Wigneswaran's Polite Persistence Is Winning Over The Sinhalese
By Kumar David -March 9, 2014
Prof Kumar David
"Any fool State ultimate GOALS CAN - Next step Step Wisdom is getting the right "
A winner all the way but for the obstructionist state
IT was in the 1960s at a Meeting in the Colombo Town Hall Grounds that I Heard Colvin say this; he attributed to Lenin to IT. I have searched for the original quote but never could locate it. Perhaps he was not quoting, only describing Lenin's unerring genius for getting it right each step of the way. Any damn fool leftist will tell you that socialism is the ideal, or chant "From each according to his ability to each according to his needs", but what step to take next in a concrete conjuncture, neither sectarians nor party bosses who can't think on their feet, can get right. Any Bishop can tell you about the Kingdom of Heaven but it takes an intelligent Christian to choose to pull the trigger when a drunk with a knife approaches a child, or to hold a nerve of steel. Lenin was master of the concrete conjuncture. His genius was making the right decision at each moment; when to stand firm and when to compromise, to accept or to reject, be flexible or rigid, and all the while teach his cadres and educate the people along the way.
To Level I do not overdo IT, but I think there is a Mild analogy with CV Wigneswaran 's (CV) strategic flexibility. Nor do I want to give offence to the good Justice by suggesting that he would ever knowingly copy a hardcore communist. Oh dear no! But CV has had a startling impact; his rise from a nobody judge to a star in the political firmament has been meteoric - sorry about the mixed metaphor. When one reflects on why, the following answer takes shape: Invariably, CV has got the next step right; the man is an unconscious Leninist in matters of strategy. I hope he also has the stamina and the staying power that is needed.
The correct handling of contradictions between the Chief Minister and the President - or the Provincial Administration and the Centre, which is the same thing - should achieve three things. First it should unremittingly press the demand that the powers vested in the PC and the CM be respected and implemented, second the regime's intransigence should be used to expose the authoritarianism of the state, and third the CM must, step by step, take his people through a learning curve. CV quite clearly is making a good job of the first task and showing relentless tenacity. Next, the government's calculated efforts to undermine the province stand out like a sore thumb for all to see - that is to say the failure of the state in Lanka has been exposed to domestic and international view. The impending setback in Geneva is proof of the latter. Thirdly this is an unfolding case study, a model laboratory in which the Tamil people get invaluable political education with the potential to raise people's consciousness.
It is against this background that I will use the rest of this essay to develop a few ideas.
