‘The Government’s Hobson’s Choice’
April 24, 2015, 6:00 pm
The then opposition was campaigning to abolish the Executive Presidency, as most of the Govigama Buddhist majority and even the Christian minority could not accept the reality that Premadasa had been elected as the Executive President of Sri Lanka. Virtually, all powers of the Executive Presidency had been conferred upon Ranasingha Premadasa, the first Non-Govigama Head of State. The opposition could not stomach such an insult. In answer to the campaign carried out in an utmost vicious manner, Premadasa responded by telling one of his admirers, the novelist and play-writer Simon Nawagaththegama, that "those very people, if they come to power and sit on the throne created by J. R. Jayewardene; they would far from abolishing it, strengthen it and usurp more power to themselves." Today, in hindsight, one could observe how wise Premadasa was.