Rajapakse camp’s no confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe was an effort to exploit the rumblings in the ruling combine after its humiliating defeat in February’s local bodies’ elections.
The Rajapakse-led Opposition in Sri Lanka Parliament has failed to dislodge the National Unity Government with its no trust motion rejected by 76 to 122 votes on Wednesday, Apr 4, 2018.
The Joint Opposition, a parliamentary faction led by former President has publicly vowed to bring down the government.
It has charged Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the Minister for law and order, with failing to promptly stop anti-Muslim riots by Sinhala Buddhist extremists last month in the Kandy district.
The other plank for the no-confidence motion is the multi-billion rupee scam involving Central Bank bonds and Perpetual Treasuries, a financial company, that took place two months after President Maithripala Sirisena took office in January 2015. Wickremesinghe is accused of appointing and defending former Central Bank governor Arjun Mahendran, who was implicated in the scandal.
Political pundits aver that the Rajapakse group’s no-confidence resolution had nothing to do with either the bond scam or anti-Muslim riots. It was more an effort to exploit the discomfiture of ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (led by President Maithripala Sirisena) – United National Party (of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe) combine, which had suffered humiliating defeat in February’s local government elections.
In recent weeks, the former President is accused of building an extreme-right movement, appealing to the military, the Buddhist hierarchy and other right-wing forces in his bid to return to the centre stage.
In fact, Bodu Bala Sena and Maha Sohon Balakaya, which were involved in the recent attacks on Muslims, had their baptism during Rajapakse’s rule. Local members of the Rajapakse-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) have been arrested for their involvement in the anti-Muslim attacks in the Kandy district.
Before the no trust vote, SLFP parliamentarians were divided: 41 supported the government and 54 were with Rajapakse. On Wednesday, 16 SLFP parliamentarians loyal to Sirisena voted for the opposition resolution and at least 20 abstained. All the members of United National Party (UNP) led by Prime minister voted against the motion except one who abstained.
Nonetheless, this development is unlikely to destablise the government as of now. Sirisena and Wickremesinghe met after the vote and took stock of the political situation. The Prime Minister has since declared that he would continue with the unity government; there are calls from his camp though for the removal of SLFP ministers who had voted with the opposition.
Parliamentarians from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which rules the Tamil majority province in the island nation, has opposed Wednesday’s no-confidence motion. The TNA supported Sirisena’s election as president and has been a close ally of the government since then. Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake also opposed the no trust vote. The no-confidence motion was “politically motivated” he said and declared that his party was “against corruption and racism.”
Sri Lanka can ill-afford political instability at this juncture; the country is faced with an economic crisis, which is a fall-out of the Eelam War. The growth rate has slumped to a 16-year low of 3.1 per cent last year, its worst pace since a recession in 2001. The rupee is hovering at a record low. A day before the no-confidence debate, Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said: “We need to move away from the current political instability and achieve a stable outcome soon.”
-ramarao