Herold Leelawardena

In an open letter to Ranil Wickramasinghe, Mano Ganeshan said that Tamil community is suffering defeatist complex. If that is true, I say, people like him should take the full responsibility for it. They ought to feel guilty about it over and over again. In addition, Ganeshans must ask forgiveness from Tamil people for misguiding them for so long.

It must be said however, if Ganeshan and the so-called Tamil moderates have been wise enough to be true moderates at least in the calibar of late Thondaman, Tamils may well have avoided the scenario that Ganeshan moan about. Nevertyheless, I do not place the blame on Ganeshans for all our mishaps but ChandricaK and RanilW.

Dona ChandricaK thought people at large approve of her shifting the SLFP to be under the influence of NGOs, Christian Evangelists and their sponsors. Remember the famous sinhala radio program ‘Subharathi’. The anchor of it at the time was a well know NGO cohort and a LTTE sympathizer, Kusal Perera. NGO creeping in to her government machinery was so much, they even led her to believe that she held sway over the whole country. But, people knew the truth is otherise.

People knew ChandrikaK wasn’t only a bandit queen as Ivan wrote, but a dedicated lier as well. They knew she wasn’t just conning them but lying to them about everything from left right and centre. She swayed the SLFP towards NGO doctorine not to be in compitition with the UNP or to get votes but to please the LTTE. She never knew people were sick and tired of her government.

At the same time, RanilW and like minded wallahs of Colombo believed if they could get all most all the minority votes and con a third of the Sinhala Buddhists to vote UNP, they could win the Presidency or form the government. And believe me; that is what had happened in 2001. Actually, RanilW would never have formed that government if a Dona ChandrikaK wasn’t leading the SLFP at the time.

No matter who would have won the elections of 2000; NGOs, Christian Evangelists and LTTE sympathizers had maneuvered themselves to be in a win win situation. But people knew not the extent of both UNP and SLFP were influenced by NGOs and Nowegian paracites. So, they participated in anti government riots and voted the UNP to power. They didn’t know that by then the UNP had become an evangelised party to the core.

With RanilW’s ‘peace accord’ in place, Ganeshan and all that et al started to ramble North and East to celebrate ‘Pongu-Tamil’. Their aim had been to raise the moral of the LTTE human bombs. They watched the terrorists lift their sarongs and show their asses and shouting filth to our soldiers with glee. They laughed at our soldiers that were herded to baracks with their wares. Did Ganeshans care how Sinhalese were feeling at the time? No. But Ganeshans letter to RanilW made me recall recall how I listened to the ‘The bridge over the troubled water’ by Simon & Garfunkel at the time. I had no hope at the time.

After each sojourn to the North & the East, Ganeshans came back to the South in jubilation to issue statements to the waiting press. Ganeshan and company had defended not just their participation in ‘Pongu Tamil’ but Balasingham’s declaration that said Piripaharan was both the President and the Pime Minister of their people. When we came to know about the details of Ganeshan’s rendezvous with Piripaharan, I realized his stand.

As Ganeshan says now, he may have saved the RanilW’s UNP in Colombo with the votes of the LTTE backers; but take it from me, he and his ilk has ruined all its chances of any of its latter day success. Anti pariotic proceedings by Ganeshan and the likes had forced a lot of Sinhala UNPers vote with MR camp. And that is what pushed the UNP to its present day pathetic situation. Alas, Rienzy Algama gave his life in vain. It is a pity, he failed to analyse where his party was heading.

Now that ChandricaK and others of her ilk has also gone the way of the LTTE and RanilW and his wallahs that wanted to take us to Pamankada and Madawachchiya are as good as dead ducks, we should leave no chance what so ever for any new leader in RanilW’s mold to get enough Sinhala Buddhist vote to form a government ever again in Sri Lanka.

In such circumstances, it is absurd Ganeshan expecting MR to praise the efforts of the TNA, the LTTE rump or the Tamil Diaspora. If he think MR will set ladders for them to reach Eelam with their new road maps, he is sadly mistaken. MR knows that if he is to get elected for the third time, he will have to stay on the cause of the ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’.

Ganeshan says, TNA is loosing its popularity anong Tamils. No wonder they say, ordinery Tamils are good at revamping their brains. So, Ganeshan is crazy if he has been expecting the UNP to gain from the TNA losses. Except for the TNA, the Tamil Diaspora, the separatists, NGOs and the Christian Evangelists; all others do notice the current trend. So, its not surprising if ordinery Tamils allay with Tamil ministers that has real politicle clout with the government.

And now that the NGOs, the Christian evangelists and the Eelam sympathizers are firmly entrenched with the so-called International Community of a few western countries to formulate the distruction of our new found freedom we have to fall in line solidly behind President Rajapakse. We should not worry about a bogus dictater bogey.

I say, Ganeshan’s brother is a wiser man than Ganeshan is because; he has joined the government ahead of many others. So, never mind being a recalcitrant, Ganeshan should think of changing his current policies to ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ and join the government and rid his defetist mentality. It will be a good progress for him as well as for his community. Otherwise, he is very likely to go in to oblivion after the coming LG elections.

Herold Leelawardena