Sri Lanka: Can Bollywood Rescue The Prodigal?

| by Nilantha Ilangamuwa

( December 30, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Mahinda Rajapaksa is growing increasingly desperate for victory and probably wondering if he made a huge error in calling for an early election.

His strategies are old; he has no new themes rather than launching personal attacks on his rival. Apart from becoming increasingly desperate he is also becoming increasingly worried as the opposition is gathering support from his former allies. He has lost the majority in the parliament and now the opposition may consider impeaching due to his distortion of the national anthem.

The bitterest experience in this world is not living under the tyrant as long as we knows the ruler is a tyrant, but to see those who are justifying the “banality of evil” and taking part to further distort the system. Salman Khan and the group are unfortunately engaged in this political game.

First he went to offer prayers to the lord Venkateswara temple at Tirumala before launching the “official” election campaign for the forthcoming presidential election. He probably hoped that Lord Venkateswara, also known as Śrinivasā, Bālāji, Veṅkaṭā, and Veṅkaṭācalapati, a form of the Hindu god Vishnu would take away his sins which include but are not limited to: the killing of innocents to win the election in his hometown and the plundering the public funds received for facilitating the victims of Asian tsunami in 2004.

According to the reports in the Indian media the President Rajapaksa reached the Tirumala temple at 3 a.m. to take part in the ‘Suprabatham’ seva, following which he also joined the first pre-dawn ritual on the first week of December.

Upon his returned he addressed the couple of rallies while allowing his goons to launch systematic attacks on the opposition party candidate’s stages. The news that the public are reluctant to re-elect him for a third term is gradually dawning on him.

The people are seeing the real face of Mahinda Rajapaksa the person came to know by the public, the moment he started losing the foundation of the power structure. The real battle began. Rajapaksa’s body language is telling the public of the real failure of his administration and the how he is attempting to justify his misbehaviour. Rajapaksa is in a dilemma as he is now in doubt of tomorrow’s. And, it must be noted that it not only Rajapaksa that is worried about his future but also his freeloading kith and kin.

The crisis, the President Rajapaksa is facing in unimaginable to the common citizen. His very political base has been split and the strength of his ‘morality’ has evaporated. Not only the middle class but also certain numbers of the people in the rural areas were also realised the President is no longer capable of solving the problems in this country.

The latest act in this drama is the ‘employment’ of a couple of starts from Bollywood to play their role in his political campaign. ‘Employment’ is used intentionally because they are certainly not doing it free of charge. And the question must be raised as to why the President of Sri Lanka is not using Sri Lankan stars in his campaign. The answer to that question is that, his son, who is playing an important role in this election, welcomed those “stars” after severely assaulting a number of local stars who were fighting for justice. The attack was the video graphed and shared in the media sooner after the incident occurred.

Are we as Sri Lankans are blind enough to betrayal our basic rights after seeing a couple of people in person who are otherwise seen only in movies or commercials?

However, the reports say they were highly paid by the government while expecting their crucial role of changing the atmospheres among the general public. What is even unbelievable factor is that, those who have kind of intelligentsia to turn as commodities in the most unethical political drama in the recent history of Sri Lanka.

It is Salman Khan who writes nice sentences about Jihadis and the forms of ideological based violence. He has constancy expressed his desire for justice and works against poverty. He is more than an actor. But this same person arrived here to justify a tyrannical regime to earn a couple of million out of the taxes shouldered by the poor man in the country.

However, it is hard to say that these stars will be able to change the general aspirations against the President and his family rule. But the government is happy to waste public money which has to be paid by ordinary citizens.

The bitterest experience in this world is not living under the tyrant as long as we knows the ruler is a tyrant, but to see those who are justifying the “banality of evil” and taking part to further distort the system. Salman Khan and the group are unfortunately engaged in this political game. As Hannah Arendt, once pointed, “Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think.”

The man who born and raised in the world ‘largest democracy’ of the world is sadly standing up to strengthen the most distorted democracy in the region is an ignominious. It is nothing but the tragic use of the art. Is this just because of the money?