A Flawed Triumph And Dilemmas Of The Elite

By  Rajan Hoole  -April 4, 2014

Rajan Hoole

The 1990s: The Culture of Untruth and a Perilous Vacuum Part 1

Purely from the point of power relations, 1990 began as a bright year for the Premadasa Government. The tide had definitely turned in the fight against the JVP, with the key leaders dead. The killing rate was still high in the South and in the North-East, but that did not seem to matter. The Indo-Lanka Accord was undermined and the Indian Peace Keeping Force was set to withdraw. The LTTE and the Government seemed the best of pals and were jointly picking off members of the Tamil opposition. The opposition in the South was in total disarray.

If one did not have a historical perspective of the UNP's record of repression and regular resort to violence against some section of the civilian population, the JVP would appear to be a demonic menace that suddenly descended on this country. Did not Premadasa and Ranjan Wijeratne bring it under control as only those who had no qualms about 'fighting fire with fire' could? Should not the squeamish and vacillating opposition be grateful to them for saving their skin? Was there any role left for them to play? Were they not joining the UNP in droves?

All these factors in favour of Premadasa turned out to be illusions. His own success with the resulting overconfidence was his worst enemy. The UNP's unprincipled style of crisis management thrived on uncertainties and the more the uncertainties, the greater the prospect of disaster. Being committed to the early departure of the IPKF, he could have taken a principled approach. He could have talked to all the Tamil parties and told them that the minimum on their side must be a commitment to the democratic process. Then he could have discussed with them the terms and rectification of constitutional shortcomings for stability in the North-East, so that the IPKF could leave.

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