“The UNP must find a suitable leader with a proven track record” - Palitha Range Bandara

UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara during an interview with The Daily Mirror spoke on the party’s current standing on mainstream politics, its future and the preparation the ‘greens’ have for the forthcoming elections.

• Racism, religious fanaticism, Maithripala Sirisena and Sajith Premadasa contributed to the unexpected electoral setback of the UNP in 2020
• It was Mangala Samaraweera who created the derogatory misconception regarding Ranil, that ‘Ranil Can’t’
• Ruwan is doing a good job as Deputy Leader. Some day he will get his due place in the party. But he must earn that place like other late leaders of the UNP
• Thousands of files related to financial crimes, cases of human rights violations and murders committed during the previous Rajapaksa administrations are gathering dust at the CID, the Bribery Commission and the FCID
• They (The Government) gives huge publicity to the opening of even a culvert

Excerpts:  

Q   As a frontliner of the Grand Old Party did you ever expect the UNP’s electoral annihilation at the 2020 Parliamentary polls?

No, we never expected an electoral setback like this in our wildest dreams, but yes, we were aware that a reversal to the UNP was in the offing, but not to this magnitude.

Q   Public perception is that party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe must take full responsibility for this extremely humiliating and irreversible damage caused to the party. Your comments?

There are several reasons. In short the number one reason was the deceit, second the racism and religious fanaticism, the third was Maithripala Sirisena and the fourth was Sajith Premadasa. These four factors basically led to the unexpected and unprecedented defeat of the UNP. 

People in our country expect a rule similar to that of Singapore, Europe or Japan. At the same time they aspire to live in a developed society with a quality of life found in those countries and regions. But it is sad to say that there is quite a contrast because people who have both the desire and aspiration to be the subjects in a free, democratic and liberal country while enjoying a superior quality of life are still living in the stone age. For instance when they were told about kottu rotti supposedly makes women sterile as kottu rotti contains drugs to make them infertile (wanda pethi), people believed it.

When they were told that there were underskirts contaminated with wanda pethi they admitted that canard gleefully. When the people in Sri Lanka were hoodwinked after hearing that a huge king cobra from Nagaloka was going to surface when the Kelani Ganga would split into two and this would be followed by the appearing of a golden casket containing sacred relics people believed it and broke into a chorus chanting ‘Sadu Sadu’. 

They did not have any doubt about these low canards even when the monks said that the Naga Raja possessing such capacity and power was to put in a small plastic bottle preventing its escape. This is the mental capacity of our people. That is why I said they are still in the stone age. People accepted the misinformation and malicious allegations levelled against Dr. Mohamed Shafi Shabdeen who served at Kurunegala General Hospital saying that he had initiated a move to make Sinhalese women infertile.

The people paid no attention to the action taken by the Yahapalana Government to bring down the price of gas, fuel, essential commodities and medicine and to increase public servants’ salaries by Rs. 12,500, strengthening of all democratic rights and religious freedom and widenning the space for freedom of expression, trade unions, introducing the Right to Information (RTI) Act that further enhanced the scope for democratic rights, increasing the facilities for the business community, taking measures to plug corruption and bribery, underhand dealings and commissions. 

Voters did not take into account these positive and democratic policies of the Yahapalana Government at the polls, but ran after the misinformation, half-baked truths, canard and absolute lies fabricated by the members of the current government and members of the then so-called combined opposition led by the Rajapaksas. A section of the Maha Sangha must also take the blame for its contribution to this malicious and vile propaganda carried out against the UNP and the current fate of the country under the Rajapaksa regime. 

Secondly, they said Ranil and the UNP destroyed the country and the nation. They launched an anti-Muslim campaign in the country. The imperialists ruled this country for nearly 450 years. The three white colonialists were not able to destroy this country, the Sinhala nation or the Buddhism during their domination. Can Ranil do what three powerful European nations could not do? The people have fallen for this bate and today they reap the harvest of what they sowed at the Presidential and Parliamentary polls in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Maithripala Sirisena was hoisted to the Presidency by us, the UNP. Unfortunately; he created two factions within the government at the very beginning of the Yahapalana regime. You may remember that he declared at the 2015 Presidential election campaign that he would be an independent President sans party affiliations. In that case he should not have accepted the leadership of the SLFP. He said he would be a President with simple qualities. But he turned out to be a not so simple person, but one who acted as a man possessed. There was no cooperation, a healthy dialogue or co-existence within the Yahapalana administration because of the split and conflict created by President Sirisena.

The best example for this sorry state of affairs was the National Security Council (NSC). He convened the NSC with no invitation to the PM or the State Minister of Defence. The result was the brutal murdering of 269 innocent people and injuries and permanent physical disability to another 500.

