‘The President says that if he loses, he will accept defeat and go home and sleep. Should he be allowed to sleep? No. What he need is not the vote but a punch to the face. I tell J.R. that he will have to roll up his sleeping mat and leave the ward place by the 20th. I am the party’s Deputy Secretary, Vijaya Kumaratunga. If the police do not solve this, there will be bloodshed. Otherwise, we will solve this in five minutes…’
1982.06.22
Dinamina
Dinamina published this as a speech made by Vijaya at an election platform during the 1982 presidential election. On 19 November 1982, Vijaya was arrested for this statement, claiming that Vijaya had plotted a Naxalite conspiracy to assassinate J.R. and seize power.
Prime minister of the time Premadas said in the parliament this was informed to J.R by the brothers of Mrs Bandaranayake
Anura gave a statement to Tyrrell Gunathilaka, the head of the criminal investigation department of police in J.R.’s government, about this. Vijaya was arrested based on Anura’s statement.
After Vijaya was sent to prison, neither the SLFP leader, Mrs. Bandaranaike, nor Anura went to see Vijaya. Neither did they say that Vijaya’s arrest was unjust. J.R. later said that they should have a statue erected of him for saving the lives of the Mrs Bandaranayake and Anura from Vijaya. The truth is that Mrs Bandaranaya and Anura betrayed Vijaya to J.R.’s government to protect the SLFP leadership.
After the 1982 presidential election, Vijaya became extremely popular, and the Mrs Bandaranayake and Anura feared that he would seize power in the SLFP. J.R. feared that if Vijaya remained in the open, he would not be able to win the 1982 referendum.
Vijaya was ailing in prison. Chandrika, unable to do anything, went to J.R.’s house in Ward Place and begged for Vijaya’s release. J.R. released Vijaya.
After being released, Vijaya realized that his enemy was not J.R. but Mrs. Bandaranayake and Anura. However, he united all the opposition parties and fought to defeat J.R. in the May 1983 by-elections. Mrs. Bandaranayake and Anura were still pulling Vijaya’s leg even at that time.
Realizing that he had no way to go in the SLFP as long as Mrs. Bandaranayke and Anura were there, Vijaya, along with senior SLFP leaders T.B. Ilangaratne, V.W. Kularatne, and Kobbekaduwa, broke away from the SLFP and formed a new party called the Mahajana Party.
J.R. took advantage of this. On 25 October 1984, by-elections were held for Kundasale and Minneriya. Vijaya contested from Minneriya on the Mahajana Party. Vijaya came second, pushing the SLFP to third place.
When J.R.’s government signed the Indo-Lanka Accord with India to end the war in the North, Vijaya supported the Accord. The support given to the Accord by the leftist parties including Vijaya was a strength for J.R.’s government. In the 1988 presidential election, Vijaya contested as the third candidate in the duel between the SLFP candidate and the UNP candidate Premadasa.
The UNP knew that if Vijaya contested, Mrs Bandaranayake’s defeat was certain. The JVP assassinated Vijaya. However, Vijaya’s friend Ossie contested the 1988 presidential election and ruined her votes. Premadasa won because of Ossie.
Vijaya, who was sent to jail by J.R, finally brought good luck to J.R. and UNP. The reason is that Vijaya, who came out of jail, divided the opposition.
Mahinda won the 2010 presidential election by imprisoning his opponent, the UNP – JVP common candidate Sarath Fonseka, just as J.R. had imprisoning Vijaya. Just as when Vijaya was imprisoned in 1982, Mrs B. and Anura again supported J.R.,
When Fonseka was imprisoned in 2010, Ranil and his cronies secretly supported Mahinda. Ranil was afraid that if Fonseka remains free, he would be a threat to the position of opposition leader. While Fonseka was in jail, Ranil did not join the protests organized by the opposition to free him. Mahinda decided to release Fonseka immediately.
After his release, Fonseka went home from Welikada in a procession. When Fonseka came out of prison, he realized that his enemy was not Mahinda but Ranil. He formed a party called the Democratic Party and split the UNP’s votes. In the 2013 and 2014 provincial council elections, Fonseka’s party reduced the UNP’s vote base to 20%. Knowing that Fonseka would definitely win the 2015 presidential election by splitting the opposition’s votes, foreign forces who intervened to defeat Mahinda in that election got Fonseka’s support to Maithripala.
‘Is Ranil, who was recently released, trying to weaken the opposition just as Vijaya and Fonseka, who were released from prison, weakened the opposition…?’
Since his release, Ranil has not been trying to unite the opposition but to grab the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. The media friendly to him is reporting that Sajith was asked to appear before the Bribery Commission in order to scare the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and scare them of going to prison and destroy the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.
When Vijaya was imprisoned in 1982, the main opposition, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and its leader, Mrs. B incited J. R’s, government to imprison Vijaya. When Fonseka was imprisoned in 2010, the Ranilists of the UNP and Ranil incited the government of Mahinda. This time, when Ranil was imprisoned, Sajith and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya came out to free Ranil despite the danger of being sued on charges of contempt of court. They organized public protest.
The media that is friendly to Ranil, who came out on the shoulders of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and Sajith, now want to send Sajith to jail.
What Ranil is doing is not to unite the opposition, but to divide the opposition by making Sajith an enemy. This is a disease that leaders who go to jail develop. It is fate that governments with two-thirds power spread this disease in prison. J.R.’s government in 1982, Mahinda’s government in 2010 and Anura’s government today are two-thirds governments.
