Preparing For Elections
“An irrational form of political loyalty emerges that binds the beguiled victims to the beguiling political gaslighter”[i]. - Bryant Welch (State of Confusion)
Just days after the gala-opening of the Katunayake-Colombo expressway, a bridge on the Colombo-Avissawella Low Level Road[ii] partially collapsed.
Having announced its intention of surrounding the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, the BBS worthies had a change of heart and delivered a petition, walking decorously through the ring of riot-police protecting the military.
The first set of incidents reveals the tottering reality behind Sri Lanka’s glitzy infrastructural development. The second set of incidents demonstrates the sordid truth about the astronomical rise of violentSinhala-Buddhist fundamentalism in Sri Lanka.
The ‘rationale’ behind Rajapaksa-economics can be gleaned from theRajapaksadecision to hold the Commonwealth opening ceremony and the summit proper at two different venues. This splitting will cause costs to hike-up even more and create an unnecessary logistical and security nightmare. It will also exacerbate the hardships imposed on the citizenry (woe betide any ordinary mortal unintelligent enough to develop a medical emergency during the Commonwealth days).
But this insanely illogical decision makes perfect sense from a Rajapaksa perspective. The summit will take place, not in South Asia’s largest convention hall in Hambantota, as originally planned, but at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall. The delegates will arrive not at the Mattala Rajapaksa Airport but at Katunayake Bandaranaike Airport. Given this surfeit of the ‘Bandaranaike’ name, the Rajapaksas would have keenly felt the need for ameliorative measures. Thus, against all normal sense, the opening ceremony will happen at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda RajapaksaTheatre[iii].
