As published in The Island, September 11, 2015

Following is the text of a statement headlined “For the special attention of all SLFP and UPFA voters” issued by Rajapaksa in this regard:

It is with much regret that I read certain comments made by former president Chandrika Kumaratunga to The Hindu newspaper in India a few days ago. Mrs Kumaratunga is a former leader of the SLFP and a current member of the Central Committee and co-Patron of our party and whatever she tells the foreign media while on overseas trips, reflects on our party and our country. Throughout the interview with The Hindu, Mrs Kumaratunga expressed her elation and glee at being able to defeat the SLFP led UPFA government of which I was the president and she dwelt garrulously on her own role in the conspiracy. No Indian would ever see a former leader (or a Central Committee member or Patron) of the Congress Party or The BJP expressing joy at the defeat of his or her own political party in that manner.

While that alone would be cause for much shame and embarrassment for all members of the SLFP and the UPFA, some of the things that she said about our party are positively insulting. She had told The Hindu that she had difficulties in looking around for an SLFP front ranker to contest against me because “it was difficult to find anyone in the SLFP who wasn’t known to be corrupt or a murderer”. When the co-Patron and a sitting Central Committee member of the SLFP tells the foreign media that members of her own party are virtually all rogues or murderers, that reflects very badly on our party. There are ministers in the present government who still consider themselves to be members of the SLFP. How can these SLFP ministers face their UNP colleagues in the cabinet when their own party Patron and CC member goes around the world referring to them as rogues and murderers?

Besides, almost all the SLFP stalwarts Mrs Kumaratunga refers to were MPs and ministers in her government as well. I took over the party that she left behind. So her statement to The Hindu amounts to an admission that she too presided over a party full of murderers and rogues. The irony is that though no charge of wrongdoing has been proven against the SLFP members Mrs Kumaratunga hurls accusations at; she herself has been found guilty of an irregular land deal by the Supreme Court. There are many serious allegations of similar nature against Mrs Kumaratunga. There were times she had to reverse certain actions due to public outrage. Whether such a person has the moral standing to go around the world, accusing prominent members of the SLFP of being corrupt is a matter for the people to decide.

In this interview with The Hindu, Mrs Kumaratunga has also said that the SLFP led UPFA government of 2005-2015 was ‘a police state’ and that the conspiracy to overthrow the SLFP led government was hatched using a special software called Viber to prevent their calls from being monitored. My government never monitored any phone calls. If we did, the same equipment would now be available to the present government. Such equipment cannot be bought or operated privately. Once again, it is incongruous for Mrs Kumaratunga to be talking of a police state because she ran one of the most repressive governments in living memory. Members of her presidential security division were convicted by the courts for harassing and terrorising artistes Rookantha Gunatilleke and Chandralekha Perera in the presence of their own children. The doings of underworld figures like Beddagane Sanjiva who were prominent members of her security unit have been extensively reported on by the press. Mrs Kumaratunga’s transgressions in this regard are too numerous to recount here.

When I took over from Mrs Kumaratunga in 2005, there was a separate state in this country in all but name. Terrorists were ruling about a third of the country. For more than a decade, the country had seen very little development. During my tenure, I am proud to say that I concentrated on solving the country’s problems. I saw to it that terrorism was eliminated and that the country was developed. I did not spend my time persecuting my political opponents or go around the world maligning my own party and bringing disgrace upon my country. All members of the SLFP should be mindful that Mrs Kumaratunga’s statements about our party only go to strengthen our opponents at our expense. We should be working to strengthen our party not to weaken it further.

Mrs Kumaratunga broke away from the SLFP in the 1980s and went against the party and her own mother but I stood by Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike and protected the party. Mrs Kumaratunga also worked against the SLFP and the UPFA at the presidential elections of 2005, 2010 and 2015. At the last parliamentary election, even though many people wanted me to contest from another party, I thought of the party and did not abandon the SLFP, but Mrs Kumaratunga publicly asked voters to vote against the SLFP/UPFA and for the elephant. All I can do in the present circumstances is to tell Mrs Kumaratunga not to allow her personal hatred for me to blind her to the fact that she is a former leader of the party and co-Patron and sitting Central Committee member of the SLFP and that she owes it to our members not to go around the world insulting and running down her own party.

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‘Viber, not India, helped in unseating Rajapaksa’

As published in the Hindu, September 06, 2015

Former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Bandarnaike Kumaratunga is in India for her first visit since the surprise defeat of her successor Mahinda Rajapaksa, a man who was once a close associate and now a political enemy whose regime she was instrumental in overturning. She spoke for the first time to a group of Indian journalists including The Hindu’s Suhasini Haidar about how the opposition and Mr. Rajapaksa’s own party members were united. Excerpts from interaction with former President Kumaratunga on September 5th,2015:

Qn: You are in India to attend the Hindu-Buddhist conclave in Bodh Gaya on behalf of Sri Lanka…what is the importance of this conclave that PM Modi also attended?

