The UNP Can Take A Page From Mahinda Chinthana
Malinda Seneviratne
The Government, as usual, put its own spin on what happened in Hambantota when some UNP parliamentarians decided to check out the airport and harbor. Mayor Eraj Fernando’s antics, however, were caught on camera. There’s no erasing that kind of belligerence (that’s a mild word, by the way) regardless of one’s spin-doctoring skills. Attempting to do so would invariably result in convincing the audience that its intelligence is being insulted. The next option is damage control. And the best damage-controller around is Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Last week, when he met with the editors of print and electronic media institutions, the President said ‘no one is above the law’. He added that he was not talking about the Bodu Bala Sena only when he made that remark. It applied to politicians as well, he said. He gave a lesson in history by way of providing context. He spoke of other politicians who have been attacked. He spoke also of politicians who have gone berserk. He named names. He even fired a broadside at the media, pointing out that when crowds, egged on by politicians, attack members of the ruling party, the media calls it ‘reaction by angry citizens’ whereas when a group of people led by a member of the ruling party take on opposition politicians, it’s an ‘paalaka pakshaye mera kandaayamak’(thugs of the ruling party). Having provided context, he came up with the ‘no o’ne is above the law’ statement.
The point on history can be conceded. The President certainly can’t undo time. He is, however, the leader of the UPFA and the fact that these people who are not above the law continue to thumb nose at the law and law enforcement authorities are not going down very well with the people. They vote. It ought to be a concern.
Complicity in such attacks aside, President Rajapaksa made a very pertinent point about politics in general. He said, ‘game ayath ekka giyaa nam ohoma venne nehe’ (this would not have happened if [they] had gone with the locals). He observed that the visiting MPs had not invited UNP stalwarts of the area Sajith Premadasaand Dilip Wedarachchi to be part of the delegation. We don’t know if they were deliberately sidelined, but we do know that there’s no love lost between Premadasa and this particular team. There is an obvious reference to intra-party squabbles here. The ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ page that’s relevant, however, is the one about ‘game aya’ (village-people or ‘local folk’). Read More