Fourthly, Sajith and his team. He demanded the party to nominate him as the Presidential candidate. But we all wanted to bring Speaker Karu Jayasuriya as the Presidential candidate of the UNP. Many other political parties and organisations were ready to support him. He, being a Buddhist leader, had the confidence of the people. 
He became a ‘thorn in the flesh’ to the Rajapaksas and combined opposition during the infamous constitutional conspiracy hatched by Sirisena and Rajapaksas in late 2018 when Mahinda was appointed PM for 52 days. As Speaker, Karu did a great job safeguarding democracy, the honour of Parliament, rule of law and fair play. He also commands respect from the Maha Sangha.

Q   Why did the voters of this country mete out such a punishment to the UNP after its rule for nearly five years?

Who created this misconception of ‘Ranil Can’t’? It was Mangala Samaraweera. It was he who injected this virus into the electorate. He made this slogan because Ranil can. But there is another aspect to this episode. When Mangala said Ranil Can’t, the second in command of the party and his team (Ranil is number one and Sajith is the Deputy Leader and the second in command) should have said, ‘no, Ranil can and he is competent enough and he is the man of the hour. They should have reminded that it was Ranil who opened industrial zones in the country to improve the economy, set up Colleges of Education, universities, developed aesthetic studies and sports as Education Minister amd someone who has a futuristic vision and a political mission for the country. 

Ranil won the trust and support of the global community including that of India, US China and Japan. He obtained a soft loan of US$ 2.2 billion to construct a Light Rail Transit Project funded via JICA at 0.01%. All these positive and progressive measures were taken to make the living standard of the people comfortable because Ranil is capable of doing things for the people. But the people took the canard invented and spread by Mangala as truth and handed the country to a gang of thieves who rob the country hiding behind the pseudo patriotism.
Thousands of files related to financial crimes, cases of human rights violations, and murders committed during the previous Rajapaksa administration are gathering dust at the CID, the Bribery Commission and the FCID now with no progress with 448 inquiries been concluded and ready for charges to be filed against perpetrators.

It is under in this background that the SJB says that there is a deal between Ranil and the Rajapaksas. If that is the case the deal must be quite a peculiar one. It was under this deal that charges were filed against Mahinda’s sons Namal and Yoshitha and brother Basil and they were put in remand custody. Charges were also filed against current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on alleged misappropriations related to the ‘MiG deal. Also there were inquiries against the First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa and brother-in-law Udayanga Weeratunga regarding certain criminal offences and frauds and statements were recorded. Actions were taken against many who committed various unlawful acts and crimes during the Rajapaksa rule. Two ‘Trial at Bars’ were setup to expedite the legal process against them. This is Ranil’s deal. Can they claim to have a deal between the Rajapaksas and Ranil any further? The dollar scarcity issue and the economic meltdown we experienced at present are the results of frauds and financial crimes carried out by the previous Rajapaksa administration.          

Q   But, still the public opinine that party leader Wickremesinghe must take full responsibility for this extremely humiliating and irreversible damage caused to the party. Your comments?

 Yes, he has to take a part of the blame. But who brought the UNP to this level by spreading unfounded lies, canards and misinformation? The UNP has suffered defeats in the past too. At the 1994 Presidential Election the UNP won only the Mahiyangana seat. This was after remaining in power and possessing the Executive Presidency for 17 years. Ranil went to the polls in 2020 at a time when Maithripala Sirisena had destroyed the UNP. And also Sajith had left the party and contested against the UNP. If Sajith went to polls as the leader of the political alliance scheduled to be formed under the UNP, we would have won a minimum of 85 seats depriving a two thirds majority to the SLPP and this would have prevented the curse cast upon the country. But none of us, Ranil, Range Bandara, Ruwan or Wajira cry because of our defeat. But the people of this country repent what happened to them by voting the Rajapaksas and the SLPP into power.

Today, prices of all consumer goods -essential and non-essentials including gas and fuel – have trebled, and every household is exposed to the threat of gas cylinder explosions. Youth are leaving the country. People have lost hopes of their future. Once again Sri Lanka has been branded as a pariah state and a failed state by the global community for its human rights record, violation of the rule of law, undermining the independence of the judiciary and rule by an autocracy. Sajith must be held responsible for the current fate of the people because it was he who prevented the possibility of forming a strong opposition against the SLPP. 

Q   After giving leadership to the party for more than 25 years and serving as the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Cabinet Minister and Deputy Minister over the years since 1977, he has failed to retain a single elected UNP representative in Parliament and obtained less that 250,000 votes at 2% of the total valid votes at the last General Election. This is in contrast to over 5 million votes at 47% with 106 seats the UNP won in 2015. How do you explain this shameful setback to the party that ruled this country for many years since 1947? 