Chandrika Kumaratunga: I think its very important for Sri Lanka because the protagonists are from these two communities. So if we can find common ground between the two religions as opposed to diversities it would be useful. Of course the Tamil question never involved the religious aspect.

Qn: This is also your first official visit to India since President Sirisena’s government was sworn in, and you have been appointed the envoy for reconciliation. How do you see India-Sri Lanka ties at present?

Chandrika Kumaratunga: Historically all Sri Lankan governments have had excellent relations with India. Except one government before Rajapaksa had various problems, which exacerbated the war in Sri Lanka. And the Rajapaksa regime did not have easy relations with India. But for our (Sirisena) government it wasn’t difficult to pick up from where my Presidency left off (in 2005). We saw the bad consequences of Rajapaksa’s policies towards India.

Qn: Did India have any role in Mr. Rajapaksa’s electoral defeat? In an interview to The Hindu he had blamed Indian intelligency agency R&AW and Western countries of a conspiracy against him.

Chandrika Kumaratunga:That’s not true. No outside force had anything to do with. Except that right through Rajapaksa’s regime, international community lamented his policies, and asked me why I wasn’t returning to politics. But apart from that they had nothing to do with it. We can manage our own affairs….Because he expected to win the election, he was in shock when he lost, and tried to look for scapegoats.

Qn: You had a pivotal role in bringing together the opposition in defeating him. How did that happen?

Chandrika Kumaratunga: It just happened. Because everyone in the country starting from about two years into President Rajapaksa’s regime began to turn away from him. Even people from the opposition who normally would not have accepted my leadership, civil society in a big way came and asked me to return to politics. I said no, because I was very clear I wouldn’t return to electoral politics, not to hold positions. After the end of the war when President Rajapaksa won the elections in 2010 I thought he would improve. But that wasn’t the case, he was getting worse. You cant force the hand of history. So we couldn’t force a coup, it is the people who must want a change. So when people started protesting, civil society, fishermen, university professors, it was evident people wanted the change. People called me and said, I had brought the President in, I had to do something about him . I did feel I had done enough, my family had done enough, but I was ready to help. The real problem was that the opposition didn’t have someone who could win the election against Rajapaksa. So I had to start looking around, under great difficulties. Mr. Rajapaksa had forbidden every single person of our party the SLFP from talking to me. MPs used to run when they saw me. Otherwise they would get a call from the President. Amidst such circumstances, I identified Maithripala Sirisena. There weren’t many more to identify as it was to difficult to find anyone in the SLFP who wasn’t known to be corrupt or a murderer (laughs). It was very difficult to find someone from my party at a leadership level like that. I had worked with Maithripala and I knew he fitted the bill, atleast somewhat. Nobody’s perfect. Now I had to send messages through people to him. Sometimes I used messengers. The same messenger couldn’t go often, because it would be reported. It was a police state.

Qn: Is there any truth to the story India provided communication devices, DRDO made satellite phones?

Chandrika Kumaratunga: No..completely false. We were using Viber. And the government didn’t know how to tap Viber. Apparently it is difficult for any intelligence agency anywhere to tap into Viber, although some can identify out who is calling whom. But Sri Lanka didn’t have that technology, otherwise we would have all been dead. I couldn’t afford a big office, I could only hire 2 people as Rajapaksa had closed down my office. But we managed somehow, and I can say that the main reason we were successful is that civil society really rose up. They were allies along with the UNP. Ranil Wickremshinghe wasn’t afraid to meet. I realised that we would need an alliance, because the opposition in our country had been weakened. So I had a hand in bringing them all together, and that was it. Eventually the common enemy brought us together.

Qn: Given that, how much were you worried about Mr. Rajapaksa’s return to power in the recent elections that were won by the UNP? Especially given the strain within the party over the SLFP party ticket given by President Sirisena to Mr. Rajapaksa…

Chandrika Kumaratunga: Yes there was a strain between all of us, not only between the President and the PM. But that has since been resolved. And President Sirisena has redeemed himself during the campaign by his actions and statements during the campaign. I know that he was determined not to let the “baddies” come back. But the President was trying to keep the party together, and was misled by the two secretaries of the party who deceived him because they were for Rajapaksa. Finally he did sack them, but we felt he should have sacked them much earlier.

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