Sajith’s message to RW
JVP’s secret account controversy…
Pohottuwa is planning to expose big names..
Two new questions
The most frequently heard topic in the political arena these days is the draught. Decrease of reservoirs due to draught. Lack of water for cultivation due to drying up of reservoirs. Due to the lack of water, the tender paddy plants destroyed. Due to the destruction of crops, farmers across the country took to the streets and protested. Impression formed that there is no water to drink. Expressing opinions that electricity will be cut. That is on one side.
On the other hand, many serious crises in the health sector are frequently discussed in the political arena these days. On the one hand, the doctors had left the country. That is why there are no doctors in government hospitals. On the other hand, importing low quality medicines. Because of this, several deaths had occurred. On the other hand, large-scale fraud and corruption are said to have occurred during the importation of medicines. Because of this, the opposition, led by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, has taken steps to present to the speaker a motion of no confidence against the Health Minister Mr. Keheliya Rambukwella. Amidst all this is the story of the ever-rising cost of living
While all these topics are being discussed, two events that could become another major topic within the next few days are also seen to be lining up. One of them is the incident related to Kachchathiv Island which is owned by Sri Lanka. It has now become a topic in the political field because last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a special statement in the Indian Parliament regarding Kachchathiv Island.
The second incident is the Chinese ship ‘Xi Wang 6’ which is said to have started its journey to Sri Lanka. A few days ago, after the departure of this ship from a Chinese port to Sri Lanka, India, which was watching it with great interest, protested strongly and said that this ship should not be allowed to enter Sri Lanka. Even though both these events are in their infancy right now, they will no doubt become events that will attract a lot of international attention within the next few weeks, causing a headache for Sri Lanka.
Will Kachchathiv be renounced?
The issue of Kachchathiv Island has once again become a major topic in Indian politics and media following the clash between India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi and Indian Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. In this conflict, once Rahul Gandhi was deprived of the parliamentary seat by a court order and was also prevented from contesting the elections. Later, the judges who heard the appeal submitted by Rahul suspended the decision and provided Rahul with the opportunity to contest the parliamentary seat and the election. After this incident, a motion of no confidence was presented in the Parliament against Modi, and facing it, Modi attacked the Gandhi family in his speech and said that Indira Gandhi took steps to give the island of Katchathivu, which belonged to India, to Sri Lanka, and in this way many other valuable things that India had were given to other countries. He also said.
Although the media did not give much space to Modi’s serious statement in the parliament reminding Sri Lanka’s Kachchathiv , island, many analysts related to politics and security analysed Modi’s speech and said that it was a serious warning to Sri Lanka. Because in the past there were fishing conflicts between Sri Lanka and India in the North Sea, and on several occasions Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan security forces.
Because of this, the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu as well as the politicians had informed the Central Government of India that Kachchathivu Island, which once belonged to India, should be returned to Indian control. Even though Modi has not spoken publicly about it so far, the analysts are of the opinion that mentioning it specifically in the no-confidence motion is a sign of a serious situation. On the other hand, they point out that since the Indian general election is scheduled to be held next year, the Modi administration will make the acquisition of Kachchathiv Island to India a major election slogan in order for the BJP to win a number of states including Tamil Nadu in that general election. From that point of view, within the next few months, it will be possible to see various statements and various actions being taken from India’s side based on the island of Kachchathiv.
Another Chinese ship is arriving
On the other hand, Indian security analysts are of the opinion that if the island of Kachchativ remains in India’s possession, it can have some effect on the Chinese ships roaming in the Indian Ocean. India has been somewhat angry in the past due to the fact that several Chinese defence ships as well as several communication ships have entered the ports of this country against India’s strong opposition and under the approval of Sri Lanka. Under such a background, India must have seen a state of great agitation following the departure of the ‘Xi Yuang 6’ ship, which started its journey from a Chinese port to Sri Lanka last week. Although the media did not give much publicity to the event in Sri Lanka, this Chinese defence ship has become a major topic in Indian media and Indian politics these days.
This is the second time that President Ranil Wickremesinghe has faced a crisis based on Chinese ships after assuming the presidency. The President faced his first crisis a few days after taking office. At that time, the Chinese high-tech communication ship ‘Yuan Wang 5’ was sailing towards Sri Lanka, and its destination was Hambantota port belonging to China. But India strongly objected to it and said that the ship in question should not be allowed to anchor at Hambantota port. The Indian government at that time had also taken steps to inform Sri Lanka diplomatically.
