Gods, Goons And Gimmicks
| by Tisaranee Gunasekara
“German history teaches us that…. nothing in the public realm is inevitable.”
Fritz Stein (Leo Baeck Lecture)
( December 18, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Before commencing his official election campaign, Candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa flew to Andra Pradesh with an entourage of 56 (including soon-to-be Health Minister Tissa Attanayake), for a special pooja in the Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple. In his eagerness to win divine backing for his election campaign, not only did he become a temporary-vegetarian; he reportedly ordered the entire Sri Lanka flight to follow suit: “There were strict orders to the Sri Lanka Airlines special flight….to serve only vegetarian food on board” .
The Rajapaksas will try to steal the election, if they have to. But stealing an election is not quite an easy thing, especially at the national level.
