By failing its pledge on party list nomination:

UNP deceived my party and Tamil community– Mano Ganesan

by K.T. Rajasingham

Leader of the Democratic People’s Front - Mano Ganesan spoke on variety of subjects in an exclusive interview with Asian Tribune.

He said that he continues to work with UNP because of his desire to work for the welfare of his community in particular and the nation in general, despite UNP deceiving him on the party list MP nomination, which is legitimately due to him.

Given below are excerpts of the interview:

Q: Why are you participating in a May Day Rally in Jaffna?

A: We are part and parcel of the opposition. We are conducting political campaigns and our campaign has already started and we are continuing to hold rallies all over the country. We had our first campaign in Colombo, then went to Panadura, then went to Hatton, then the last one was at Kandy. Due to the New Year holidays we suspended our campaign temporarily and we will be starting again with a major rally in Jaffna.

Q: What is this campaign for?

A: We hold political campaigns in the interest of the people of this country. We highlight the issues that affect the life of the people. We highlight in our campaign the rising prices and the high cost of living and also we focus on the political issues as well as the economic issues that affect the people. I think this a legitimate activity of a democratic political party.

Q: What do you mean by “We”?

A: Right now - UNP, our party - Democratic People’s Front, N.S.S.P – Nava Sama Samaja Party and, United Socialist Party led by Siri Thunga, and the Tamil National Alliance on the other hand.

Q: They are also coming to all these places to participate in your campaign? I mean the TNA?

A: In fact TNA MPs - Suresh Premachandran and Sumanthiran participated in our inaugural rally in Colombo. Then again Suresh Premachandran participated in our rally we had in Panadura.

Q: Did Suresh Premachandran participate on behalf of TNA or under his own EPRLF?

A: We consider him as a TNA representative. There is no issue over his participation. He is a TNA MP.

Q: But your electorate is Colombo and Upcountry. Why Jaffna?

A: We are not going for election purposes to Jaffna. It is understood that Jaffna is part of the country. I have gone to Panadura also.

Panadura is not my electorate. We are also planning to go to the deep south, such as Matara and Hambantota areas, but those are not my personal electorates. As a national political party and a party with a national outlook, we will go anywhere.

Q: In the last presidential election you supported Sarath Fonseka. Do you now regret to have supported him?

A: I have no regrets. We were able to strike a balance at the election.

Q: The total number of votes Sarath Fonseka obtained was only 4,173,185 which was in fact something less than what Ranil Wickremesinghe received in the 2005 Presidential Election?

A: In fact Ranil Wickremesinghe received 4,706,366 votes in the 2005 Presidential Election.

But the circumstances are different. The 2010 political circumstances were totally different from what was in 2005.

Q: Prabha Ganesan was elected in your party ticket. You paved the way for him to contest in Colombo. He has now crossed over to the ruling party (UPFA) side. Have you filed a case against him, challenging his decision to join the ruling party without your party’s approval?

A: No. So far we have not gone to the law courts, but we have taken party disciplinary action against him. Because so far though we have the law in the country, but unfortunately no political party was successful in the court of law by filing disciplinary actions against those party MPs.

Q: I think that those parties who have contested the crossover have failed to bring adequate charges for the court of law to rule in their favour.

A: Not only in this case, even in the last parliament, plenty of UNP parliamentarians crossed over to the Government side and UNP went to courts, but they could not find any remedy. Even in the case of the Ampara electoral district TNA MP Perumpulli Hewage Piyasena, the Supreme Court ruled that the purported expulsion of Ampara district Parliamentarian by the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) known as Federal Party, is invalid. These crossovers were not restricted alone to the opposition parties. When Mangala Samaraweera and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe crossed over from the SLFP to the UNP, even the UPFA General Secretary was unable to take any action against them.

Q: What is your position about the resolution adopted against Sri Lanka in the last UN Human Rights Council, whether you were supportive of the American sponsored resolution?

A: I have my doubts over the sponsors and the supporters of this resolution. All these nations had their own agenda. About that I am very sure. They did not support in the interest of either Tamils or Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. We can’t blame them also. They supported because of their own interest.

Q: That means you want to say that those 23 countries which voted in favour of the resolution, voted because of their vested interest? And not in the favour of either Tamils or Sinhalese, and also they did not vote in favour of Sri Lanka?

A: No I didn’t say that. I repeat, I underlined the word that it did not qualify that each country performed according to their own interest.

That is quiet natural. And in our case, Sri Lanka acted according to its own interest. Sri Lanka supported Palestine and Sri Lanka gave its support for many other things in the international arena.

Q: Has your party ironed out the differences with the UNP?

A: Well, I am a politician with a lot of aims and with longer perspectives, but that does not mean that I will tolerate and forget what happened to me from the UNP, but in the greater interest of our community and the nation, I have to work with the UNP. That is why we are working with the UNP.

Q: You resigned from CMC in the interest of the UNP?

A: I resigned long before. That has nothing to do with the UNP.

Q: Your negotiation with the UNP is still going on regarding your right for a party list MP post?

A: Obviously our party has a right and eligibility for the national list nomination. There is no doubt about it and that is what is due to us. The UNP by not honouring their pledge, they have deceived not only my party, but they have also deceived the Tamil community. That is right. But still we are working with the UNP. Our relationship with UNP is not based on this particular issue.

I am a broad minded politician, and a lot of responsibility to my people rest on me. I am being the voice of the voiceless; also I am the one and only Sinhalese speaking Tamil politician today seen on all the Southern platforms conveying the messages of the Tamils to the Sinhalese brothers and sisters. So I have a big role to play. My role as a political leader is much greater.

Q: UNP has lost in many electoral battles. The leader of the party has miserably failed in almost all the elections. Do you still have trust on the leadership of Ranil Wickremesinghe who is said to be a failed leader?

A: The leadership of the UNP is a matter for the UNPers to decide. But we consider that UNP has a leader and we are dealing with that leader.

Courtesy: Asian Tribune