious\u00a0party-men\u00a0with revelation of more “secrets,” if they form a new party.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0power struggle has compelled both the factions to get involved not in politics but in a dirty\u00a0political game, openly breaching not only ethical codes but also\u00a0the principles of democracy and good governance. For instance, Maithripala began his term, offering ministerial portfolios and various privileges\u00a0to his corrupt\u00a0party-men, who were in the enemy-camp before January 08, 2015.<\/p>\n

After the General Election in August 2015, he\u00a0breached all the norms and principles of democracy by appointing many politicians as Members of Parliament through the national list, even though ordinary voter had\u00a0rejected them. \u00a0He has begun a party purge by replacing corrupt\u00a0electorate-organizers with more\u00a0corrupt party-men, taking only the loyalty as the only qualification. \u00a0Some of these newly\u00a0appointed organizers\u00a0have left awful remarks in Sri Lankan politics.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the faction led by Mahinda has been worsening the situation since his defeat on January 08, 2015; he has so far failed to rationally justify the purpose of his campaign. \u00a0What he has been campaigning for? \u00a0It is difficult to believe that Mahinda and his colleagues are still dreaming to come back to power in the immediate future, even though there was a very\u00a0little possibility for that\u00a0before the last General Election.<\/p>\n

Apparently, the genuine motive\u00a0behind his campaign is using of\u00a0the\u00a0people gathered\u00a0around him\u00a0as a shield to cover members and confidants of his family from the ongoing series of\u00a0judiciary investigations by establishing the norm that public outrage\u00a0can devastate the new government, if harsh actions are taken against defendants.<\/p>\n

For this purpose, Mahinda and his colleagues have been\u00a0attempting\u00a0to mobilise people against Maithripala\u00a0by spreading very false ideas and irrational interpretations about the progress of\u00a0the post-war reconciliation process, because they do not have any other\u00a0trump cards with higher values to play against the incumbent party leader.<\/p>\n

Apart from the protest against the attempt of re-appointing Arjuna Mahendran as the Governor of the Central Bank, Mahinda faction did not organize any meaningful political campaign on reasonable grounds, after January 08, 2015; the lament echoed behind all protests demanded the cease of ongoing judiciary investigations against them. \u00a0It is difficult to justify this demand, because civilized citizens usually expect proper investigation of all\u00a0allegations supported by credible evidence.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the demand has to be re-worded to say that\u00a0“expedite investigation of allegations against not only Mahinda and his followers but also men of\u00a0Maithripala and Ranil.” \u00a0Unfortunately, Mahinda has established\u00a0the lumpen idea that investigation of allegations against war-heroes is wrong an unethical. Fortunately, believers in this idea are\u00a0becoming a minority within the SLFP. \u00a0If Mahinda faction becomes a political party, its success or failure will mostly\u00a0depend on expansion or contraction of this lumpen social layer within the SLFP.<\/p>\n

But, it is also important assessing the availability of space for another exclusivist and extreme nationalist party in the ideological spectrum of Sri Lankan politics. Certainly, there is a space for such a party and an alliance, but the bigger gap is not for chauvinist politics other than for a civic liberal movement. \u00a0Only civic liberalism can bring security, dignity and prosperity for the country, but the problem is, as mentioned above, liberalism cannot survive within a single country. Therefore, the only option available at the moment is forming a vigilant liberal movement to minimise the adverse impact of greedy neoliberal agendas on Sri Lankan society. Among the two leaders, Maithripala is more capable for that job, because such a task is far beyond the scope of Mahinda\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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