Sorry Women Of Sorry Politics
“All Men – No Women” constitutional crisis has finished. In true UNP fashion the Galle Face tamasha complete with Flashback playing has ended with Rajitha Senaratne having the last word. He reminds one of Ranasinghe Premadasa, nicknamed Kaanu Kataa, the Gutter Mouth of UNP. Premadasa used to give the wind up speech of UNP rallies of the yesteryears. In traditional Sri Lankan rallies the last speech meant to titillate and entertain the gallery is delivered by the speaker with the highest capacity to utter filth, demean and disrespect opponents and deliver cheap words. In the Pohottu stage this is Wimal Weerawansa.
There is rising concern about the absence of women speakers in the crucial rallies of the UNP during the constitutional crisis. Hirunika Premachandra was used much like Ranasinghe Premadasa in the Live Streams from the Temple Tress to provide ‘bites’ to an intoxicated gallery. She spoke and spoke till our ears were full of her ignorant logic, rants, whining, cursing, justifications and inflating her own political image. She even came on TV and proclaimed that Kavinda Jayawardana was not petting her, but was restricting her in a corner of the parliament while the infamous chili attack was going on. The rest of us cringed. While our constitution is violated and our republic is sieged, Good Lord, did she seriously think that we care?
Death: The Jackpot Of Politics
In Sri Lankan politics a woman’s father, brother or husband just has to die for them to emerge to fill a reactionary vacuum. The vacuum may be emotional, race or caste based. Or it may have political utility. The more violent and gruesome the death, better political cash it is for the female aspirant in politics. The list is obvious: Sirima Bandaranaike, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Srimani Athulathmudali, Srima Dissanayake, Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Hirunika Premachandra, Ferial Ashroff, and Vijayakala Maheswaran- the list goes on.
Dynastic Politics
To recall some of the daughters, sisters and wives of the men who left their female relative as heirs to their thrones: Sunethra Ranasinghe, Amara Piyaseeli Rathnayake, Sumedha Jayasena, Samantha Karunarathna, Nirupama Rajapaksa, Chandrani Bandara, Rohini Kumari Wijerathna Kavirathna, Anoma Gamage, Thalatha Atukorale and Pavithra Wanniarachchi.
Except for Sunethra Ranasinge who notedly served as the Minister of Health and Women’s Affairs under President JR Jayewardene, none of the others in this select list are known for any positive contribution to society. I’m sure the readers can’t put a face to most of these names. The majority of them have apparently “served” in the parliament for so long, now enjoying the perks of retirement. The currently serving women in this list are mainly known for being mere decoration, dolled up to the occasion, in full make up. For example Chandrani Bandara, throughout the constitutional crisis was seen in the front of UNP stage making cute gestures and making cuter faces. I ask you, what great purpose does that serve? What wise word, comment on policy have you heard, coming out of her lips?
Worse are the likes of Pavithra Wanniarachhci, who, through violent behavior and her consistently filthy vocabulary helps bring the universal reputation of all women across the world to the gutter. Less said about Sudarshini Fernandopulle, the thug doctor who attempted to demolish the Speaker’s chair, the better.
More dangerous is Thalatha Atukorale who is apparently civilized. Apparent is the key word. When a media person questioned her about the Bond Scam as a contributor to precipitate the constitutional crisis, she sarcastically responded, face twisted in arrogance, “what is the bond scam? Can you explain to me what it is? We don’t have to answer your questions. You first learn about it and them come and question me!” More like a line from a Walawwe Hamu in a cheap teledrama. Looks like the woman seriously thinks she is better than the reporter. Why, one wonders? The reporter may be inexperienced, but he has not scammed the people’s money. The UNP has. See from 0.52 second to see the attitude of UNP’s female politicians. See how they get together to bully the reporter like a scene from Mean Girls.
