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(Top) JHU Leader Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thero (fourth from left) addresses the media yesterday along with JHU General Secretary MP and Technology and Research Minister Champika Ranawaka and Deputy General Secretary Udaya Gammanpila. (Below) JHU Chairman and MP Athuraliye Rathana Thero reads Mahinda Chinthana document at the briefing
- Pix by Shehan Gunasekera
By Dharisha Bastians
Striking a heavy blow on President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 69th birthday yesterday, the JHU, a key constituent ally in the ruling UPFA Government, threw in the towel and refused to support his re-election bid.
Making a widely-anticipated announcement in Colombo yesterday, Jathika Hela Urumaya monks and laymen announced that the party would quit ministerial portfolios they hold in President Rajapaksa’s Government and the Western Provincial Council.
The Buddhist monk-led party said it was stepping out of roles of responsibility within the UPFA Government because th
e President had refused to agree to several key constitutional amendments ahead of a presidential election.
“We wish President Rajapaksa a happy birthday, and we hope he accepts our announcement as a gift that aims to show the way, according to Buddhist principles and from a true friend,” JHU Leader Ven. Omalpe Sobitha Thero told a packed press conference at the National Library Auditorium last morning.
The JHU had been engaged in wide discussions with the Government regarding important constitutional reforms including limiting the powers of the executive presidency and establishing the independence of the Judiciary, the party said.
As of 18 November, the JHU will no longer hold ministerial portfolios within the Government or the provincial councils, JHU General Secretary Champika Ranawaka told journalists. “I have submitted my resignation as Minister of Science and Technology to the President,” Ranawaka announced.
JHU Deputy General Secretary Udaya Gammanpila, who also holds portfolios of Agriculture, Agrarian Development, Minor Irrigation, Industries, Environment, Culture and Art Affairs as a Minister in the UPFA-run Western Provincial Council, said he would submit his resignation to the Governor of the Western Province.
“The JHU no longer shares collective responsibility for executive decisions made by this Government,” Ranawaka asserted. “We can therefore struggle harder for reform and change,” he said.
The JHU also holds three seats in Parliament, but it was not immediately clear if the party would be withdrawing support to the Government alliance entirely. “If they do something good we may support it, but we will also be free to take a stand against things we don’t agree with,” Ranawaka explained.
He said decisions about how the monk-led group would vote on the Third Reading of the Budget and on whether it would continue to sit with the Government in Parliament would be announced later.
JHU Chairman and MP Athuraliye Rathana Thero, who has been leading the push for constitutional reform and good governance, said the Party would not support President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bid for a third term in office.
“It is not his face or his name that we no longer support. It is his policies,” Rathana Thero charged.
The monk apologised for having to break the news on the President’s birthday. “But we do it with good intentions, based on Buddhist principles,” Rathana Thero said.
Addressing the media briefing shortly before going in for surgery, Gammanpila quoted Albert Einstein who said doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results was insanity.
“Abolishing the presidential system was in the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ in 2005. It was repeated in ‘Mahinda Chinthana – Idiri Dakma’ in 2010. Anyone who thinks it will be done because it is included in the 2015 manifesto will, as Einstein puts it, be insane,” Gammanpila charged.
Raising a battle cry, Rathana Thero invited all groups standing against the executive presidential system and corrupt governance to stand with the JHU.
“We have started. Now you can all join. Left or right, political or civil society, social groups and unions of all ideologies. We will only be safe if you join us,” he said.
“This is our humanitarian operation. We fought once to defeat terrorism. We thought when that ended, this Government would turn to good governance and reform questions,” Ranawaka explained.
The present Government was in the death grip of a corrupt mafia and white collar criminals, he charged. “The people are being held hostage to this corrupt mafia, we must fight to free them,” Ranawaka claimed.
The JHU General Secretary explained that the decision was not a sudden one. President Mahinda Rajapaksa had provided undertakings regarding constitutional reform when he signed an electoral pact with the JHU before the Sacred Temple of the Tooth in Kandy in 2005, the soon-to-be ex-Minister pointed out.
He promised to bring about a presidency that was a trustee system, accountable to Parliament, Ranawaka explained.
President Rajapaksa had reneged on these promises and discussions on these issues were revisited by the JHU as a UPFA constituent ally in light of speculation about snap presidential elections, Ranawaka noted.
“We were not satisfied by the response we received from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, about our reform proposals,” he said, explaining that the SLFP had written to the JHU recently.
There was no immediate response from the Government to the JHU announcement.
JHU suffers first defection: Madumadawa sings a different songJathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) member and popular singer Madumadawa Aravinda has resigned from the party and joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Aravinda told reporters at a media briefing last evening that he had decided to resign as he did not agree with the JHU decision on the Government. He urged the JHU to reconsider the decision taken on its ties with the Government failing which he will gather the support of more JHU members to join the SLFP. Earlier yesterday JHU General Secretary Champika Ranawaka and JHU member Udaya Gamanpilla said they had resigned from their Government posts after the Government had failed to respond positively to a set of proposals on constitutional reforms. The JHU however said so far it has not decided on crossing over to the Opposition benches in Parliament and has also not decided on its stand to be taken during the final vote on the Budget or a common candidate. (Colombo Gazette) |
