INTERVIEWS

"JVP has no policy or principles"

United National Party (UNP) Member of Parliament Dr. Rajitha Senaratne says the so called patriots who protested against the presence of Norwegians are today going behind them seeking help to develop the country. Referring to JVP Marxists as "fake patriots," Dr. Senaratne said JVPers and the members of the PA were the biggest 'hypocrites' in the country. "The JVP even went to the extent of branding the Norwegians as 'White Tigers' but today they are silent. Why can't they chase them out of the country? Earlier they protested against the LTTE opening police stations. But now why are they silent? They are silent because they know that they shouted at that time through ignorance and stupidity," he told The Sunday Leader in an interview.

Following are excerpts;  

By Wilson Gnanadass 

Q: The UPFA government has managed to run for nearly two months. How much further do you think it could go given its dismal performance?

A: Certainly no minority government has survived and especially the UPFA with its minority status cannot go on for a long time. Since the election, there has not been any major development in the country. Basically there is no performance to talk about. The main performance of the UPFA government should have been to further establish and move the peace process. But on the contrary, the process itself is at a standstill.

The key players to the peace process, the Tigers have announced that it will keep away from attending the monitoring meetings. In addition to this, the present government also tried to divide the LTTE that led to Karuna breaking away from the LTTE. The LTTE is now worried about the Karuna factor. The LTTE has lost faith in the present government to move forward with its peace plans. How can one expect the peace process to move forward? The peace process is in real danger.

Then take the economy. The prices of essential food items are soaring. We are also expecting even the prices of milk foods, gas and fuel to be increased after the July 10 local elections. So this is also going to be dangerous to the poor man. Look at the dollar rate that rises higher and higher. It has already passed the 100 mark for the first time. During the UNF regime it was brought down from Rs. 98 to Rs. 93. For the first time in history the dollar appreciated against the rupee during the UNF regime. The share market is in chaos .The day today living is getting harder and harder and the government is not able to fulfill any of the promises given in the manifesto. The UPFA said prior to the election that within two months all the promises would be met. And according to this two month period July 2nd becomes the deadline and to be fair, nothing has been fulfilled so far.

Q: The Tamil political parties have expressed utter 'disgust' at the manner in which the peace process is being handled by President Kumaratunga. They say they are suspicious of her government. In this backdrop do you think there is a chance of the peace process collapsing?

A: Yes. President Kumaratunga's characteristics are to tell one thing here and another thing there. This is not only known to Sri Lanka but also the entire world. Even earlier she told the TNA members one thing and then she told the nation in her public address something else. It is the same duplicitous style that led to the collapse of the peace talks in 1995. We understand the LTTE and the Tamil people in the north east are disgusted of the President's duplicitous way of handling matters but what is to be done? This is why we say that the chances of the entire peace process collapsing are likely. Because the LTTE could not trust her they are depending on the international community.

Q: The JVP vehemently protested against the presence of Norwegians when the UNF was in power. But the same JVP in power today says nothing about the Norwegians. How do you view the hypocrisy?

A: This shows that the JVP also has no policy or principles. It is funny when these elements call themselves patriotic when in opposition and deny this when in power. When they were in opposition they shouted and protested against the Norwegians and branded them as 'White Tigers.' But now they are seeking their help for development. They even went to the extreme of even burning the effigy of the Norwegian Ambassador. These are the people who are faking the country today. At that time they completely opposed the opening of police stations by the LTTE. But almost all the police stations and Eelam courts were declared open under their rule. I raised this issue in parliament and even gave the calendar as to when the LTTEers were opening their police stations and so on. It is clear that all have been established before Ranil's government and they were shouting so much about those institutions.

Today the police chief of the LTTE announced to the press about the opening of new police stations and by now they have opened a police station for the first time in Mannar. The LTTE has announced to the presseven the opening of the new Tiger hospital. Still no noise from the JVP and the other patriots. They have no voice because they are in power now. Their patriotism is to win power. The LTTE has already built a runway to land aircraft. They claim they have two more aircraft. What are our so called patriots doing about these things? When we were in power they protested so much. Today things are happening under their very noses and they are silent. This is a sorry state of affairs. As a matter of fact the security of the country is in question. The security is threatened today in the country.

Q: What are the chances of UNF winning the Provincial Council elections?

A: In my personal opinion, the elections are a little too early for us. If we had the election in another two months, definitely we could have captured all the provincial councils. Nevertheless, we are trying our best to capture the lost Provincial Councils. Still we have a good chance. Day by day we are improving. The people have started realising about the performance of the government and especially the JVP. This time a very lower voter turn out is expected. I believe a lot of alliance supporters will not go for voting that includes the JVPers also. So we are doing our best to win all provincial councils. The problem is the time factor.

Q: The opposition took the trouble to prove its majority in parliament by getting 114 signatures. What is the next step? Would you oust the present government?

A: Well in order to decide on this only we have asked the Speaker to summon parliament earlier than the scheduled date. At this time we want to discuss very important issues in the country. We want to pass certain resolutions in parliament as well. So that will show who will have the majority. Now in order to sabotage this move only they wanted to arrest Ravi Karunanayake. This is the first move. The next move is to arrest more powerful UNP members who are behind the leader in the campaign. They want to show that and show they have a majority in parliament.

We are also ready to fight tooth and nail against this type of dictatorial acts. Today, a committee chaired by Balapatabendi who is a political stooge of the President, is conducting the so called investigations of fraud at the Presidential Secretariat. They have set up a separate unit to implement their orders under ASP Wedisinghe. So this shows that they are going to create a police state in this country with the help of the terrorist JVP. There is a section of the government which is against this type of anti democratic actions of the government. But the President and few ministers and certain bankrupt and corrupt MPs have got together to do anything for the sake of power. At last truth will prevail.

Q: You have been accused of obstructing ASP Wedisinghe from performing his duties. What is the truth behind this?

A: I have all the right to question any police officer to find out whether his actions are correct or incorrect. So that is what I performed as a representative of the people. I enlightened him about the procedure of arrests. Because in 1995 under the direction of President Kumaratunga, the then director of CID arrested me illegally. I filed a fundamental rights application in the Supreme Court and won the case with the court demanding the state to compensate me for the illegal act performed against me. The Supreme Court defined what is illegal arrest. Now that is there as a new piece of law under 'Senaratne Vs Punya de Silva and others.' Therefore, I reminded him about this case because I thought this officer was also performing in the same manner. I don't think it is obstruction. The police officer was acting in a very high-handed manner and he talked with arrogance. I don't think we can be accused of obstruction.

Q: How do you view the whole incident that took place?

A: This police officer was so arrogant that he forgot that Ravi Karunanayake was a member of parliament and a former minister. Also he did not have any respect to the lawyer who argued legally with him against whom he has framed charges in court for obstruction. He was not prepared to listen to the lawyer thinking that he knew the law. Now he is in trouble because there would be contempt of court charges against him because he said he has a warrant to arrest him. But the judge the next day announced he never gave him a warrant.