Usurpers

Saturday 9th January, 2021

The SLFP is no stranger to internal disputes and crippling breakaways. Its history is full of such instances which have cost it dear electorally. Its prolonged stay in the Opposition from 1977 to 1994 was due to internecine clashes among its leaders including the members of the Bandaranaike family. Its intraparty rivalries have surfaced again.

The SLFP is in a dilemma. We thought SLPP MP and former President Maithripala Sirisena was its undisputed Chairman. But now we are told that it has two heads. Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga insists that she is the legitimate Chairperson of the party her late father founded.

Yesterday, there were two ceremonies to pay floral tributes to the statue of the founder of the SLFP, the late Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, in Colombo—one official and the other unofficial. Kumaratunga arrived early, for once, and laid flowers and left before the commencement of the official event.

The media cannot think of a better person than Kumaratunga, who never exercises control over her tongue when she goes on the offensive, to get spicy or lunu-ambul comments. Asked for her views on the direction in which the SLFP was moving, she said it had gone astray, and, therefore, the question of its direction did not arise, at all. She was still the Chairperson of the SLFP, and Sirisena had usurped her position, she insisted. Later, Sirisena attended the official ceremony, and when asked by the media for his comment, he struck a conciliatory note. He was obviously papering over the cracks. Kumaratunga’s claim cannot be dismissed as mere rhetoric. She may have sent a political trial balloon.

On listening to Kumaratunga’s comment, we were reminded of a statement Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella made in Parliament, the other day. He said the incumbent government was belittling the judiciary. Whether he is right or wrong, one may not know, but he seems to have forgotten the manner in which the yahapalana government, of which he, Kumaratunga and Sirisena were leaders, treated the judiciary.

In January 2015, the then President Sirisena unceremoniously removed Chief Justice Mohan Peiris to pave the way for the reinstatement of Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, who had been removed from office by the Rajapaksa government in January 2013. President Sirisena decreed that the post of Chief Justice had never fallen vacant as Dr. Bandaranayake’s ‘impeachment’ was wrong, and, therefore, the appointment of Peiris was null and void ab initio. Thus, Peiris, who had functioned as the Chief Justice for two years, was simply ‘vapourised’. Only this newspaper has raised questions about the salary he drew, perks he enjoyed, decisions he made, judgments he delivered, appointment letters he signed, etc. There have been serious doubts about the legality of all these, but they have not been addressed either by the judiciary, the legislature or the executive. Not even the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has taken it up. In fact, some of its office-bearers were advisors to the yahapalana government.

If one goes by Kumaratunga’s claim at issue, Sirisena is doing what he, as the President, accused Chief Justice Peiris of—holding on to a key position unlawfully.

The current SLFP, with one person functioning as its Chairman and another one claiming to be its legitimate head— is like the Sri Lankan judiciary between January 2013 and January 2015. If Kumaratunga’s aforesaid claim is true, then the SLFP is facing a serious legal issue, which its dissidents can make use of in case the party taking disciplinary action against them; the legality of what Sirisena does as the Chairman of the SLFP is in question.

The outcome of the last presidential election and the subsequent regime change left the political enemies of the SLPP in a state of shock for months. Kumaratunga, therefore, may have chosen to maintain a low profile and stay away from the affairs of the SLFP, when it coalesced with the SLPP. But she and other rivals of Sirisena are likely to vie for dominance in the party, weakening it further and reducing Sirisena’s bargaining power in the ruling coalition. If the SLFP faces another crippling dispute, some of its politicians are likely to switch their allegiance to the SLPP come the next Provincial Council elections. This may be one of the reasons why the government was in a mighty hurry to conduct the PC polls while the second wave of COVID-19 is raging through the country.