Sri Lanka: The emperor’s new clothes – National People’s Power government acts as capitalism’s defenders 

A discussion has emerged in society about the nature of the National People’s Power (NPP) government, formed under the leadership of Anura Kumara Dissanayake. There was an old saying in Sri Lanka about how a few blind men created an elephant but unable to see the complete elephant, body parts were put together in an incomplete manner. Similarly, there are some in Sri Lankan politics, including those linked to Frontline Socialist Party, not able to see the complete picture in the country. At present, the NPP government has been in the parliament for four months, while Anura Kumara, the president, has been in power for more than 6 months.

When Anura Kumara assumed the presidency, the foreign media, especially pro-Western CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera, introduced him as a leftist, Marxist and Leninist. The poor media in Sri Lanka created the background for introducing Anura Kumara in this way. In the past to prove their connection to Marxism and socialism, the JVP displayed large pictures of historic figures, such as Marx, Engels, Stalin, Lenin, Mao Zedong, Castro and Che Guevara, especially at May Day celebrations. This way they were was able to mislead the young generation, especially the rural masses. The JVP mercilessly criticized the activities of other socialist and communist parties, accusing them of abandoning the class struggle, surrendering to parliamentary politics, and entering a political alliance with the capitalist Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). However, it cannot be forgotten that the JVP made agreements with Chandrika, a capitalist leader, in 1994. This led to engaging in capitalist coalition politics by making agreements not only with the SLFP but also with the UNP.

The turning point in the opportunistic politics of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) – which is known for deceiving the working class and the people since its inception – was the establishment of the National People’s Power as an electoral front in 2019. Until then, steps were taken to remove the socialist label from the JVP’s profile that had been used to deceive the people and decorate the stage. Now the JVP/NPP have openly embrace neo-liberal politics. Some leaders of the National People’s Power say, without any irony, that they stand for social democratic politics. But even the leader of the capitalist SJB, Sajith Premadasa, says that he also follows social democracy. It appears there is no political difference between Deputy Minister Chaturanga Abeysinghe, a political spokesman of Anura Kumara, and Sajith Premadasa, the main opposition leader.

NPP’s path revealed by budget

The first budget of the National People’s Power government holds special significance due to several issues. The first is that this is the first budget presented by a government led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, which has been extremely critical of the budgets of the traditional capitalist parties that ruled for the last 77 years since independence. The other factor is that since it is a budget presented after obtaining a two-thirds majority in the general election, voters have high hopes that the government will fulfil their promises.

The National People’s Power budget is a blatant violation of all the promises made to the people. It is not an exaggeration to state that there has never been a political party in Sri Lanka that has deceived the people in broad daylight like this. Anura Kumara’s budget is a continuation of all the conditions of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s 2024 budget. Therefore, it is impossible to prevent the public from forming an opinion that Anura Kumara presented Ranil Wickremesinghe’s budget. However, a budget prepared to satisfy the International Monetary Fund will not save the country from the risk of going into crisis. The contradiction between Anura’s promises and NPP government’s actions is much wider. It also shows that he is falling into the trap of IMF programme.

Anura Kumara boasted that he would review the cost-of-living situation every six months and increase salaries. The budget has proposed increasing the salaries of public servants, starting this year. But public sector workers must wait till end of year 2027. However, there is serious confusion among government employees about how the salary increase will be implemented. Even government ministers do not seem to have a definite answer on this, and no one has a clear idea about the increase of salaries of government employees in real terms.

The budget is decorated with populist words but does not address clear economic policies. The budget deficit is stated to be 6.7 percent of the gross domestic product. This deficit is higher than the target of 5.2 percent recommended by the International Monetary Fund. Also, the government has not presented a solution to the loss of tax revenue that it expects. Huge tax revenue expected from importing luxury vehicles into the country after a five year lapse is going to be lost. It is likely that this government will further introduce taxes on working people.

The proposed Wealth Tax or Property Tax that Ranil Wickremesinghe had agreed with the International Monetary Fund has been removed from Anura Kumara’s budget. Wealth tax is a direct tax levied on high income earners. Those big businesses who have earned money illegally and those who have not paid income tax should pay. Despite their frequent statements that the economic improvements will lead to a revolutionary change, Anura Kumara’s budget is another budget stuck in the traditional capitalist framework. As they boastfully admit, it is a budget stuck in the neo-liberal framework that does not include any radical reforms. A distinctive feature of this budget is that it is valid for about nine months of this year. Ranil Wickremasinghe has presented his last budget for 2024 in line with the demands of the IMF. Anura Kumara presented his budget after the election victory for the same neoliberal experts, in effect hiding the real facts from the people. There should be no doubt that the NPP government has fulfilled its promise to protect the capitalists from the crisis; task that the traditional capitalist class representatives themselves cannot fulfil.

The government’s future preparations

The NPP government’s next goal is to consolidate power in the local government elections due to be held on May 6. For that purpose, they prepared to mislead the people by embellishing everything with brass without showing the real situation. However, the people are not ready to give the corrupt and defeated capitalist parties and groups that have been wiped out from the political scene another chance. In this gap, the NPP still could win in number of places. However, it is expected that some sections of people who voted for NPP will not vote for them this time due to the broken promises. Government ministers are taking steps to give a lot of publicity to the NPP government by constantly publicizing the corruption and looting that occurred during the Ranil-Rajapaksa regime. This is done to keep people occupied about corruption. A sudden step to hold a Dalada exhibition (concerning a tooth relic considered to be Buddha’s), in Kandy, is one indication that the Anura-Harini government realizes that its popularity is going down. History bears witness that in Sri Lanka, where more than 70 percent of the population is Buddhist, governments resorted to communal politics when their popularity started to wane. The Dalada exhibition was used by the all-capitalist governments in power in the past to deceive the people. At a time when nominations have been submitted for the local government elections, the NPP should be ashamed of themselves for taking steps to display the government’s loyalty to a tooth relic. This is to attract the attention of the people who are losing faith in the government. Anura Kumara has descended into a low position that arouses the religious feelings of the Sinhala Buddhist people to cover up the bankruptcy of not being able to fulfil the promises made to working people.

After the local government elections, working people will be able to see more in terms of the true nature of this government. In terms of economy, they are defending and implementing a neo liberal programme. They are also travelling in an anti-democratic direction. An anti-strike and anti-union regime in China will be the model for NPP government. The statements made by ministers that they will not allow a change of government for the next 10-20 years is an echo of the dictatorial rule of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The statements of the JVP leaders about granting judicial power to the rural area councils are a revelation of their plan to subjugate the villages to the JVP party cadres.

The NPP government has taken steps to systematically strengthen the foundations for state repression. This is also a reason why they continue to protect the draconian Anti-Terrorism Act (PTA). The JVP, which is on a collision course with working class people who are entering the path of struggle for their demands, will try to build social opinion against the class struggle through its organized party cadres. The JVP will aim to suppress the class struggle. As mentioned above, the NPP government is a combination of the pro-IMF Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has embraced neoliberalism, and the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, based on the Sinhala Buddhist majority ideology.

To face up to this situation, the working class should not delay in starting a discussion and dialogue about building a united front of struggle, involving unions, all the oppressed people, and the poor peasantry. Those on the Left should also come together to expose the JVP-led government and to build support to fight back against capitalism and for real socialist policies that can transform the lives of workers and the poor in Sri Lanka. By taking into public ownership the key industries and utilities, democratically managed and controlled by the working class, living conditions would be transformed for the great majority.

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