It was because of this objection that the Sri Lankan government did not allow the Yuan Wang 5 ship to enter Hambantota port on the scheduled date. Accordingly, since the ship in question had been roaming in international waters for several days, many people thought that the government would not allow the ship to enter Sri Lanka due to India’s objection. But what happened was quite different. A few days after the scheduled date, the government allowed the relevant Chinese ship to enter Hambantota port. Due to this, India was in such difficulty that the President had to wait for more than a year even to invite India.
The ship comes to Hambantota
In the midst of such a background, there has been a lot of discussion in the political field regarding the fact that the second Chinese ship has been allowed to enter Sri Lanka. Many are commenting and saying that since the President is planning to visit China next October, this ship has been allowed to enter Sri Lanka to prepare the necessary background. Although it has been a year since the President took office, Sri Lanka has not yet received significant aid and money from international countries.
However, some media in this country had reported that this Chinese ship is scheduled to enter the port of Colombo. But the information available to us says that this ship is planning to enter Hambantota port belonging to China. Regarding the Yuan Wang 5 ship that arrived last time, we made a special note while reporting information through the ‘Inside Politics’ column, and said that there is a risk of a problem arising in the future based on the ocean region between China, India and Sri Lanka. We further pointed out that India is launching a plan to take control of the Trincomalee port and the region due to the handing over of Hambantota port to China. In such a case, if any crisis arises when the Chinese warships arrive at their Hambantota port, a serious problem will arise as to whether the Sri Lanka Navy or the Indian Navy will intervene. Looking at the current events, it should be noted that there is a risk that the suspicion we raised then will become a reality.
On the other hand, if the Chinese ship scheduled to come to Sri Lanka stops due to India’s opposition, the President will not be able to get anything expected during his visit to China next October. It is unlikely that the president will take such a decision in the face of the current economic crisis.
President broke his promises
Also, these days, Indian media can be seen continuously reporting information about this Chinese ship and Indian politics getting heated up. In particular, the Hindustan Times had once revealed through a headline that during the recent visit of the President to India, he had given an assurance that no decision would be taken that would affect India’s security, but that assurance had been broken by allowing this Chinese ship to come to Sri Lanka. In addition to this, when a Sri Lankan media inquired about the arrival of this Chinese ship from the Navy, they stated that they do not know anything about it. However, China has not yet made a public statement regarding this Chinese ship arriving in Sri Lanka, and it is a special incident that India has not yet expressed its position on the measures to be taken if the ship arrives. On the other hand, Sri Lanka is still keeping a silent mood about it.
Milinda bid goodbye
In the midst of all these upheavals, Mr. Milind Moragoda, who has held the position of High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India, is scheduled to return to Sri Lanka within the next few days to bid farewell to his post. Milinda, who was once Ranil’s closest friend, later left Ranil and joined the Rajapaksa family. Milinda was appointed as the Indian High Commissioner by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Not only was he appointed, but a special cabinet paper was presented and cabinet powers were given to Milinda.
But after Ranil became the President, he did not see any cooperation with Milinda. Once the President sent his senior advisor Mr. Sagala Ratnayake to India to meet Indian leaders without informing Milinda. During his recent visit to India, Milind’s was not seen much. Although many agreements were signed in India, Sagala’s was seen everywhere instead of Milind’s. The end result of this is that Milinda has resigned from her position the day after tomorrow he is coming to Sri Lanka. Kshenuka Seneviratne will go to India as the new Indian High Commissioner to replace Milinda.
However, some people in the diplomatic field are saying that Milinda is coming to Sri Lanka thinking that he will have to face some critical events that are going to happen in the future, and that Milinda has decided to come to Sri Lanka before that.
Channel ‘Eye’ to Aliraja
About two months ago, we made a special disclosure through the ‘Inside Politics’ column that Aliraja Subhaskaran, a well-known London-based businessman, is preparing to enter the business sector in Sri Lanka. There we said that on two occasions when the President visited London, he met Aliraja Subhaskaran and arranged to discuss this matter. We also took steps to make a special disclosure regarding the people who prepared those meetings. While reporting further information, we said that Aliraja has planned to buy Sri Lanka Telecom and Lanka Hospitals.
