Sri Lankan minister under radar after anti-India protest by JVP leader in Jaffna

A Sri Lankan Minister who is also a top leader of the country’s dominant ruling party has come under scrutiny after a JVP leader threatened to oust the Indian consulate in Jaffna at a protest over the dragging fishermen’s dispute involving India.

Hundreds of Tamil fishermen from the island nation’s northern coast held a noisy street protest in Jaffna on December 12 demanding that India take urgent steps to end the constant intrusion of the destructive bottom trawlers from Tamil Nadu into Sri Lankan waters.

Anti-India tirade

While several fishermen’s associations were involved in the show of strength, one key local leader of the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP or People’s Liberation Front), Jayendran Pradeepan alias Vijay, unleashed a tirade against India.

Addressing the predominantly Tamil media, Pradeepan thundered that since New Delhi did not appear keen to resolve the fishermen’s dispute between India and Sri Lanka, there was no need to have an Indian consulate in Jaffna.

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He warned that during the next similar protest, about 5,000 to 10,000 fishermen would simply overrun the Indian consulate and force it to close down. He added that they wanted China and the US to open consulates in Jaffna.

While there is widespread anger particularly in Jaffna against the unending fishing by bottom trawlers from Tamil Nadu in the waters off northern Sri Lanka, seriously impacting the livelihood of Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen, the mass sentiments have never been anti-India per se.

‘Legitimate fishermen's protest hijacked’

On Monday (December 15), some fishermen’s associations held a press conference in Jaffna to distance themselves from the anti-India tirade by Pradeepan of the Marxist JVP, which heads Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition.

Separately, former Sri Lankan fisheries minister and Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) leader, Douglas Devananda, said the JVP leader had hijacked a legitimate protest by Tamil fishermen.

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“We too have been speaking against bottom trawlers from Tamil Nadu for a long time,” Devananda told this writer on the telephone from Jaffna. “We also want this to end because this badly hits our fishermen’s earnings. But we and our fishermen have never said anything against India.”

“On the contrary, we believe that connectivity with India and Tami Nadu will be good for us. We want goods coming from Tamil Nadu and India to reach the north (of Sri Lanka) directly instead of via Colombo because these will cost less for us,” he added.

‘Minister Ratnayake to be blamed’: Indian officials

Pradeepan, who belongs to Kottadi village in Vadamarachchi region along the Jaffna coast, has been with the JVP for some time and played an active role in both the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2024. He is said to be close to key JVP leaders in Sri Lanka’s north including fisheries minister R Chandrasekar as well as JVP politburo member and minister Bimal Ratnayake.

Indian officials say they are convinced that it is Ratnayake, who remains anti-India despite the JVP leadership taking a U-turn on the issue, who should be blamed for Pradeepan’s outburst on Friday.

President Anura Dissanayake stripped Ratnayake, 52, of the portfolios of ports and aviation in October 2025 following a string of complaints, including that he was putting roadblocks on air and sea connectivity projects involving India. He is now the minister of transport, highways, and urban development.

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“Although the president, senior ministers, and many others in the JVP want India to be on their side, there are a few in the party who remain anti-India,” a diplomatic source in Colombo said.

“Ratnayake is one of them. Without his nod, there is no way someone of Pradeepan’s stature would have made that kind of anti-India statement,” the source said. “The aim is to drive a wedge between India and the Tamils.”

Sri Lankan fishermen’s genuine concerns

Another Indian official source admitted that Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen did have genuine concerns vis-à-vis their traditional fishing rights which were curtailed severely all through the island’s ethnic conflict, and who now face an unequal and unfair competition from Indian bottom trawlers. Colombo banned bottom trawling in 2017 but the menace from India continues, causing all-round anger.

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“It is unfortunate this issue is continuing on and on,” the source said. “It is one thing to be upset or angry with India, it is completely another to speak about ousting the Indian consulate.”

Another Tamil fishermen’s leader who did not want to be quoted by name added: “And what is this bit about booting out India and bringing in China and America? How will that end our problem? This is mischief by a section of the JVP.”

Bottom trawlers’ owners in TN are the real guilty

Sri Lankan authorities routinely catch and arrest Tamil Nadu fishermen poaching in the island nation’s waters. More than illegal fishing, what triggers fury among the Sri Lankans is the brazen use of huge and costly bottom trawlers from Tamil Nadu that are environmentally destructive.

Tamil sources say the Indian fishermen who get jailed in Sri Lanka are economically hard-pressed and that the real guilty on the Indian side are the rich and politically-influential owners of the bottom trawlers in Tamil Nadu.

If and when an Indian bottom trawler is seized by Sri Lankan authorities, these businessmen exert pressure on the Tamil Nadu government to get the trawler – each of which costs lakhs of rupees - released.

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Said one Tamil source: “Many in India seem to think that this is a battle between the Tamil Nadu fishermen and the Sri Lankan government. This is not so. It is actually a life-and-death question for the Tamil fishermen of Sri Lanka. It is they who are most directly affected by the bottom trawlers. The Sri Lankan government is actually trying to protect its Tamil fishing communities.”

Indian officials argue that they too have a seasonal ban on bottom trawling and adhere to international guidelines prohibiting destructive fishing. But all these have no effect on those owning the bottom trawlers in Tamil Nadu.

In the process, the issue has caused serious diplomatic and political tensions between the two countries. And now, a JVP leader has publicly and mischievously threatened to close down the Indian consulate in Jaffna and, to pour oil into the fire, welcome Chinese and American missions in the island nation’s Tamil heartland.