The public interest moved to the Judiciary this week, following the Court of Appeal decision to sentence the General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thera to six years of rigorous imprisonment, over his contemptuous behaviour in the Homagama Magistrate’s Court in January 2016.
Gnanasara Thera was found guilty of all four charges of contemptuous behaviour framed against him, proved beyond reasonable doubt, in an important expression of the Independence of the Judiciary in recent years. The sentence was 19 years of rigorous imprisonment, served concurrently within six years. The Court of Appeal held there was overwhelming evidence, proving beyond reasonable doubt that the conduct of the accused Thera before the Magistrate had been with deliberate intention. It was to intimidate the Magistrate, to obtain an order the Thera had desired, mainly bail for the suspects in the case before the Homagama Magistrate’s Court, relating to the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.
Gnanasara Thera was sentenced to six months in prison earlier this year, for threatening Sandya Eknaligoda, wife of the missing cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda in the same Magistrate’s Court.
There was opposition from Buddhist activists to the Thera having to wear the ‘jumper’ – the uniform of all prisoners, although there are other Buddhist monks wearing this uniform in prison. He was released from prison following his appeal to this six-month sentence. Lawyers for Gnanasara Thera informed the Court of Appeal they would file an appeal against the latest sentence of six years imprisonment. The Thera was not in court when the sentence was passed, as he was undergoing treatment at the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital.
Interest in the Judiciary - and Contempt of Court, increased with two other cases. The Court of Appeal issued summons on the Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Vigneswaran and three others, to appear in Court. It is on a complaint they had acted in contempt of an Interim Order of the Court, preventing the Chief Minister from removing the petitioner B. Denishwaram from functioning as the Minister of Fisheries and Transport in the Northern Provincial Council.
Interestingly, Chief Minister Vigneswaran was a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.
There is more interest in the Judiciary with Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake pleading not guilty to a charge sheet filed against him over allegations of Contempt of Court. This refers to statements made earlier by Mr. Ramanayake about members of the legal profession and those in the judiciary. All judges of the Supreme Court had determined to proceed with Contempt of Court charges against the Deputy Minister having perused the transcripts and video footage related to his alleged statements.
Opposition Leader chase
There is diversion in the politics of the Joint Opposition, moving away from the defeat of the Yahapalana coalition and plans for the coming presidential and general elections, to the demand for the office of Leader of the Opposition.
The big debate in parliament this week was over declaring the JO’s leading member in parliamentary business, Dinesh Gunawardena, as Leader of the Opposition. The JO is not a registered party in parliament, though a group with at least 70, in a house of 225 members. Dinesh Gunawardena could certainly be a good Leader of the Opposition, with his experience in parliament as an MP and Minister, and his personal and political background. His personal suitability apart, there is the political reality of the JO. The leader of the JO is none other than Mahinda Rajapaksa, functional leader of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), former Prime Minister and Executive President, and the mover and shaker of the JO today. Is it not strange the JO does not call for Mahinda Rajapaksa as Leader the Opposition (L/O), but keep pushing for Dinesh G?
The Office of L/O is a political twist from the time of the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa from the office of President in January 2015. After that change in government, with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the MPs of the MR government, were an opposition with a parliamentary majority, but unable to assert any political strength. Strangely, Nimal Siripala de Silva was then the L/O with many more MPs behind him than the new Prime Minister had. The adoption of the 19th Amendment, which defined the political party structure, and the results of the General Election in August 2015, changed the whole picture.
The reality today is that all members of the parliamentary group known as the JO contested the election as candidates of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance, a political alliance founded by former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2004, which continued under MR leadership. It brought together the SLFP, MEP, and other political parties that accepted MR’s leadership. However, the harsh reality is that the leader of both the SLFP and the UPFA today is President Maithripala Sirisena. The UPFA Secretary at the time of the general election was from the SLFP. Mahinda Rajapaksa too was an SLFP/UPFA candidate, returned from Kurunegala District. By the time of that general election, MR had given up his leadership of the SLFP and consequently of the UPFA. All those who are now in the JO, (other than Wimal Weerawansa’s NFF) are members of the UPFA, whether members of the SLFP, MEP or any other associated party. At least 20 elected and appointed MPs after that poll remain in government, under the leadership of President Sirisena.
What the JO is calling for is a political convolution, to escape their own twist in parliamentary politics. As members of the UPFA or SLFP, they cannot be in both the Government and the Opposition. To be a party of the Opposition they must resign from the UPFA/SLFP –and face the possible consequences, which could be the loss of parliamentary seats. They must not forget that MR remains an advisor to the SLFP, as a former party leader. They are in a political trap of one’s own making, of being in both government and opposition, without the courage to move out of the party and the alliance that gave their seats in parliament. The spin continues with several members of the JO showing allegiance to President Sirisena as the SLFP leader, with the suspicions they have of the SLPP and the Pohottuwa.
This diversion of the politics of the JO seems more a desire to escape from the emerging conflicts of the Rajapaksa family on the next candidate for the presidency, and a possible diversion from coming court cases on fraud and corruption by the Rajapaksa Regime.
The loss of ‘Anna’ in Tamil Nadu
The passing away of Tamil Nadu political leader Muthuvel Karunanidhi marks the end of one of India’s prolific political leaders, who had a major impact on Sri Lanka, too.
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu five times between 1969 and 2011, who rose from poor working class parents to join the former Justice Party as a student, saw him rise to a decisive figure in both Tamil Nadu and Union politics, and a key mover in bolstering Tamil identity in India’s federal structure.
One with radical views, oratorical skills, and a strong respecter of the Self-Respect Movement, which envisioned a society where backward castes would have equal rights. He campaigned against the caste supremacy of Brahmins and opposed a move by the federal government to impose Hindi as an official language of communication in South India.
Karunanadhi helped found the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party in 1949, which would go on to be one of the most influential political entities in India.
He will be remembered in Sri Lankan politics for the sympathies he had for the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He was supportive of the separatist politics of the Tamils and especially the LTTE, and provided the LTTE a good base for training and activity in Tamil Nadu. However, the LTTE’s assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi did cost him much in Tamil Nadu politics. He remained a strong voice for the LTTE until the final days of the war in Sri Lanka, but could not make the Indian Government support the final push to defeat the LTTE here.
A true pioneer of political theatre in Tamil Nadu, he staged and acted in plays that doubled as vehicles for his political goals. He had similar success in cinema, known as Kalainagar or ‘the artist’. Sri Lankan lovers of the old Tamil cinema will remember the film ‘Parasakthi’ in 1952, with screenplay and dialogues by him, a movie that was a hit for many months. He was known for religious musicals, mythological films and family dramas.
His main political rivals were the matinee idol M. G. Ramachandran, born in Ceylon, and later Jayalalitha, who saw him for more than a decade in the opposition. Karunanidhi leaves behind the legacy of a political leader who brought together the artist, writer, activist and one of the longest players in Indian politics.
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