“Budget has not changed, neither has our position”
-Somawansa

Following are excerpts of his interview with The Nation:


Q: What was it about the Budget exactly that the JVP voted against on Monday?
A: This Budget has no economic or political vision. Those who drafted it have not diagnosed the problems faced by the country. There are economists who have diagnosed the problems we are having – regressive taxes, bad governance, corruption, disparities between provinces, impaired institutions, market imperfections and lack of economic safety nets for the poor.
These are the problems we are having. The JVP agrees with them. These problems must be addressed completely and properly, otherwise we are not going to achieve what we hope for Sri Lanka.
 
Q: You speak of regressive taxes. Yet, when the four controversial tax bills came up for vote the second time, instead of voting against, the JVP simply walked out without voting, effectively allowing the bills to pass. Why not take action then?
A: Well, walking out is also a way of registering protest. The thing is, we are not the majority in the House. The opposition doesn’t have a majority. And also, the government only has two ways of earning money – taxing the people and foreign debt.

Q: Why did the JVP decide to keep its decision on the Budget vote a secret until the very last minute?
A: What was the reason we should have divulged our decision before? We wanted to unmask everybody – the government as well as the opposition. And that is what we did. We showed the people that both these sets of politicians are utterly corrupt and that their bankrupt politics must be rejected. We have achieved that. We have achieved our goal.
The government won the battle, but the real war is on December 14. No one can say what will happen. The media has already described that there was a drama – a showdown. The thing is, that’s not over. So we will wait and see what will happen.

Q: There is a school of thought that the non-disclosure was aimed at ensuring the government would not lose its numbers by a premature revelation of how the JVP was voting; in other words, to protect the government. Is this true?
A: No, no, no. We reject that suggestion. That is why I said we have already unmasked the people who had ulterior motives. If those MPs were really against the Budget and the government, they would have voted against the Budget anyway – that is if they were not worried about their ministries and their perks. That is where the JVP won a battle.

We are the ones who really won. We were able to show the people of this country which MPs are going behind money. Is it okay to throw money to engineer defections? It is not. It is corrupt politics. Both sides are equally guilty of this. These people degrade Parliament. It is simply bribery. They should be in jail! Be it anybody – whether from the government or the opposition – that is the punishment they deserve.

They are responsible for why the people are losing confidence in Parliament – a sacred institute in the country. At the same time, the JVP proved one more time that its members cannot be bought, they cannot be misled. There were talks about divisions in the JVP on the Budget vote. Where are the divisions now? We stand united as a party on this and other decisions.

Q: December 14 is crucial again. The JVP has said different things about how it will vote on that day. Will the JVP review its decision or vote the same way?
A: Nothing has changed from the government camp. Parliament has not changed anything. The Budget is still the same, so our position cannot change.

Q: What will the government have to change in this Budget to win the JVP’s support?
A: Not to win the JVP’s support, to win the peoples’ support. This must be made very clear. To take the country on the correct path and achieve very much needed economic growth for this country. Those are our demands – nothing for us. Nothing will change in the JVP’s position until the government understands and decides to take action about what really needs to be done.
So at this moment, I can categorically say that we will support the Defence Vote; that is for certain. There will not be any problem with that. The Budget has already been passed at the second reading. There will be 37 votes without any divisions. The other ministries, we will take on a case by case basis.

There are 24 days until December 14. The government can perform miracles if it needs to do so. If it does something, we will take that ‘something’ into consideration. We don’t know right now what that is. We are not a party that is inflexible. We’re not egotistical and we are not trying to make use of our 37 votes for personal gain.

Q: Are the unofficial demands of the JVP serious ones such as APRC and CFA abrogation?
A: They are not unofficial demands. The only thing is, one should not say that we have submitted four conditions for our support at the Budget. I was talking about the crises that the country is facing and to come out of these crises, the country will have to do several things. These are very serious matters as far as the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of this country is concerned.

Without defeating the LTTE, we cannot achieve national unity or economic development. This is our challenge. Supposing the government withdraws from the CFA, then that will be, of course, taken into consideration. We came out with these political demands because the government and the opposition have politicised the Budget. So we were also pushed towards giving this Budget a political face.

Q: What is your reaction to the government’s smear campaign against the JVP after your decision to vote against the Budget?
A: Calling us traitors? Those who are not for the Budget are traitors they say. On December 14, if eight members of Parliament belonging to the government cross over, who are they? Will they also become traitors tomorrow? The patriots of today, according to the government. Neither the government nor the UNP should be in a rush to brand members of Parliament traitors or patriots.