JHU Exposes the UNP-LTTE Conspiracy - Feature Article
By C P Kuruppu

Through out the history of Sri Lanka the Buddhist monks played the distinctive role of the guardian deities of the country (the Rate Mura Devathavo). In playing that role they acted against the country's conspirators, traitors and perpetrators. Not once but umpteenth number of times they played that role to the perfection. This time it was the Buddhist monks of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) in parliament. The monks disclosed that on behalf of the LTTE the UNP tried to bribe four of the JHU monks in parliament to cross over and vote against the budget.
The UNP-LTTE conspiracy to topple the Mahinda Rajapaksa government was definitely a futile attempt. The government has already broken the backs of the Tigers and one can understand how they would react. But it is extremely difficult to fathom the UNP's reaction.

The UNP is a national political party with a Sinhalese majority but it overtly and covertly supports the LTTE terrorists. What does the UNP expect to achieve by its support to the LTTE? The obvious fact is that the UNP wants to come to power. The only way a political party in a democracy can come to power is to win elections. The UNP cannot win elections. It was defeated in thirteen elections in a row. It has now given up of wining people and chosen to come to power with the terrorists help. It adopted this tactic not once but several times. Getting the support of the terrorists is suicidal. President Premadasa cultivated the friendship of the Tigers by giving them arms, money and material but they assassinated him on broad daylight.

It is common knowledge that if one gets some one else's help, he will have to help the other in return. The LTTE helps the UNP to topple
Mahinda's government. What does it want in return? It wants to form an elam . It cannot achieve it and the majority of the UNP supporters know it but the party's big wigs do not. They think that they can come to power with the support of the LTTE. Therefore they help the terrorists. However their support would help the already back broken terrorists to drag the war for some more time killing more people.

The LTTE-UNP conspiracy to topple the government by inducing the government MPs to cross over to the opposition through bribes was in the air for some time. However it gathered its momentum with the approach of the budget debate. The JHU monks came forward to reveal the details of that conspiracy.

JHU Leader Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Nayaka Thera said the LTTE had channelled funds through the UNP to offer bribes to the members of the JHU to cross the floor of the House and join the opposition but the JHU would stand by its policy of supporting the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is trying to defeat the LTTE terrorists.

The Nayaka Thera further said that the UNP which had once called the JHU a Dussela Samagama was shamelessly asking for their support. Bribes were offered to four Ven. Theras of the JHU. There was an international conspiracy to strengthen the LTTE and weaken the Armed Forces and recently a pro LTTE group from Canada had come to Colombo to provide funds to bribe the government members to defect. That was a part of international conspiracy against President Rajapaksa but the JHU will not be a party to any conspiracy hatched by the LTTE-UNP and international forces against the government.

Ven. Thera's statement perfectly matched with the revelation about a LTTE supporter named Shanmugam who is domiciled in Canada developed contacts with some UNP parliamentarians while staying at a five star hotel in Colombo a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile the President Mahinda Rajapaksa speaking at the SLFP Parliamentary group meeting said that it was reported to the CID that world's two top Tamil businessmen who are occupying rooms at a five star hotel were distributing money to some of the MPs and Tiger suicide killers have come to assassinate a few MPs before the 19th of November.

Chief Government Whip and the Minister of High Ways Jeyaraj Fernandopulle speaking in parliament on the second reading of the budget gave further details of how the bribes were offered. He said that Rs. 30 million each were offered to five monks of the JHU, further sum of Rs. 50 million was offered to Rev. Uduwe Dhammaloka and Rs. 30 million each plus perks to three non cabinet ministers.

In the mean time the news reports said that a former non Cabinet Minister and some parliamentarians have had discussions with the LTTE businessmen at another five star hotel. The names of some MPs were rumoured as those who have met the LTTE contact man. The CID has obtained a court order to pursue an account of a private bank where US $ 3 million had been deposited in local currency. Some news reports said that some UNP members strongly objected to those who have deposited the money in their private accounts. The government was to reveal the names of those who have pocketed the money said the Dinamina.

This is not the only time that the LTTE tried to bribe the MPs to cross over to the opposition. The leader of the UNP-D, Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister Karu Jayasuriya raising a privilege matter in parliament revealed on August 7 th.2007 that an LTTE gun runner called Charles Gnanakoone was trying to topple the government by offering Rs.110 millions (US Dollars one million) to each MP who is willing to cross over to the opposition at a given time and vote.

Every one knows that the UNP Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe flew to Singapore to meet the same gun runner Gnanakoone at Conrad International Hotel on June 18th.2000.

In the mean time the pro LTTE Tamil web sites like Elanasam, Vilippu, Nidarsanam and Neruppu have reported that the UNP was fulfilling its promise to the LTTE to stop the security forces from entering the Vanni. It was also reported that some international organisations were prepared to spend large sums of money to prevent armed forces from taking over the rest of the North and a Tiger representatives have come to Colombo to distribute money to bribe the MPs who were willing to cross over.

Most of the UNP MPs are aware of what their leaders do and the unholy connection their party has with the LTTE. But, at the budget debate none of them spoke of that connection but spoke of economic issues like rising cost of living.

However the ordinary people of the country are now very well aware of the noxious connection between the UNP and the LTTE. They cannot be deceived. They are not afraid to come out and express their feelings. They and different organizations now openly condemn and ridicule the UNP-LTTE connection. They talk both to the print and electronic media and vent out their feelings. The classic example was the poster of the Prabhakaran's 'letter' to Ranil and the UNP MPs.

It said:
'dear Ranil and the UNP MPs;
please save me by defeating the budget, V Prabhakaran.

P.S. Please give my regards to Mangala, Sripathi and Chandrika'.

In the mean time most of us cannot understand why the JVP joined in hand with the TNA and the UNP to vote against the government. The JVP did not disclose its decision of voting until the last moment as it was god's secret. But it voted against the budget. Right throughout the JVP said that its first priority was to defeat the Tiger terrorism and attacked the UNP as pro LTTE. But the same JVP joined in hand with the TNA and UNP to try to defeat the government at the second reading. The JVP criticised the government's economic policy and expenditure on the large cabinet but praised the policy on the terrorists. The main issue before the country today is to defeat the terrorism and if the JVP gives priority to that it should have voted for the government and not opposed it. To us the stand taken by the JVP is very questionable.

The JVP won the last General Elections as a constituent partner of the United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and now it says that it is going on a separate path. It has won 39 seats at the last elections not because that it had a country wide appeal but because it was partner of the UPFA. There were two other factors that contributed to the disproportionate number of seats it won. They were: a large number of SLFP supporters voted for it and the proportionate electoral system. The JVP was over confident and elated about it's artificially inflated strength and predicted that it would win 50 local councils and get second place in another 50 councils at the local government elections of 2005. But it won only one council came second in a few and obtained 12% of island wide vote. The JVP now says it want go on its own way. But if it is to contest as a separate party at the coming elections how many seats will it expected to get with its 12% followers? It has not done anything to cultivate its popularity among voters other than verbally attacking the others. During 1950s and 60s the LSSP and the CP were the popular left parties and those parties too dreamt of going it alone. But we know how far they have gone. First the Marxism as a political force died a natural death. Then with the passage of time except for the old timers, no new supporters rallied round them. With more youth getting employed, country's economy is moving up and the war coming to an end the JVP will not be able to take the youth into hostage to support them by inciting the students at universities and workers at places of work to strike.

The JVP said recently that it did not join President Rajapaksa's government because the President had given the dissident UNP members ministerial posts. But how many times had the President invited them to join him before he accommodated the UNP-D?

The JVP has one more chance to support the government. That is on the third reading of the budget on 14th December.