When “Comrade”Anura Became the Fifth JVP Leader in 2014

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Colombo International Book Fair which was held at the BMICH. (File Photo)

The astrologer looked up with amazement and told Anura’s mother “Your son has a “Rajayoga” in his destiny. He is born to rule. One day he will rule this country”

A. K.  Dissanayake became the JVP’s fifth leader ten years ago in 2014. Under his leadership the JVP embarked on a historic journey resulting in the election of  Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the President of Sri Lanka

This JVP’s controversial  past contrasts  considerably with the JVP led NPP’s present. It is very possible that the JVP has evolved over the years and has reinvented itself now

The  JVP’s 17th national convention was held on 2 February 2014. Somawansa stepped down as leader and proposed that  Anura Kumara Dissanayake replace him. It was approved unanimously

Currently Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the darling of the Sri Lankan masses especially the younger generation. The JVP led NPP is highly popular with the people 

The year was 1969.  A 31-year-old mother sought the services of a prominent astrologer to draw up the horoscope of her six-month-old son. The astrologer made some calculations based on planetary movements that prevailed at the time of the boy’s birth the previous year. He looked up with amazement and told the mother “Your son has a “Rajayoga” in his destiny. He is born to rule. One day he will rule this country”. The mother was pleased but puzzled. She was from a low-income farming family. How could my son be a ruler? She wondered. 

When the boy in question celebrated his 12th birthday, the mother faced a new problem. The chief incumbent of a Buddhist temple or Viharadhipthy wanted her son to be a novice monk and be ordained a  member of the Buddhist clergy. The elderly monk had been impressed by the boy’s demeanor, intelligence and good conduct. After much thought the parents respectfully declined. The astrologer’s prediction about the rajayoga was uppermost in the mother’s mind while deciding. 

55 years later the astrologer’s prediction came true.The child became a man and eventually became the chief ruler of his country.  He was none other than Anura Kumara Dissanayake who was elected as the ninth executive president of Sri Lanka in September 2024. Ever since his election as executive president, Anura Kumara’s  modest renovated home in Thambuthegma has been visited by many outsiders including journalists and youtubers. 
Although  the newly elected president does not stay there, his mother  Seelawathy, elder sister Sriyalatha and other members of the extended family are living there now. The unannounced visitors are treated with friendly  hospitality. Anura’s 86-year-old mother is often interviewed and she takes pride in  talking about her son’s  boyhood. It was during these interviews that the matriarch disclosed the details about her son’s “Rajayoga” and the Buddhist Viharadhipathy’s offer. 

It may be recalled that in the first part of this article (Anura Kumara Dissanayake; “Leftist” Star Rises Over Sri Lanka) published a fortnight ago, I had written about Anura’s younger days. In that I had mentioned about his passion for reading and swimming. Seelawathy too revealed more details about these in her disclosures. She said that  Anura learnt to swim in the “Nallachchiya” tank nearby and was very fond of swimming. She also said that her son was an ardent reader and would be reading a book or newspaper even while eating. His favourite spot for reading was an “Araliya” tree (Temple Tree). Anura would perch himself on a branch with a book and read. She never had to force him into studying. 

Anura’s mother also spoke about the troubles undergone during the 2nd JVP insurgency. She related how Anura’s paternal first cousin had been tortured and killed. She also said about how  Anura himself had to evade arrest for a long time. When Anura’s father Ran Banda Dissanayake died the security officials  expected the son to attend the funeral and were lying in wait in the vicinity. Anticipating such a trap, Anura kept away and was not able to attend his father’s funeral, stated Seelawathy sadly. 

When I began writing this article  about Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), I had intended it to be of two parts only. However, the article has been receiving a positive response from readers. There are many requests to enlarge and extend the scope and scale of the article. As such the focus on AKD continues further. In the first part of this article published two weeks ago, the early years of  Anura’s eventful life were delved into in some detail. In last  week’s  second part,  AKD’s steady growth  as a political leader within the Janatha Vimukthi  Peramuna (JVP) was related to some extent. In this third part, Anura’s rise to the leadership position of the JVP will be  recounted.

Somawansa Amerasinghe
As stated earlier,  since its formation in 1965  the JVP had been led by its charismatic founder- leader Rohana  Wijeweera for 23 years until  1989. The first JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera, the second leader Saman Piyasiri Fernando and the third leader Lalith Wijerathne were  among the top 14 JVP leaders killed by the state in 1989-90. The only senior leader to survive was Somawansa Amerasinghe alias Siri Aiyaa. He became the fourth JVP leader in January 1990. 

The JVP under Somawansa Amerasinghe’s leadership required a new policy  for  its revival. The Sri Lankan forces were at war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The JVP led by Somawansa adopted a Sinhala chauvinist line under the guise of Sri Lankan patriotism and anti-separatism. The  JVP backed the war  against the  LTTE and fully supported the war effort in many ways. 

