Dayasiri Jayasekera tells Parliament:

‘I will steer UPFA to a resounding victory at NWP election’

The outgoing Kurunegala District UNP Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekera told Parliament last Wednesday that the vote base of the UNP has eroded to unrecoverable levels and the party has fallen to the deplorable level of doing 'voice-cut politics'. Whenever a mike is given to them, the UNP MPs attack the Government, but it has become an utter failure when the party resorts to politics with the people.

Making a special statement in Parliament before resigning from the UNP, Jayasekera said that he will steer the ruling UPFA in the North Western Province to a resounding victory. “The UNP is doomed. It is sure to lose the forthcoming Provincial Elections”. Jayasekera said at present, the people do not blame the Government for the ills and miseries they are confronted with, instead they blame the Opposition.

“Now the UNP is talking of gaining power in 2022. Party supporters are asked to wait such a long time to topple the Government. The incumbent leadership had removed hundreds of party organisers and local level politicians from the party similar to the manner in which Joseph Stalin had purged the Communist Party in Russia. A large number of party stalwarts has crossed over to the Government.”

MP Jayasekera started his speech with a quote from the speech made by the Late Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike at the Sripalee College in 1959. He said, “There is a freedom entrenched in humans and that is the freedom of thought. The day that freedom is taken away from them, then a calamitous period will befall all of human kind.”

He said he was forced to make this statement in Parliament because of the dangerous manner in which his right to think freely has been stifled within the party. “Instead of the freedom to think, we have been forced to grope in the darkness. It existed till yesterday. Today, I am happy I have come out of that darkness. Our party leader is a conservative.”

“The SLFP is the place where I started politics. My joining the SLFP now is 'going back to an ancestral home'. I could cross over and obtain a ministerial portfolio easily, but I would not resort to do so. I decided to resign from my post and go before the people. I know they would elect me Chief Minister and some day I may come back to Parliament.”

No redress

The MP also quoted former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, “Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.”

“The incumbent leadership of the UNP has given the exact interpretation to this saying by Disraeli. As a person who has been shunned, neglected and ignored by the UNP Leader, I can say this through my experience. Anyone who tries to fight against this system will have to face the guillotine. There are a large number of our party people who got caught to the guillotine and had to leave the party.”

The MP said the UNP leadership is not patriotic. In 2008, when the Government troops were waging a successful battle against the LTTE, the leadership got some retired colonels to come and brief the party MPs on losing the battle. “We were told that the rains would come and the trucks and tanks of the Military would get bogged down in the mud and the troops would not be able to advance and the military operations would come to a standstill and that the LTTE would fire mortars to kill them all. Our leader thought that both the economy and the Government would fall as a result of losing the battle against terrorism. We spoke against this. If any evidence is needed, we can ask Minister Johnston Fernando who had fought hard against that anti-national campaign of the party leader,” he said.

Jayasekera noted that the incumbent leadership of the UNP is incompetent and the party supporters had suffered more than 20 years under the current leadership without any victory. Whenever MPs questioned this crisis, they had come under the guillotine.

“The present leadership has extended the leader's term for another six years to stay in power. The leadership introduced certain dictatorial clauses to the party constitution at a party convention in Kataragama. That is Clause 8 (1) of the party Constitution. Under that, unless a vacancy occurs in the post of leader, that post will remain unchanged. This means that the leadership will not change until the leader resigns or dies.

Dictatorial leadership

“We have struggled against this dictatorial leadership within the party circles under the leadership of Sajith Premadasa. MPs, Provincial Council members and Local Government members joined in this struggle. Those who led that struggle had become victims of a witch-hunt. Some of them lost their membership, designations and positions.

“The members got together and brought a proposal to remove the clauses which give dictatorial powers to the leader. As a result of that struggle, we managed to put together a new constitution for the Party by removing Clause 8 (1) which gives dictatorial powers to the leader. The UNP supporters all across the country raised their hands and said they support this new constitution. “A few months later, there was a vote in this connection. On the day of the vote, 23 persons were appointed to the Working Committee overnight. None of them had any idea about the inner workings of the party or the Working committee. It was like registering new members for a death donation society. They voted and defeated our proposal. People were disgusted and disappointed with this conduct and continuous losses. Some members were victimised using the attack on the party headquarters, Sirikotha, as a cover. We condemn the attack on Sirikotha. That is our Maha Gedera and we wanted those responsible for that attack to be punished.

“Then a committee was appointed under the leadership of Srinath Perera and a proposal to extend the party leadership by six more years was also approved. At the UNP convention held thereafter, CCTV cameras were installed and the election was held after the area was turned into a prison and people were coerced into voting. That is the democracy practised by the party,” he said.

Jayasekera said, “While some of those who were opposed to it remained quiet, we were bold enough to raise our voice against such moves, because our conscience did not allow us to keep quiet. Now, we are talking of an election in 2014, but even if the party loses, the leadership will continue till 2018. It is a good reason for the Government to applause. Now the dream is to win power in 2022. That means, UNP supporters will have to suffer for 10 more years and chase a dream of winning power in 2022”.

Working Committee

MP Rosy Senanayaka was removed from the Working Committee and has not been reinstated yet. MP Buddhika Pathirana was also removed from the Working Committee. He polled the highest number of votes in the Matara district. Normally, it's people like that who are appointed to the Working Committee. MP Sujeewa Senasinghe has been sidelined, his electorate divided in to two and one has been given to a Pradeshiya Sabha member. Senasinghe is not even summoned to a UNP press conference. MPs Dunesh Gankanda, Palitha Thevarapperuma and Asoka Abeysinghe have also been sidelined. Imtiyaz Bakeer Markar was also removed from the Working Committee while Ranjith Aluvihare. Chandra Gankanda, Shiral Lakthilaka, Maithree Gunaratne, George Perera and Rose Fernando were among the Provincial Council members who were removed.

“In this manner, many of our party members were penalised. MP Karu Jayasuriya was the Deputy Leader of the party since 2005. He was removed from the Working Committee. MP Sajith Premadasa was removed from the Deputy Leader's post. MP Ranjith Maddumabandara was also removed while MP Thalata Atukorala was removed from the leadership of the Lak Vanitha Unit. A large number of party stalwarts has left the party because of this leadership, starting with Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama as well as Ministers Keheliya Rambukwella, Mahinda Samarasinghe and former Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama. A large number of UNP MPs crossed over to the Government due to the UNP not extending its support to the war against terrorists.

“Minister S.B. Dissanayake had to go behind bars for leading the cause of the party, but the party leadership did nothing to secure his release. The leadership must have thought that it's better for the party if SB remains in prison for longer. We had to bring Sarath Fonseka as a new leader for the Presidential Election. When he was incarcerated, the leadership held the same opinion. According to the leadership, Fonseka should have remained behind bars so that the party would gain.

“The UNP leadership could not capitalise on issues such as the removal of Shirani Bandaranayake from the post of Chief Justice and the power tariff hike. The trade union wing of the party has collapsed while organisation at grass roots level has been severely damaged,” the former MP said.