Introduction

JVP parliamentarian Vijitha Herath denies that he acted as a gonibilla in 1989 and got the Army to kill hundreds of JVP comrades at the Beragala Camp, and he explains that the Wimal Weerawansa faction will not affect the JVP.

Q: Minister of Textiles Mahinda Ratnathilaka stated that you acted as a gonibilla in 1989-’90 at the Beragala camp and got the Army to kill hundreds of JVP comrades? What’s the basis of this statement?
A: This statement is one big joke, which Mr. Ratnathilaka has made in his political career. I want to ask him why he got reminded of my being a gonibilla in all this rush. He should have exposed this issue much earlier and made the public aware.
Why did he choose this moment to refer to my being a gonibilla in ‘89-90'. On the other hand, I don’t know how Mr. Ratnathilaka knows these stories about us. As every one knows that currently our party has an internal issue going on, using this issue the government deliberately plants these rumours against us to spoil the good name of our party.
Right from the start governments tried every method to put us out of the political arena. I can remember, initially they accused our former leader, Rohana Wijeweera as being a CIA intelligence agent. However, even with all these obstacles our party is getting more and more stronger.

Q: Ratnathilaka also charges that Handunnetti was prepared to vote in favour of the recent budget and to join the Government, what is your point of view?
A: I don’t understand why the government is keeping these types of foolish politicians like Ratnathilaka. I can’t understand why he has followed Handunnetti’s instructions when he was crossing over to the government as an experienced politician and his continued faith in the JVP comes as a real surprise to me.

Q: How are we to know that Ratnathilaka is misleading the people? Or is deliberately instrumental in planting rumours against the JVP?
A: I really don’t want to comment on that, because we know who we are and what we have done in the past. We are fully aware of what he has done, so there is no need to comment. We have absolute faith in all our party members who are committed and are faithful, so we have no problem at all.

Q: These kinds of statements will affect your political career?
A: This type of blame would not have any impact on our personal lives but would certainly cause a certain amount of consternation in the party. All these statements are a direct attack on the party and have nothing to do with our personal lives.
They want to get rid of our party from the political field so the Government and its cohorts have to make this type of statement and cause dissension within the ranks. I am sure their dream will not come true.

Q: How will Weerawansa’s faction affect your party’s future?
A: Apparently it’s not a big deal, but Wimal has not been expelled from the party. Doors are still open for him; we still accept him as a member of our politburo. Unfortunately, he is working on his own political agenda. The JVP is a political party which is based on a strong political foundation, and people depend on the party but the party will not under any circumstance ever depend on personal profiles. Wimal has played a key role in the party and handled some very difficult situations too. This is the reason for some people to come to the conclusion that without Wimal the party will be in total disarray and will collapse but this notion is wrong. The JVP will never be crushed under any circumstances.It has been built on a strong foundation. We already have high profile politicians other than Wimal, so therefore his absence from the party will not cause any major disruption. His place will be taken by another high profile member.

Q: However, Wimal has questioned the process of democracy that has been adopted by the JVP?
A: No, I don’t agree with him, when you read the first letter written by Nandana Gunathilaka when he was expelled at the inception, it describes that JVP as being a very democratic and balanced party. Our party is very unique and follows democracy to the letter; there are no two words about that. In all instances majority interests are always the criterion for any decision that is taken by the party.
There is no other political party that follows democracy to the extent that we do When Wimal failed in his attempt to draw the party towards his own agenda, he then tries to challenge us saying that democracy is at stake within the party. I think that is not a very wise thing to say. There is no problem within our party about democracy, which has already been established.

Q: He also says that your party is controlled by a dictatorship and that there are not enough representatives at minor levels?
A: No, that’s wrong. There is no dictatorship within the party, we have a correct leadership. Also we have a definite party structure and principles.
It’s like a pyramid, normally decisions flow from top to bottom and proposals and comments go from the bottom to the top. That is the correct order of a political party structure. Some who fail to follow this party structure now turn round and blame the party, but that is not fair. The main charge against Wimal was that he did not adhere to party principles and openly disliked to follow party decisions.

Q: This means that Wimal has always been a renegade within the party?
A: No, Wimal has done a good job as far as the JVP is concerned, but he has made huge blunders

Q: What are the complaints against him?
A: There are a load of complaints against him, but those have still to be discussed with him. I am not in a position to expose the complaints because these have to be sorted out with him.

Q: Wimal points to some unnamed high profile JVP members as villains and conspirators in the party and that they were the people instrumental in making him take such a harsh decision. Can you name the villains he is referring to?
A: Who knows? As far as I am aware there are no villains within our party, but now it is very clear who the real villains and conspirators are. Some have already exposed themselves, others will be exposed soon, and then we have to wait and see what will happen in the future.

Q: Is the current government behind this drama?
A: Not only the government, the UNP and their plugged media organizations are playing a huge role this time around too. However, the government has not come clean in this show. They played a key role in creating the new JVP faction.

Q: Why does the Government need to split the JVP, since your party has helped this Government to come into power?
A: On the subject of politics there are no friends or opponents. They have their own political strategies, though we were never frustrated with that. This is not the first time we are facing such a critical situation. Currently we are not supporting the Government’s political agenda, and they know there is no future for them with the JVP’s anti government stand.
They may have thought that with all the steps that they were taking it could crush our party, but we are too strong for that.

Q: Your party hijacked some vehicles belonging to Piyasiri Wijenayaka and Achala Jagoda from the parliament premises?
A: We never hijacked any vehicle; we brought back our party vehicles which were used by MP’s who left the party. Apparently Jayantha Wijesekara and one of our drivers informed us that the police officer who was on duty at that time at the parliament car park, brought the vehicles back. Nobody assaulted any police officer who was on duty at that time. Later on this same police officer prevented the vehicles from being taken out of the car park. Then he misled the police and created a story that he was assaulted by JVP Jayantha Wijesekara. He did this just for his survival.

Q: You should have followed a more dignified route to get down those vehicles, like discussing with them or taken any other formal method?
A: No, we had to take some immediate action according to that critical situation at the moment. Some media personnel were trying to blow this situation completely out of proportion, but this is not a big issue. However the truth will be exposed soon.

Q: What about the JVP death threats on Wimal faction?
A: We have never threatened them, but we all know that we can’t even get close to them because now they are under heavy security with security from the Presidential Security Division (PSD).

Q: However, the JVP has assaulted a former JVP MP who left the party with Wimal?
A: That incident wasn’t an organised one; I think some party members who have been extremely faithful to the JVP may have done that. These incidents have never been reported so it can be easily concluded that these incidents have not been organised.

Q: Is the JVP really confident without Wimal?
A: Wimal does not represent the whole party; once he leaves the party there are a number of high profile members who can fill that gap. When we lost our founder comrade Rohana Wijeweera, most of the people were under the impression that the JVP will be over. This never happened, the JVP still exists. Now, the JVP will go forward much stronger without Wimal.

Q: How about the current situation of the JVP’s eastern poll campaign?
A: We are really positive with regard to that election, and we have a clear chance to clinch a victory. Now it’s going well without a problem, we are planning to get stronger with our election campaign in the Eastern province in the near future.