The JVP under Somawansa Amerasinghe was a warmongering entity totally opposed to any kind of peace initiatives. It adopted an aggressive hawkish attitude towards peace moves with the Tigers. The JVP opposed President Kumaratunga’s peace efforts.  When the UNP government. under the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe entered into a  peace process with the LTTE in 2002, the JVP opposed it. The JVP held several demonstrations and conducted mass meetings against the peace negotiations. The JVP was strongly against the facilitator role played by Norway. It constantly demanded that Oslo should end its mediatory efforts. 

The JVP condemned the Oslo accord in which the Government and LTTE reached agreement to explore a federal solution. When the LTTE proposed the setting up of the Internal Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) as an interim measure, the JVP spearheaded  protests against it. 

In 2004, the JVP was determined to scuttle the prevailing peace process by ensuring the electoral defeat of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Government. It joined forces with the SLFP and contested polls together. Wickremesinghe was defeated. The JVP got 39 MPs in the election. Four JVP Parliamentarians  including Anura Kumara Dissanayake were appointed Cabinet ministers in the Government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga. AKD was appointed as the Cabinet Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation. 

P-TOMS
Yet the JVP Ministers resigned their posts and all 39 MPs quit the Government when President Chandrika proposed  the setting up of an unconventional structure to disseminate foreign funds to Tsunami affected coastal areas inhabited by the  Tamil people. This was known as the Post-Tsunami  Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS). The P-TOMS was a joint Government-LTTE mechanism. 

The JVP was bitterly opposed to the P-TOMS. All 39 JVP MPs including AKD filed  a FR petition against the P-TOMS. A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the then Chief Justice Sarath N.Silva heard the petition and issued an interim order  restraining the key operational clauses of the agreement for the P-TOMS. The P-TOMS became a non-starter. The JVP welcomed the injunction  saying it had “effectively stopped” the implementation of the joint mechanism. The JVP’s P-TOMS episode has been chronicled in detail in the 2nd part of this article published last week. 

North -East Merger
While the JVP justified these acts on the basis of being opposed to separatism and terrorism, it also displayed tremendous hostility against the temporary merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces in terms of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.Paragraph 1.4 of the Accord stated: “the Northern and the Eastern provinces have been areas of historical habitation of Sri Lankan Tamil speaking peoples, who have at all times hitherto lived together in this territory with other ethnic groups.”. The two provinces were merged temporarily subject to the provision that a  referendum be held in the eastern province to ratify the merger. The referendum was postponed periodically by successive presidents since the war continued indefinitely. 

The JVP  took a hard line towards the North-East merger. Apart from openly opposing it as a political party, the JVP also established front organisations to promote anti-merger protests. Seminars and public meetings were held widely. Thousands of posters were displayed. Millions of leaflets were distributed. 

 After a prolonged campaign against the North-East merger, the JVP went to courts in July 2006. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna filed three Fundamental Rights petitions in the Supreme Court, challenging the merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces to form a single Tamil-speaking Province. The Petitioners  were Vasantha Piyatissa, JVP MP from Amparai district; Jayantha Wijesekara, MP from Trincomalee district; and ASM Buhari, a government servant from Sammanthurai. 

The JVP petitioners in their prayer asked the apex court to declare that the proclamations issued by former President JR Jayewardene on 2 and 8 September 1988 enabling the Northern and Eastern Provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected Council and purported amalgamation of the Northern and Eastern Provinces were null and void. 

A five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Justices Nihal Jayasinghe, N.K. Udalagama, Nimal Gamini Amaratunga and Rupa Fernando ruled that the merger  was “invalid”. The 23-page judgment reasoned that the merger was made by the then President JR Jayewardene under Emergency Regulations even though neither of the conditions mentioned in Section 31 (1) (b) of Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987 was met. The two conditions were cessation of hostilities and surrender of arms by all militant groups. The court observed that the merger was in “excess of the powers reposed in the President”.  

It could be seen therefore that the JVP in the past had followed a hard, hawkish course of action  in some matters concerning Tamils. Of course the JVP rationalised it by  saying this was against the terrorism and separatism of the LTTE and not against ordinary Tamils. The JVP was duty bound to protect the sovereignty of the nation and ensure national security. Nevertheless it is indeed an incontrovertible fact that the JVP had adopted a policy that could be termed as anti-Tamil in the past. 

This brings us to the question of the role played by Anura Kumara Dissanayke in this. The JVP was then led by Somawansa Amarasinghe who was very much a  Sinhala hardliner as  much as he was a self professed Marxist. He was ably assisted in these matters by Wimal Weerawansa who was more of a  Sinhala ultra-nationalist than  a  leftist. Anura Dissanayake’s name did not figure prominently in these matters in those days. It is not known whether he opposed these moves within inner-party discussions. However, it is a  fact that he was a joint petitioner in the P-TOMS case. He also followed the party line in opposing the N-E merger.

