JVP-FSP contestation, Sajith and 13A, Mahinda Rajapaksa in history

'The Rohana Wijeweera commemorated by the JVP was definitely not the same one memorialised by the FSP'.

- By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

20 years before the Presidency: Mahinda as Rebel and Street-Fighter The Great Achiever: An Indelible Profile in History JVP Gen Sec promises not to forget Enemies and Traitors

The FSP loyally commemorated Rohana Wijeweera whose faith in the Socialist idea, ideal and goal was unquestionable. Thus, the FSP reiterated as its core identity, its fidelity to a Socialist project, drawing a thick, bright red line of demarcation between itself and the ideological defectors, the zealous converts to neoliberalism, i.e., AKD-Tilvin's ruling JVP-NPP.

Chameera Koswatte also denounced the JVP as lacking internal democracy and as posing a threat to democracy in general.

The FSP has a clear critique of the JVP-NPP Government's economics. A masterclass which included a wide-ranging socioeconomic critique and scenario for the next few years, topped by the outline of a political endgame, is contained in a post-commemoration interview by FSP Educational Secretary Pubudu Jayagoda. (https://youtu.be/cNfkQCYxtGI?si=MjI0rz0BfGVSjU44)

Sri Lanka's destiny will be determined by the interplay of the socioeconomic crisis with the four-way political contest between:

(a) The JVP-NPP Government.

(b) The centrist parliamentarian Opposition led by Sajith Premadasa.

(c) The semi-parliamentary populist Opposition led by Namal Rajapaksa.

(d) The extra-parliamentary 'social Opposition' led by the FSP-PSA.

While this parallelogram of contending forces will dominate our political trajectory, the ratio or 'correlation' of forces within this quadrilateral 'game' will be determined by the continuing economic crisis and its deepening social costs. In this regard, the Communist Party of Sri Lanka recently made a striking point: