(October 8, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Having been present a quarter century ago when President Jayewardene swore Varadarajaperumal in, it was only a passing sense of déjà vu to be invited to Temple Trees by the host of the historic event, for the swearing-in by President Rajapaksa of Justice Wigneswaran as Chief Minister (and for the breakfast that followed). As DEW Gunasekara, Dharmalingam Siddharthan, Tissa Vitharana, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Douglas Devananda and I, veterans of the Long March for devolution, recalled at Temple Trees, when the first North East Provincial Council was sworn in – I was the only one present yesterday who had been there in 1988—it was in a very different context indeed, studded with weaponry, framed by two ongoing civil wars in North and South; punctuated by the violent deaths of those belonging to the Southern and Northern Lefts who were willing to transcend the ethnic divide and defend the principle of progressive structural reform of the state.
