Sarva Jana Balaya: Sanctuary of political discards and refugees

Last week, S.M. Ranjith – the former North Central Chief Minister – and his former private secretary were sentenced to 16 years of rigorous imprisonment by Colombo High Court after being found guilty of corruption charges. The former Chief Minister, a powerful SLPP/SLFP regional politician, joined Dilith Jayaweera-led political alliance – Sarva Jana Balaya – three months ago. 

Sarva Jana Balaya is a political coalition centred on Mawbima Janatha Party, which was established by the celebrity media and advertising entrepreneur Dilith Jayaweera. The coalition, which was formed last year, had the support of nationalistic politicians such as Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, and Channa Jayasumana as well as Leftist politicians like D.E.W. Gunasekera and Weerasumana Weerasinghe.

During the two previous national elections, this strange and weird political combination attempted to attract the SLPP voters who had nowhere to go with the political decimation of the Rajapaksa clan in the aftermath of the devastating 2022 economic crisis. In the course of the Presidential election campaign, Jayaweera even went on to say that the symbol of the SLPP – lotus bud – was conceptualised by him to establish a rapport with the SLPP vote base. In fact, many social media propagandists have termed the relatively new political alliance as another version of the SLPP sans Rajapaksas.

The conviction of S.M. Ranjith caused an enormous public embarrassment to Jayaweera and his party and his political opponents made full use of the opportunity. The Jayaweera-led alliance has virtually become a shelter for political figures with tarnished reputations to re-enter the political mainstream. Even last year, Dinendra John, a director of W.M. Mendis and Company Ltd., who contested for the 2024 Parliamentary Election from the Colombo District list of Sarva Jana Balaya, was sentenced to a six-month jail term together with Arjun Aloysius by the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court for defaulting on the payment of Value Added Tax (VAT) amounting to Rs. 3.5 billion related to W.M. Mendis Company in which the convicted duo were directors. 

John was a close associate of the infamous National List MP Ravi Karunanayake and supported the latter with regard to political activities in Colombo-North constituency prior to joining Jayaweera’s party. Maithripala Sirisena, who is perhaps considered as the worst Head of State in the history of this island, too joined this interesting alliance last year in the run up to the parliamentary election and his son Daham Sirisena was a candidate from Polonnaruwa District, representing Sarva Jana Balaya. In a strange coincidence, Sirisena’s bete noire the former Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe, who also has numerous skeletons in his cupboard, also joined hands with Jayaweera at the last parliamentary election. 

Sarava Jana Balaya’s main constituent partner Mawbima Janatha Party’s so-called Supreme Council is made up of numerous professionals, entrepreneurs, as well as academics. However, what actual influence they have within the decision-making process of the political party is doubtful. Jayaweera appears to be the all-pervading powerful figure within the political outfit and the publicity efforts of the party revolve around his image and charisma. The advertising maestro’s presidential bid last year was driven by the theme of creating a so-called entrepreneurial state/society to drive economic growth and innovation. Ironically, the prominent advocate of entrepreneurship severely condemned moves to privatise State enterprises in spite of empirical evidence that bureaucrats in the public sector have failed in the task of running commercial enterprises successfully.

Jayaweera wants to portray his coalition as the alternative to the ruling NPP. He has high hopes about the number one job in 2029. But would voters place trust on a man who is leading a coalition which includes numerous rusty politicians who have been tainted by accusations of rampant corruption in an era where the society yearns for a style of governance devoid of foul play and underhand activities?