Archives for July 2014

The severe repression carried out on students by the government is to be ended soon say internal sources of the government. This decision has been taken with the intention of preventing any student agitations during a sudden presidential election the government plans to hold say sources.

Currently, various punishments have been imposed on more than thousand university students. The punishments include studentship cancellations, lifetime cancellation of studentship, disciplinary actions and taking legal action against students. While the Minister of Higher Education declares war against students the vice-chancellors and administrations appointed by the President have imposed various types of punishments on students.

Students engage in various campaigns against this injustice. In a decisive presidential election such agitations would be a severe disadvantage for the campaign of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. As such, there is a move to pacify the students immediately. The internal sources of the government reveal that moves are being planned to pacify students the way the 100 day old strike action carried out by university teachers was settled and in the manner the impeachment process was carried out against Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayke.

After the motor races carnival was held within the sacred city of Kandy ignoring the opposition by Mahanayakas of all three Chapters the President suddenly visited the Mahanayakas of Asgiriya and Malwatte Chapters yesterday (10th) and made offerings.

The motor sports carnival was held in Kandy sacred city by Carlton Super Sports Club headed by Namal Rajapaksa and other sons of the President. The media had revealed there was an organized campaign to get the services of 350 foreign prostitutes and provide various kinds of drugs during the festival.

President’s visit after the motor races carnival was to win the favor and goodwill of Mahanayakas who had vehemently opposed the holding of the carnival in the sacred city say political analysts.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley   unveiled the Narendra Modi-led BJP government’s maiden Rs 5,75,000 crore Plan expenditure for current fiscal year budget in the India’s parliament yesterday (10th).

As a major part of the plans of income the government is set to raise caps on foreign investment in the defense and insurance sector to 49 percent, from the present 26 percent. This follows the announcement a couple of days earlier when Modi’s government revealed plans to open the country’s railways to foreign investment.

Another supposedly key measure is the introduction of a pan-India tax. Even the previous government led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tried to bring in this tax, although it failed in its attempts due to disagreements between the government in New Delhi and various state administrations over the sharing of tax revenues. The budget has allowed increased foreign investment in certain sectors, promising the introduction of a nation-wide Goods and Services Tax (GST).

One of the major projects to which funds have been allocated is to build Sardar Vallabhai statue which is one of Narendra Modi’s election promises. Rs.200 crore has been allocated for the building of the statue which is expected to be 182metres tall – twice the iconic Statue of Liberty, which stands at 93 meters tall. The Gujarat state government has already made a provision of Rs 100 crore for the Statue of Unity in the budget for 2012-13. The statue will be placed at Sadhu Bet, an island located 3 km from Sardar Sarovar dam.

Interestingly, Jaitley, who pointed at India’s poor performance in the Human Development Index Survey in his speech in the Lok Sabha stating “India’s performance continues to be below global average in most of the human development index indicators like life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling and even the per capita income,” has allocated only Rs.100 crore for welfare.

A parallel could be seen here when Rajapaksa government allocates funds for mega projects such as construction of highways, airports and ports, less than 2% of GNP is allocated for education and a similar amount for health. Rajapaksa government too has begun construction of ‘Lotus Tower’, to be South Asia’s Tallest Tower at a cost of USD 104 million.

A project to force ‘Samurdhi’ recipients to join the ‘Nil Balakaya’ (Blue Brigade) lead by Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa has been launched. Its first step would commence from Pasgoda Pradeshiya Sabha division in Matara on the 16th.

The responsibility of getting ‘Samurdhi’ recipients to the organization has been handed over to economic development officers, agricultural research assistants and ‘Samurdhi’ development officers. According to project instructions each officer has to force 150 ‘Samurdhi’ recipients to join the organization.

The ‘Blue Brigade’ was formed to rally youths for the victory of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa at the presidential election held in 2010. Later, it was used by Namal Rajapaksa for his political operations. Several members of this organization have been accused of rape, murder and other crimes. This organization is being revamped to be deployed targeting the forthcoming presidential election.

The final monthly session of the Uva Provincial Council was held yesterday (10th) while groups within the ruling party are setting up camp against Chief Minister Shashindra Rajapaksa.

Recently meetings of SLFP activists had been held at Bibile, Monaragala and  Wellawaya electorates. At the meeting held at Wellawaya many including members of Pradeshiya Sabhas have publicly spoken against Mr. Shashindra Rajapaksa.

Meanwhile, stalwarts within the ruling party are spreading rumours against the Chief Minister. They are spreading a rumour regarding a survey carried out regarding the election. According to the ‘survey’, said to have been carried out in the district, Shashindra Rajapaksa is placed fourth in the district.

Inviting South Africa to come here to get involved in our national question by the government that boasts it would not allow any foreign interferences is an instance of its double-dealing and it reveals the treacherousness of the government says the Information Secretary of the JVP Parliamentarian Vijitha Herath.

Speaking to a daily newspaper regarding the visit to Sri Lanka by South Africa’s Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa Mr. Herath says, “Whatever is said by others, Mr. Ramaphosa comes to Sri Lanka regarding the national question in this country. African National Congress invited a Parliamentary team from Sri Lanka for a discussion concerning a solution for the national question. It is not a secret that Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva and a team participated in the discussion. They discussed the national question.

Mr. Ramaphosa comes to Sri Lanka as a part of this process. If someone says he comes here to have a cup of tea and see a match that person must be having a mental sickness. Wimal Weerawansa says Ramaphosa has come on a pleasure tour. It is like covering the nakedness with two hands. These are things said to cover embarrassment. He is now like a cat that has defecated on a rock as he had said South Africa needs not interfere in Sri Lanka’s affairs and if such a thing was allowed he would resign from the government. The government, while inviting Mr. Ramaphosa, says it is against international mediation.

Minister S.B Dissanayaka meanwhile, boasts that no vagrant would be allowed to come into this country. However, Ramaphosa comes. If his visit was not an official one it could have been ignored as a visit of a tourist. However, his is an official visit of a special envoy of another country.

Ramaphosa’s visit confirms this government’s treacherousness. It tells the people in the country one thing and has an entirely different dealing with the world. The government has got caught to a diplomatic trap by inviting Ramaphosa. India and South Africa abstained from voting when Navi Pillai presented the resolution against Sri Lanka. However, South Africa interferes in another direction. The JVP is against any country getting involved in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. We believe that we, ourselves, should find solutions for our issues. We have the responsibility of solving the national question here. We are against any country, whether it is South Africa, India or USA, interfering in the internal matters of our country.”

A secret plan to disrupt the dream of Minister of Health Maithripala Sirisena of becoming the future prime minister is being carried out at the instigation of Rajapaksa family reveal internal sources of the government. A mudslinging campaign has been already launched using trade unions of the government against Minister Sirisena who dreams of becoming the next prime minister.

The relevant trade unions have charged that Minister Sirisena is the most unsuccessful minister in the government. Minister Sirisena, responding to charges against him has said at a ceremony held at Polonnaruwa that he had done four jobs before entering politics and he hadn’t been sacked or removed from service in any one of them. He had said he resigned from the jobs on his own and had said God has planned his destiny.

This indicates that the internal conflict that exists in the UPFA government is so forceful that Minister Sirisena to talk about God and his destiny. Not so long ago Minister Sirisena held a press conference to state that there was an internal conspiracy to assassinate him.