However, last week, Aliraja came to the fore once again with the news that he is ready to buy a media company in Sri Lanka. The media had reported that the government-owned television channel ‘Channel ‘Eye’ would be sold to him. After completing the preliminary work in that regard, it was seen that the Minister of Mass Media, Mr. Bandula Gunawardena, had forwarded a cabinet paper as well. However, when this cabinet paper was presented to the cabinet, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena objected to it. Dinesh said that it is unnecessary to submit cabinet papers to give ‘Channel I’ to any person, and a decision can be taken at the level of the board of directors of the institution. Accordingly, Bandula had taken steps to withdraw the relevant cabinet paper. However, some media published news that Bandula’s cabinet proposal to sell ‘Channel ‘Eye’ has been rejected and that Aliraja has not been able to buy ‘Channel ‘Eye’, but finally, under the approval of the board of directors, ‘Channel ‘Eye’ is leased. to Alirajah
The Church’s Response to the Madu Journey
President Ranil Wickremesinghe went to Mannar last Wednesday to attend the annual feast of the most sacred Madu Church. Due to the fact that it is the highest festival of Catholic devotees, thousands of devotees participated in it, and the President also made a speech there. Those who participated in the celebration, the hundreds of thousands of Catholics who watched the ceremony live from home on television could be listen to the President’s speech during the ceremony. In his speech, the President expressed his views on how to develop the Mannar area and the investments coming to Mannar in the future.
At that time, no problem arose regarding the President’s speech, but on the following day, Thursday (17), the official newspaper ‘Gnanartha Pradipaya’, published by the Catholic Church, severely criticized the President’s speech. The editor of that newspaper criticized the President’s speech through his editorial and accused that the President made a political speech by joining the most important religious occasion of the Catholic people. It was further stated that when one becomes a president, one should take care to speak in an appropriate manner, and after the speech of the president, many people called Gnanartha Pradipaya’s office and expressed their protest about it.
Gnanartha Pradeepa Editorial
Below is the editorial published in the ‘Gnanartha Pradipaya’ newspaper on Thursday.
‘I have been watching the feast of Madu Church yesterday (15th), which was broadcast by a private TV channel, since the morning with great devotion. The Mass was very devout and beautiful. But when I heard the President’s speech after the pooja, I felt great pain. Still that sadness did not leave my mind. He came and gave a purely political speech from the altar. Just like the people who were there, we who were at home were praying and supplicating to the Goddess at that time. People were very devout throughout the puja. The pious environment was destroyed by the President’s speech. In that speech, it was purely a political speech. If politicians want to make their speeches, they can do so at their stage rallies. The Easter Sunday bomb destroyed the bodies and lives of our people. Now the spirit is going to be destroyed. Do not allow this disease to spread to our churches. Not only our churches, but the souls of the people who come to our churches to participate in the puja are going to be destroyed. Don’t allow that, Father…’
This is part of a statement that a certain pious old woman addressed to us on the phone this morning (16). She cried throughout the entire phone conversation.
Only a telephone conversation was quoted today. A number of laymen made phone calls protesting and criticizing the President’s speech. We thought it was timely to make a note about it.
The Madu Shrine is revered by the entire Sri Lankan people as a sacred place. We Catholics as well as non-religious people go there for the festival to place our wishes and sorrows before Mother Marudamadu with great devotion and to give thanks for all the blessings we have received from God through her intercession. Since then, the Marudamadu shrine has been considered a holy and sacred ground by the Catholic faithful. They are careful not to utter even the slightest words that harm that sanctity on that ground. They participate in the wedding maha pooja of Mother Marudamadu with great devotion. After the Mass, they are eagerly waiting for the procession carrying the statue of Mother Marudamadu.
Many people are of the opinion that the President’s speech during that time is a violation of the spiritual meditation and virtue of our people. It was clearly not a case that should have been included in the middle. We are of the view that politicians should not be given the opportunity to specifically appear or give speeches during the religious services of our religious shrines.
On the other hand, it goes without saying that the President, as the chief citizen of the country, must have a sense of where he is, who he is talking to, and accordingly what he should and should not say. He should have understood that political speeches full of promises were not suitable for the occasion. The President should have been careful not to speak in such a way as to destroy the inner spiritual environment of the devotees gathered with devotion and prayer at the main Catholic shrine, which was the subject of devotion of the entire Sri Lankan people.
We made this note with the aim of preventing such inappropriate and unfortunate incidents from happening in the future. We would like to ask all concerned not to accept it as a negative criticism but as a positive comment.
