The assassination of Vijaya Kumaranatunga

In this context of increasing violence, on 16 February 1988 Vijaya Kumaranatunga was assassinated. The JVP, functioning through the DJV, was widely believed responsible. Kumaranatunga was the lynchpin of the alliance between his own SLMP and the old left. They had welcomed the Indo-Lankan Accord and had just the week before been recognized by the Elections Commissioner under the title of the United Socialist Alliance (to be known, ironically, as the USA). The new party had made clear its intention of putting forward candidates for the elections to Provincial Councils that were now thought to be imminent.

Such a stance was bound to weaken the position opposition parties had jointly adopted earlier, of agitating for a general election as a prerequisite for the restoration of normalcy. But the USA could not refrain from contesting the Provincial Council elections since they had welcomed the Accord as a just solution that could, through substantial devolution, satisfy the grievances of Tamils.

Had the USA meant only the parties of the old left it would not have been so significant as they had little public support. The charismatic matinee idol Kumaranatunga however, married to Chandrika Bandaranaike who was held to embody the radical tradition of that family, would clearly provide a source of electoral strength. The following week the USA was due to sign a joint programme which might have been seen as filling the gap caused by the drift of the SLFP to the right.