JVP Past and Present
This JVP’s controversial  past contrasts  considerably with the JVP led NPP’s present. It is very possible that the JVP has evolved over the years and has reinvented itself now. The Jathika Jana Balavegaya (NPP) is a refurbished version of the JVP. AKD himself is regarded as a flexible  pragmatist and not a  rigid dogmatis. In fairness to the JVP it is quite possible that the party has revised its policies and remoulded itself accordingly. It would be unfair to  condemn the JVP on the basis of its past  alone. 

Currently Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the darling of the Sri Lankan masses especially the younger generation. The JVP led NPP is highly popular with the people. In this context the unsavoury aspects of the JVP’s past cannot be ignored, overlooked or glossed over. While recognising and welcoming the new JVP and its leader AKD, one must not forget recent history too. Those who do not learn from history may have to face negative consequences in the future.  This is the reason much space has been devoted to the JVP’s  past in these columns.  

Wimal Weerawansa Split
The JVP under Somawansa Amarasinghe’s leadership remained in the Opposition while being an ally of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. There was however a split in the JVP which led to the souring of relations between the party and the Mahinda Govt. The JVP’s popular propaganda secretary and MP Wimal Weerawansa fell foul of the JVP leadership in March 2008. The JVP’s executive committee suspended Weerawansa for various alleged offences including corruption. Weerawansa broke off from the JVP with some of his loyalist MP’s and formed the National Freedom Front (NFF) on 14 May 2008. In December that year the NFF joined the Government with Weerawansa becoming a Cabinet minister.  

The JVP was furious with Mahinda and his brother Basil whom they suspected of plotting to fracture the JVP. Anura Kumara Dissanayake was quoted by the media saying that “There is no need for a new political party in the current political situation.”  

JVP Backed Fonseka
After the war with the LTTE ended in May 2009, differences between the then Army chief Sarath Fonseka and the ruling Rajapaksas emerged. Ultimately Fonseka contested against Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2010 presidential elections as the common opposition candidate. The JVP backed Fonseka against Rajapaksa and campaigned vigorously for the ex-army commander. Fonseka lost. 

In the 2010 Parliamentary elections the JVP contested as part of the alliance led by Sarath Fonsekaa. The Democratic National Alliance got seven seats. Of these four were obtained by the JVP. Anura himself was appointed to Parliament as a national list MP. The JVP that won 39 seats in the 2004 elections as part of the UPFA alliance led by the SLFP had dropped in numbers to just four MPs in 2010. Ironically the Weerawansa led NFF contesting along with the UPFA got more seats than the JVP  in the poll.  

Kumar Gunaratnam Split
The JVP underwent another split in 2012. There was much resentment within  a group of JVP activists about Somawansa Amerasinghe’s leadership style. They felt the JVP was losing its revolutionary nature and acquiring the characteristics of a conventional bourgeoisie party. The dissident faction was given leadership by the JVP’s Premakumar Gunaratnam alias Kumar/Kumara  who was based in Australia under the name  Noel Mudalige. These political differences  caused fierce  clashes  between JVP leader Somawansa and Premakumar. Anura Kumara supported Somawansa in this inner party struggle. The radical elements decided to split and form a new party. 

Gunaratnam alias Noel Mudalige arrived in Sri Lanka to inaugurate the new Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). He was abducted by state agents and went “missing”. To his eternal discredit, Anura denied the existence of a person named Kumar Gunaratnam in the JVP. Finally Kumar was released due to the efforts of the Australian High Commissioner. The FSP was launched in April 2008.  Sizable number of the JVP’s women, youth and student wings broke away and joined the FSP. The JVP’s media unit was shut down for a while due to mass defections to the FSP. 

Fresh Leader
The  Weerawansa led NFF  split took away a number of Sinhala nationalists  in the JVP. The Gunaratnam led FSP split took away many of the revolutionary socialists in the JVP. What was left behind was a  “moderate” middle between  Sinhala nationalism and revolutionary socialism. The JVP began losing its vigour and vitality and began turning into a caricature of its former self.  It was becoming increasingly clear that the JVP required a  new sense of direction under a fresh leader if it were to survive as a political force. 

The veteran leader Somawansa Amersinghe realised that  he needed to step down and began dropping hints that he would retire soon. The question was who would succeed him.  There were many potential successors. K.D. Lalkantha, Tilvin Silva, Vijitha Herath, Sunil Handunneththi,  Bimal Ratnayake and Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Among these stalwarts  the General Secretary Tilvin Silva was tipped to be the new leader. 

The  JVP’s 17th national convention was held on 2 February 2014. Somawansa stepped down as leader and proposed that  Anura Kumara Dissanayake replace him. It was approved unanimously.  Somawansa had appreciated the potential in Anura years ago and had groomed  him as his successor. 

JVP’s Historic Journey
A. K.  Dissanayake became the JVP’s fifth leader ten years ago in 2014. Under his leadership the JVP   embarked on  a historic journey resulting in the election of  Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the President of Sri Lanka. How and why this happened would be related in detail in the fourth and final part of this article.

D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at [email protected]