Voters were angry with the UNP for its disintegration at the polls. The UNP’s 5.5 million at the Presidential Election reduced to 2.8 million at the General Election by the SJB. Some two million UNP voters either did not cast their votes or spoiled them in protest. The business community had a grudge against the UNP because the Yahapalana Government increased direct tax such as VAT, income tax and turnover tax to give relief to the poor. In contrast, the SLPP Government gave a huge tax relief to the rich and affluent people depriving billions of rupees as revenue for the state. But there was no relief for the low income families or a reduction in cost of living. The Rajapaksas were richly benefitted by the delighted millionaires.
Show me one single work done by Dinesh or Vasudeva for the country and the nation that can be written when Sri Lanka’s history is chronicled someday? We have a weakness anyway. We worked but did not market it. They (The Government) gives huge publicity to the opening of even a culvert.

Q   I am still to see any critical, strong comment by the UNP on the enourmous multitude of harm done to the country by the incumbent Rajapaksa regime. Why? 

We have only one seat in Parliament. But who spoke about a strategy that could bring the country out of the current impasse? Sri Lanka must not fall into the trap fallen into by Uganda. Ranil showed in Parliament the way to save the country’s national assets from the current predicament. He advised the Government to go for an IMF bailout and improve the foreign reserves to come out of the economic downturn unscathed. He also said that if Sri Lanka is to develop to the level of Japan, Singapore, South Korea or any other European country, we must build a strong framework with four pillars that ensure protection and the development of environment, intelligence, health and education.This mechanism must continue for a minimum of 15 years uninterrupted notwithstanding the change of regimes and individuals. 

Q   If I said that the UNP has gotten into this predicament mainly because of the Central Bank bond scam and other misdeeds during the Yahapalana rule would you agree?

Now we must see whether there has been a robbery here. Yes, it was a movable property as it was money involved. Who is the owner of money – the Central Bank (CB). Now, this has not been done as money remained with the CB. In that case there has not been an intention to remove the money from the CB or actually removed it from the CB. If that has been done, Basil cannot obtain Rs. 8.2 billion to fill the budget gap. There is no person to frighten or take the money in protest. Therefore, the Central Bank bond scam is a canard mooted / invented by the opposition to sling mud at the UNP, Ranil and then Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayaka.  

Q   Are you confident that the UNP can raise its head under Ranil’s leadership in the future and face forthcoming elections successfully?

If the people in this country are matured enough to separate the good from the bad and right from the wrong, yes, this will happen naturally in the future. They must make a retrospective analysis of how Ranil saved the country during his tenure as Prime Minister – not as the executive President - during the 2001 – 2004. The remedy for the current multifaceted woes of the country is not conducting street protests. 

Q   Don’t you think the timely and most wise move now for the UNP is to join the Samagi Jana Balawegaya as it seems that Sajith and the SJB are gaining ground in national politics?

If we are to save this country we all must unite as one front. The SJB and Sajith also can join this common front to save the country from the curse of Rajapaksa regime. 

Q   Former UNP Minister Arjuna Ranatunga associated with the Cricket World Cup glory and who is a clean politician resigned from the party and joined the SJB. Can anyone retain hopes on the UNP under Ranil?

Yes, Arjuna left the UNP after speaking to the party leadership. I believe he has a different agenda in national politics and let him pursue that objective.

Q   President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said that he would not hesitate to introduce new laws to bring to book those identified as collaborators of the Easter Sunday carnage by the Presidential Commission, that probed the massacre, if he was pressured any further. Ranil has been accused of negligence. Are you worried?

The Presidential Commission that probed the carnage, the CID or any other law enforcement body has not pointed a finger at Ranil for alleged negligence or failure to take action to prevent it.

Q   Don’t you think the change of party leadership is the only hope for the UNP?

No. But the party needs reforms. What we must do at this hour of peril and major calamity is to find a suitable leader with a proven track record.

Q   Ranil has said that he was ready to give the task of shaping the destiny of the UNP to the youth. Why are the party seniors not advising him to hand over the leadership to young Ruwan Wijewardene, who has all credentials, the respect and a corruption-free track record in politics, the family background, academic qualifications and experience rather than letting Mr. Wickremesinghe to desperately hang onto the party leadership?

Ruwan is doing a good job as the Deputy Leader and some day he will get his due place in the party. But he must earn that place like other late leaders of the UNP. JR took the party leadership serving the party since late 40s and late President R.Premadasa served the party for several decades before taking up the party leadership and eventually becoming the President. In the UNP we have a few other seniors too like, Akila, Navin, Wajira and myself who possess leadership qualities.

Q   Will the UNP contest the Local Government and Provincial Council polls earmaked for next year?

The UNP will contest all upcoming elections.

Q   How is the party’s preparation and reorganisation process?

The face of the UNP has changed. We have set up and reorganised the UNP youth front, women’s front, academics and professional’s front and strengthened the trade union arm of the party. We have taken measures to digitalise the entire reorganisational structure of the party. The appointing of district, electoral, local government and grassroots level organisers are in progress. We expect to finalise this before the end of 2021.