– Ganartha Predepaya
Nuwara Eliya got hot
Last weekend, the Ministers of Pohottuwa were spending a vacation at the ‘Senpati Madure’, the MP’s bungalow in cold Nuwara Eliya. The reason for this was that the annual cricket match and friendly meeting held by the Ministers of Pohottuwa held in Nuwara Eliya this year. The proposal was presented this time by the Minister of State Piyal Nishantha, and Piyal himself had taken steps to carry out its organizational activities. Piyal, who invited Mahinda, the leader of Pohottuwa, also invited all the other MPs as well.
In this way, while Piyal invited everyone in Pohottuwa to it, it was a special incident that another group of Pohottuwa made telephone calls to the Ministers and MPs informing them not to participate. A powerful minister from Pohottu who works closely with the President and two other Pohottuwa councilors representing Gampaha had taken charge of the project. It was also seen that the operation of giving calls which started with the Gampaha councilors gradually spread to the Pohottu councilors in other districts.
The bud is also ready
However, before a moment passed, the leaders at the Pohottu party headquarters in Battaramulla also came to know that an operation had been started from Gampah to disrupt the friendly meeting in Pohottuwa. Accordingly, it was seen how the party headquarters also made a separate operation against it and called the ministers again.
However, it was seen that the Gampaha councilors had not abandoned their mission on the day the Pohottu councilors left to Nuwara Eliya. On that day, two buses were deployed near the Madivela MP’s quarters for the MPs to go to Nuwara Eliya, and some MPs received phone calls that morning telling them not to board the buses, and that if they went to this event, they will lose President‘s favour. But the vast majority of MPs ignored these calls and boarded the buses to go to Nuwara Eliya.
When these MPs came to Nuwara Eliya, Mahinda came separately to ‘Senpati Madura’ and was relaxing with the other MPs. Mahinda also joined the MPs to play cricket. At that time, there was no discussion about the phone calls made by a group of Gampaha councilor’s attempt to disrupt the trip, but the topic came up during the friendly meeting with liqueur that night. There, many MPs took steps to inform Mahinda and other Pohottu leaders about the phone calls they received. Some MPs also mentioned with great anger that the two MPs, including Pohottu strongman, who made the phone calls, should be revealed to the country and the parties.
‘Now we have been waiting for this enough. We need to inform our party members about these double standards. It is not good to allow people like this to come to the side of the Parliament again. These people went to Ranil and took ministries and now they have started attacking the party. That the true form of two-faced characters should be shown to the party members and their politics should be ended.
3 ministers meet Basil
In addition to this, three other special events took place in Pohottuwa last week. That is, three powerful ministers of Pohottuwa, who are working very closely with the President these days, came separately and discussed with Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, who was the mastermind of Pohottuwa. There was a special reason for this meeting. The reason was that due to working closely with the President, these ministers had not completed the party reorganization activities assigned to these ministers by Pohottuwa and had not fulfilled the duties assigned by the party. Due to this, the party had informed these three ministers that if they do not carry out the relevant work, they will appoint other persons to carry out those duties.
However, with this notification, the three relevant Pohottu ministers stormed off and came to the Pohottu party headquarters to meet Basil. Although they met Basil separately, all three of them told Basil the same story during the discussion. They said that despite working closely with the President, they will be with Pohottuwa and compete with Pohottuwa in the future.
We are working closely with the President. He also said that he should be the next presidential candidate. But we are still with the bud. We will also compete in the upcoming elections. In the next presidential election, if the party decides that the presidential candidate will be Ranil Wickramasinghe, we will support him. Also, if Pohottuwa is decided, we will support that candidate nominated by the party to put another candidate…’ was the story that all these three ministers told Basil.
A Squabble for JVP?
Although they did politics together for a while, the Janata Vimukti Peramuna and the Front line Socialist Party are now doing politics divided into two camps. It can be seen that JVP is going on a separate political journey under the leadership of Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the Front line Party is going on a separate political journey under the leadership of Mr. Kumar Gunaratnam. Although several rounds of talks were held between the two sides during the last struggle, those talks did not have much life due to ideological clashes.
However, last week these two sides clashed openly and it was rooted in a serious accusation made by one of the Frontline member Mr. Duminda Nagamuwa, targeting JVP leaders. One of the incidents that led to this accusation was when a suddenly formed student organization attacked the Antare Student Union. The other event was a recent JVP constituency conference held in Moratuwa. Before the start of this seat conference, the members of the special task force had come and checked the festival ground, and Police had also taken steps to deploy official dogs. Some social media had also taken steps to broadcast this event live.
