By
Vishnuguptha
It is recent history, though most of us have already forgotten it or have chosen to forget it. The power struggle within the United National Party (UNP) seems to be over, yet among the grassroots, the overwhelming sentiment is that the Party is no longer relevant in national politics nor is it competitive at elections. If one chooses to ignore and forget the brutal truths and unpalatable realities of that recent past, one does it at his own peril. Hence, let me pen those most unpleasant and disagreeable events in the order in which they occurred so that the reader would be reminded as to what did take place within the confines of the UNP and its Working Committee and Convention.
The leadership bout in the UNP reached the second round on Wednesday 17 August 2011, and it belonged to Ranil Wickremesinghe. The battle was fought on the friendly precincts of Ranil – the Working Committee of the Party – where he enjoys a comfortable majority. But the man who is deficient in plans, strategy, tactics, craftiness and guile in bringing down the current regime that is universally known for corruption, nepotism and crimes against humanity, exhibited his willingness to display that craft and depravity for his own survival. He appealed to King Rajapaksa to order the Roads Development Authority to re-tar the road so that it was made impassable for any traffic, foot or vehicular. Furthermore, Wickremesinghe got the government to ask the police to obtain an order from Courts to prevent the UNP supporters from entering their own Party Headquarters. How can one describe this as anything but politics of perversion?
The desperation of the man was evident.
This is a quality that no political leader has shown to date. In such circumstances, a leader of people would do everything on the side of the people, not individuals. What Wickremesinghe did was preventing the people, not individuals, from coming to Sirikotha. He is extremely uncomfortable with the masses; his domain is quite different – a select few cronies, many of whom lost their electorates at the last parliamentary elections and those who managed to get in but hold their allegiance to Ranil for the sake of safeguarding their own private turfs such as party posts – his comfort zone is right there. The closure of a thoroughfare, which was a perfectly rubberized road that connects the Pita Kotte junction with Rajagiriya, that runs right in front of the Sirikotha stood as a shameless monument to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s political astuteness. Moreover, the security at his private residence was buttressed manifold by the police throughout the day. His chief comrade-in-arms was none other than Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President whose corrupt government he is supposed to lead his troops against. If this is not politics of perversion, what is?
The first round of the bout was almost a no-contest win for the then ‘Reformists Group’ led by Karu Jayasuriya and Sajith Premadasa. That was when the Party parliamentary group confronted Ranil and asked him to step down from leadership after the dismal performance at the previously-held Local Government elections. While Sajith Premadasa, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Rosy Senanayake, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Sujeewa Senasinghe, and Thalatha Atukorale and last but not the least, Karu Jayasuriya and Kabir Hashim asked the leader to step down, not a single MP had the courage or the conviction to speak on Ranil’s behalf. They were simply dumbfounded. The onslaught was so vocal, logical and convincing; they opted not to be on the losing side of the argument. Sajith spoke how the Party suffered the most humiliating defeat at the Local Government polls, he pointed out how the leader went missing in action the day after the elections, gallivanting in the United Kingdom, he spoke of the leader’s lack of concern for the ordinary UNP worker, the leader’s scant respect for the constitutional reforms adopted at the previous convention. Sajith was followed by Dayasiri, Ranjith Madduma, Thalatha, Sujeewa, Rosy and Kabir. One after the other, they spoke with facts, figures, clarity and conviction. They are all respected Members of Parliament, who have always exhibited honesty, respect for traditional values and above all, love for the Party.
What was Ranil’s response? Walking out – the singular quality not of a leader but of a coward. Not only did he walk out, he tried to summon his so-called loyalists to walk out with him but none responded; not Mangala Samaraweera, not Tissa Attanayake, not Jayalath Jayewardene, not Joseph Michael, not Jayawickrama Perera, not John Amaratunga, not even his pet boy, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam. The weight of the arguments was so heavy on them they were riveted to their seats by the weight of these indisputable facts and figures. They knew that they had an earful of truth and honesty and their collective tongues muted. The wicket was taking a nasty bounce and spin and Ranil loyalists retired hurt even before they could come out to bat. Their willows had no chance to hammer the leather!
Today Wickremesinghe is being surrounded and advised by a group consisting of a Party Treasurer, who is far too divorced from grassroots level politics, a Chairman of the Legal Department who cannot read, write or speak in Sinhalese, a General Secretary whose only function is appearing before a press conference and narrating high-sounding economic and legal arguments, which he does not comprehend and his closest adviser is a businessman cum club owner, whose indulgences are more often than not, out of control. This is his turf, his comfort zone.
Among the masses, Ranil is plain impotent. So he took the battle to his turf – Working Committee whose appointments had been made without any reference to the decisions adopted at the Convention. At the working committee meeting they tried to expel Rosy Senanayake, one of the most articulate critics of Ranil Wickremesinghe. Both Karu Jayasuriya and Sajith Premadasa opposed this most vehemently. Ranil adopted the age-old tactic of a loser – if you don’t like the message, kill the messenger. If this is not politics of perversion, what is?
But there is one fact the Karu/Sajith group needed to realize at that time, but most unfortunately for them and even more so for the UNP supporters, they did not realize the power of perversion and all seem to be lost, at least for the time being. The so-called Reformists’ Group is disbanded; Karu Jayasuriya’s position in the Party has been brought down to that of another ordinary member. What followed is an appalling illustration of how the so-called alternative to a dictatorial and autocratic power could be much worse. The UNP Leader summoned a ‘Convention’ of the Party. When all delegates were asked to be present by 9:30 a.m., some goons from Colombo North and the vicinity were ushered in at 5:30 in the morning and asked to occupy the front seats, which were placed on an elevated level so that those who occupied the seats in the rear could not see what was going on at the front of the meeting. The Convention convened; extended the Leader’s term by five more years, making his tenure six years in all, and power of election of other office bearers were usurped from the general membership and vested in the losing hands of Ranil Wickremesinghe.
When selection of these other office bearers was taken up, all the incumbents were appointed barring one – the Deputy Leader of the Party, Sajith Premadasa. The most popular parliamentarian was not good enough for the Leader. What perversion of politics and power?
All politics is pursuit of power and that pursuit is not easy nor is it cheap. In terms of money, labour, time and sacrifice, it could be very expensive. They need to be ready for the long haul – come what may. J.R. Jayewardene took over the Party in 1973, but it took him five long years through Satyagrahas, 100 meetings campaigns, Lake House boycott, sacrificing his own Colombo West electorate and challenging Mrs. Bandaranaike to hold a by-election and then winning it soundly and delegating powers to the most qualified and capable politicos at the time like Premadasa, Gamini, Lalith, Ronnie and Nissanka.
A mere change in leadership will not ensure a UNP victory; nevertheless, a change in leadership is a prerequisite to any meaningful journey that the UNP wishes to undertake. The people need to see a clear difference between the Rajapaksas and the UNP, they need to see a difference between patriotism and pseudo-patriotism, they need to see a difference between mass politics and cohorts’ politics and they need to see the difference between clean politics and politics of perversion. Then they might demand a change. When that demand materializes, it might be too unwieldy for anyone to handle. It might come in the way of street protests; it may happen even within the party apparatus and it may come by way of a protest vote. In whatever way, shape or form it comes in, the turmoil that the UNP is embroiled in now may seem a picnic in the park. Politics of perversion does have a term limit.
COURTESY:CEYLON TODAY