The Story Of An Alternative Manifesto
Prof Mahesan Niranjan
We can feel the hot air. I don’t mean the
extended summer heat wave in the United Kingdom, but the political air is heating up as the elections to the Northern Provincial Council in Sri Lanka approaches. The main political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) caused much excitement among analysts by successfully inviting former justice Wigneswaran (hereinafter referred to by the pet name Wiggles) to be their lead candidate. There was hot air during the run-up to his nomination. “Wiggles is from Colombo, he only knows the Nallur temple in Jaffna. The alternative candidate Maavai Senathirajah knows all nooks and corners in Jaffna, so Maavai should be the candidate,” argued some. A friend of mine had an amazing response to this: “My cousin is a bus driver in Jaffna and knows every corner of Jaffna better than anyone else. He should be the candidate for the Chief-Minister post, no?”Read More