However, attending a press conference the next day, Duminda Nagamuwa made a serious allegation that there is a close relationship between JVP and Public Security Minister Mr. Tiran Alas, and that both parties have made financial transactions in a European country. Duminda’s accusation did not get much publicity due to the lack of major media coverage at that time, but as it was reported on social media, Public Security Minister Tiran submitted a complaint to the Criminal Investigation Department on the same day and informed them to investigate the accusation immediately.
Later this conflict came out in a political talk show on a certain television channel that night. Former Member of Parliament Nalinda Jayatissa was representing JVP and Duminda Nagamuwa Front Line socielist, who had made a serious accusation against JVP, was also seen participating in it. Here, Nalinda challenged Duminda to confirm the related accusation, whereupon Duminda started revealing information about the relationship between JVP and Tiran. However, when Nalinda challenged him to reveal about the investments, Duminda said that since the Minister in charge of Police has informed the Criminal Investigation Department to conduct an investigation on this matter, he will give the information about it to the Criminal Investigation Department.
Rohini’s two eyes
The second meeting of the Bhikshu Advisory Council of Samagi Jana Balawega was held last week centered on Galle district. The inaugural event was held in Colombo and due to its success; it was proposed to hold the second event in Galle. The organization of the event was entrusted to Galle Sajaba leader Gayantha Karunathilaka, Chandima Weerakkodi and Galle Sajaba seat organizers. Gayantha – Chandima and the team had worked so successfully to organize this event that they were able to get a large number of Theras who had not come to any political program held in Galle recently. Ranjith Maddumabandara, Laxman Kiriella, Gayantha, Chandima, Rajitha, Sarath Fonseka, Mayantha, Tissa and a large number of MPs also attended the ceremony. The only complaint that the people gathered there was that the United National Party had not been able to hold a general meeting with such a high level of participation within the last 30 years.
In this way, while SJB is moving forward by uniting all the parties in the country, a great controversy arose within the party due to a statement made by Mrs. Rohini Kaviratne, the member of SJB Matale last week. Joining a discussion with an online media, Rohini had said that Ranil and Sajith are like eyes to her. Social media had also taken steps to give a lot of publicity to Rohini’s statement.
However, this statement made by Rohini when SJB was making clear progress under the leadership of Sajith had caused the anger of SJB MPs. Accordingly, they met in a certain house in Colombo last Tuesday and decided to discuss this matter. One Member of Parliament who was very angry with Rohini’s speech said that Rohini should be informed to conduct future politics together with the President. A statement made by JVP leader Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the recent Constituency Conference held in Moratuwa had also caused the anger of this MP.
‘Have you seen the story Anura Dissanayake told in Moratuve for Rohini’s story? Rohini likes Ranil Sajith’s eyes. Anura said that we said that these two are one. We can’t wait any longer. Sajith has said several times that he will never get together with Ranil. In that case, our people say that Ranil-Sajith are like his two eyes. Because of these stories, we cannot stay in the villages, Ranil has no chance in our villages. So our people are asking if they are going to join Ranil. What answers do we give to our people? I am not looking forward to these anymore. I will question about this in the MP group meeting. We all abandoned Ranil because we could not go on a political journey with Ranil. We became members of parliament. So if anyone wants to go with Ranil again, please give back the MP position that SJB got to the party and go with anyone. Don’t get ready to make deals from here. I will also tell the leader about this…’ when this young MP said, the other MPs also nodded their heads and took steps to approve it.
Sajith replies
In the meantime, the general committee of the opposition, under the chairmanship of Mr. Sajith Premadasa, met with the trade union leaders and took steps to hold a special discussion in the parliament last Wednesday. Member of Parliament Rohini Kaviratne was also present. It is not known whether Sajith made these remarks for Rohini to feel it, but he said that due to the anti-people policies of the current President’s government, SJB is not ready to unite with the President at all. When Sajith said this, Rohini was also seen pressing her face to her mobile phone.
Also, at the press conference held at the opposition leader’s office on Thursday, the party’s spokesperson Mr. S.M. Marikkar had also commented on this. Answering a question asked by a journalist, Marikkar said that his eyes should be located in only one body, and it is not possible for them to be located in two bodies.