Guest Column: Dr Kumar David
The Lankan government quite suddenly and quite unnecessarily dissolved three provincial councils a few days ago. Were you to search for a logical explanation you would find none, but seek for crafty motives and a game plan surfaces. The political climate is hotting up and the regime needs to distract the populace; what better than the drama of the hustings? But this is not explanation enough. The Rajapakse government is panning out, probing options, searching for a survival strategy. You can’t say the Rajapakses don’t plan ahead with assiduous care, but they have to. By all accounts, and now it seems in their own estimation as well, things are getting tougher by the day, so move before it gets too bad!
And there is a more lethal concern; this government cannot relinquish power and quit office because it will be the jailhouse for some, the hangman’s noose for others and investigation by the corruption watchdog for all. This is precarious for society, the government of the day is like a cornered wild animal, it cannot countenance downfall for that will be curtains, kaput literally. But a dictatorial grab for power is the royal road to uprising, carnage and revolution. As in Egypt and Syria there is no way out. In both it is not that the dictators do not wish to renounce power. They cannot! A vast empire of privilege, wealth and positions in the hands of the military are at stake in Egypt, and that’s not counting the necks of the mighty, vide Mubarak. If ever Syria’s Assad and his murderous henchmen fall into the hands of the mobs, it will be a lynching. Remember Mussolini, they hanged him from a lamppost. Notwithstanding its bungling and bumbling, Indians should be thankful that the rudiments of democratic muddling-through are secure in their country.
