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| Sunday, 25 January 2004 |
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Great expectations by Lalith Edrisinha "I must first stress the fact that our Party is a Social Democratic Party. It is Social because we intend, while being just to all, to give the vast mass of the people of this country, who are living in poverty, the highest possible standards of living within the resources of our country; it is Democratic, because our Party will be a genuine People's Party where the dictatorship of an individual or a clique will not be tolerated". That was S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike inaugurating the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) on September 02, 1951-at that time presumed to have stepped into political oblivion! Over fifty years later similar aspirations are expressed in what can be construed as to mean a failure of governments in between to reach those goals set out in 1951 despite successive governments being installed in 1956, 1960, 1970 and 1994 dominated by the very same SLFP which strove hard to remain on the course set out by the late leader, forming one political configuration and then another and another until the other day when the second generation of the angry children of 1956 returned to the bosom of the mother party as it were in a gallant bid to save the country from what was perceived to be imminent by the majority - a division of the country and a down turn in the economy. It is ironic that the very same leader who paved the way for the bloodless revolution of 1956 has repeatedly been accused of setting in motion those events that eventually led to the call for a division of the country on grounds of discrimination and alienation that followed the enthronement of Sinhala and the dethronement of English which was considered to be a historical necessity and a natural corollary to independence from a colonial power. The euphoria that was witnessed on the day of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the SLFP and JVP countrywide seemed to be more widespread than the show of concerted and concentrated strength of the working class that the unity, short lived though it was, of the Left forces displayed on May Day 1963 when the three leaders of the then accepted Left parties Dr. N. M. Perera, Dr. S. A. Wickremesinhe and Philip Gunawardena drove in a jeep at the head of the May Day procession which was a precursor to a formal agreement of left unity signed on Hartal Commemoration Day, August 12, 1963. Judging by the conditions that obtain in the country today that necessitated the joining of hands of the centre with the up and coming Left forces the unity forged at more the middle rung and grassroots level should hold given the very specific offer of the alliance to govern as set out in the 'Five Noble Objectives of Governance' relating to 1. The Economy 2. Ethnic Harmony 3. Strengthening Democracy 4. Cultural Policy and 5. Foreign Policy. Lexicon of 1956 Again, it is the lexicon of 1956 that is invoked. Those memories of the Five Great Forces that swept away the hitherto giants in the political field and brought into Parliament 'tree climbers' and 'postal peons' among others are kindled once again. Can the centre-left hold and sustain itself in the face of the imminent threats from those forces that have contrived to oppose and indeed disrupt such coalitions before? The centre-left government of 1956 came to a horrible end with the tragic assassination of its leader not long after Left elements led by Philip Gunawardene quit the government. The 1960 government of Ms. Sirimavo Bandaranaike survived a military coup d'etat but succumbed to a parliamentary coup in 1964. The United Front government of 1970 went the same way when right wing forces gained ascendancy and forced Left elements out of it. In the more recent past the People's Alliance came a cropper in its second term when within a year and significantly when a program of work with time limits had been worked out with the JVP which pledged its support while remaining in Opposition was brought down with the crossing over of Ministers and MPs from Government in 2001. What of the future? There are great expectations that those segments in society that have been mere lookers-on of past events will be made partners in the process of nation building and economic emancipation that the new alliance has pledged to set in motion. Forging links Can the forces that felt marginalised in the South forge links with those in the North and carry forward what was achieved by the UNF government-(limited but commendable nevertheless) reducing tensions; removing sand bags and barricades in the South and opening the A9 roadway in the North? The country can not afford to let the opportunity slip by. It is those who did not benefit from the relative peace that form the majority that forced the hand of the leaders of the SLFP and JVP to come together in a bid to salvage what was perceived by them to be a hopeless situation. There are those in the North too who have for long claimed that the real benefits of the 'negotiated peace' never filtered down to the people who had undergone untold hardships and misery for over two decades. There then is the opening for negotiations that would truly bring about a tangible peace among the oppressed people on both sides of the divide. Of course as Mr. Bandaranaike said on that day in September 1951 "Very powerful forces are likely to be ranged against us in the time to come - power and influence, money, distortion and misrepresentation". It is only a true programme of service that can fulfill the great expectations of the people and in that service alone can the new alliance triumph. |
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