Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya is facing intense pressure from within the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to immediately resign over her “criminal responsibility” for including links to obscene websites in the Grade 6 English textbook module. The scandal, which critics say has “destroyed the morality of the nation’s children,” has caused outrage among party supporters and led to daily protests at the JVP’s Pelawatta headquarters, plunging the government into a severe crisis shortly after taking power.
Political sources confirm that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has decided to remove Ms. Amarasuriya from the premiership to manage the escalating situation and has already communicated this decision to the Pelawatta faction. However, a fierce dispute has erupted between the President and the JVP’s hardline Pelawatta group over who should succeed her.
The hardliners are pushing for Bimal Ratnayake, considered the second-in-command of the government, to be appointed Prime Minister. The President, however, is wary, fearing that appointing a hardliner like Ratnayake could further embarrass the government on the international and diplomatic stage.
As a result, President Dissanayake’s preference is for the current Foreign Minister, Vijitha Herath, a figure perceived as more moderate, to take the top job. Should Herath be appointed, the President reportedly plans to move the “failed” Harini Amarasuriya to a ministry with less responsibility, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This development starkly highlights the ongoing internal power struggle and the “inexperience” that plagues the JVP-led government.
The current administration, which has already faced criticism for its handling of the Ditwa cyclone disaster, its alleged attempt to sell the Kataragama Devala’s gold, and now exposing Grade 6 students to obscenity, is now resorting to a game of “musical chairs” with a cabinet reshuffle in a desperate attempt at self-preservation. With education authorities reportedly fleeing in fear, the potential removal of the Prime Minister underscores the utter failure of the JVP’s promised “System Change.” This impending, critical cabinet reshuffle is guaranteed to spill the internal crisis of the JVP government further out onto the streets in the coming days.
