Why should SJP’s recent shift in fake news attacks / propag…

SJP is the latest avatar of UNP that built his political legacy around free markets, property rights, and pro corporate / capital market policies since independence, often paying a huge political price for its unwavering commitment to them - in 1956, 1970, and even in 2005

These principals we staunchly demonstrated all the way till 2014, when the party suddenly developed a penchant for populist policies in their desperation to oust the Rajapaksa administration. Perhaps, it was also frustration towards the corporate sector’s support for pro inv

Policies of Rajapaksa administration seen during the massive post war infrastructure investment wave. The combination of populism and the misguided zeal to teach a lesson to corporates ended up in the disastrous retrospective super gain tax of 2015 targeting the largest corporate

Suspension of the Port City project, which at the time was the largest committed FDI source and also a massive spending spree on state employee salaries as a vote buying exercise- and predictably, investments crashed , stock marked tanked , bud deficit in 2015 rose &rupee crashed

This led to the massive corporate disappointment/ image of economic mediocrity attributed to the Yahapalana regime that was soon complicated with the exposure of the bond scandal. Following years marked equity market collapse , growth slowing down to historical lows etc.

One would expect Sajith Premadasa who is entrusted with rebuilding the new opposition to powerful Rajapaksa administration to be aware of the learnings from the Yahapalana experience and work towards rebuilding the trust among the investors and the corporates.

But unfortunately, SJP seems to be operating with the view that Sri Lanka’s eco recovery in 2021 would weaken its political chances. This is not very different to Ranil W’s politically suicidal opposition to military measures to defeat LTTE during 2006-2009 final war that ended

UNP’s long held base in the majority community. SJP’s current political view is apparent in the shifting focus of their fakenews / social media propaganda focus to corporates and the financial sector that’s leading the 2021 eco recovery. This is supplemented by formal opposition

To tourism industry reopening measures and indirect attacks on the Indian inv to ECT in Colombo Port through its proxy - JVP. In my opinion, this is going further weaken SJP’s ability to establish a mainstream political alternative to the current regime. SJP should establish

Itself as a principal based, pro-market, pro investment alternative to the current regime, not an evolved version of the original economic anarchist political movement in SL - the JVP 😊😊

Why should SJP’s recent shift in fake news attacks / propaganda to attack large corporates in SL should worry us? I explain my thoughts below after observed fake news that originated from the SJP camp that targeted SL’s largest apparel exporter, State Banks and listed telco - SLT

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