H. L. D. Mahindapala

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Not only the polls but the intra-party tensions and divisions in the UNP clearly indicate that Ranil Wickremesinghe, the elected leader not yet fully accepted by the entire Party, is paying for the political sins of his immediate past. To begin with, he never recovered from the folly of his signing in 2002 the Ceasefire Agreement with Velupillai Prabhakaran, the other loser. Then he committed the unpardonable blunder of running down the forces advancing to defeat Prabhakaran. To make matters worse, when Thoppigala fell in the East, he ridiculed it as only a piece of useless rock.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In the meantime, he was basking in the glory of being appointed as the Asian head of IDU ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the arch right-wing conservatives of the Western neo-imperialists waging wars against the rest in the name of establishing democracy. This meant that ideologically he is tied hand and foot to the West and not to Sri Lanka. Then came the public admission of his failure: he surrendered his party, lock, stock and barrel, to Gen. Sarath Fonseka admitting his total incapacity to lead the party in the last presidential election. The agreement was for him to be prime minister under president Fonseka, if he won. No other UNP leader has ever surrendered the party, its machinery, its resources and voters to another untried, untested presidential candidate as Wickremesinghe. Besides, he had alreadyforgotten that he could not co-habit with President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Did he in his political blindness ever pause to consider how he could manage with Fonseka?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ His inability to grasp national realities was exposed by E. Ashley Wills, the American Ambassador, who confirmed WickremesingheƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s pro-West mentality. He wrote: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Since coming to power in late 2001, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has taken steps to steer Sri Lankan foreign policy closer to the U.S. Wickremesinghe’s pro-U.S. views have been long-standing and are in part a function of family connections.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  His uncle, J.R. Jayewardene, for example, was Sri Lanka’s president from the late 1970s through the late 1980s, and maintained very close links with the U.S. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” (Wikileaks). Is it possible for a Western lackey to understand the aspirations of the Oriental people?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In fact, Jayewardene was called “Yankee Dickey” by the leftists. Pieter Keuneman once told me that the left went for ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Yankee DickeyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ as the bogey man because the solid credentials of the Senanayakes as committed nationalists were unassailable.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Wickremesinghe, though he is connected to the Senanayake and Jayewardene families, does not have the basic credentials to be a representative of a village suruttu kaday.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The tilt to the West in 2001 and the signing of the CFA in 2002 ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” two suicidal acts ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” marked the beginning of the end of Wickremesinghe. The highest percentage he polled was 45% in 2001. That was before he signed the CFA. Since then he has been steadily declining. Today he is standing on the shifting sands of 22% with more UNPers and the public at large still drifting away from him, or rebelling against him. He started leaning towards the West hoping that the West would come to his rescue with tons of money and also rein in the Tamil Tiger terrorists.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He even met George Soros, the billionaire investor, hoping his West-leaning credentials would help him to bring in investors. But like Prabhakaran the West did not come to his rescue. In fact, Chandrika Bandaranaike chopped his head off when he was sitting at the White House and a Wickremesinghe stood on the White House lawns, twiddling his fingers pathetically, trying to minimize the impact of his sacking by the president with whom he could not get along. Today he is still twiddling his fingers with only 22% of the voters who may or may not stand by him in a future election, or even at Siri Kotha.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He has tried all the tricks in the book and failed to regain the confidence of the people and the party and never succeeded. Why? Answer: He is standing on the wrong side of history. His penchant to go against history is un-understandable because he prides himself as knowledgeable and well-read student of history. But that is another story to be told on another date. However, he should know by heart the nugget of wisdom written by George Santayana: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Since WickremesingheƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s past was a string of failures why does he want to repeat it all over again by sticking to a failed past?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Right now, after his convincing victory, he should be on top of the world. Instead he is once again stewing in his own juices. The election of office-bearers to the Working Committee was expected to resolve all internal divisions and strengthen his hands. In fact, he has got the numbers he wants in the strategic Working Committee and in the Advisory Committee.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The margin of his victory alone should have consolidated his position as leader. But, not surprisingly, ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Wickremesinghe is still struggling to win legitimacy within the party and in the eyes of the electorate.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Herein lies the rub. No matter what he does Wickremesinghe lacks legitimacy in the eyes of the UNPers and in the eyes of the electorate. If he canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t win legitimacy within his own party then he is doomed because a leader who is not accepted by the party cannot hope to be accepted by the people. He has no legitimacy because he has no vision. No policy. No strategy. And, consequently, no future. The history of his leadership is one tragic record of his inability to hold his party together. He never had the capacity to hold the UNP or the nation together. He remains as the most divisive and destructive political leader next to Prabhakaran.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is this fatal flaw in his vindictive, petty and wishy-washy character that is driving even his loyalists to go in search of an alternative leadership that has some chance of winning elections. The most startling undercurrent, still undeclared, is that the Mangala Samaraweera wing is preparing to squeeze in Chandrika Bandaranaike as the next presidential candidate of the UNP. There is also a section of the UNP who wants to bring in Gen. Sarath Fonseka as the UNP candidate. Why is the UNP so desperate to bring in outsiders when it has a leader ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” at least a nominal one ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” of its own? Ask anyone in the UNP ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” even those at the top — and they will tell you privately that Wickremesinghe cannot win an election. He has lost the trust of the people. How can the people trust him when his own party loyalists donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t trust him?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The task before Wickremesinghe is to unite the party. But he canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t and he wonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t. Unity of the party is a serious threat to his position within the party. His perennial tactics have been to divide and rule. Currently he is pitting theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  old against the new. His lack of leadership, his inability to win at the polls and cussed internal politics drives the old guard away from him. So he appoints new comers to win their loyalty even though they have been losers at the polls. He prefers to be surrounded by losers because they are weak and dependent on him for their survival in the party. Renuka Herath, Tilak Marapane, Ananda Kularatne, S de Mel, Vajira Abeywardene, Sunethra Ranasinghe, Milroy Perera, Illika Karunaratne and other defeated ex-MPs, non-representative has-beens surround him. The winners at the polls are kept at bay. So how can a leader who surrounds himself with has-beens and losers win by leaving out the winners at the electoral frontlines?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As usual Wickremesinghe is stepping out to bat on the wrong foot. He is talking tough. He is threatening to crack the whip to force the dissidents to fall in line with his diktats. But the dissidents are equally determined not to give in. Unlike the earlier dissidents who left the party the Karu-Sajith wing is determined to dig in and fight back. WickremesingheƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s future is in winning back the dissidents. But his comfort zone is in the office of the Leader of Opposition. He doesnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t have to win elections to be in his comfort zone. He is actuallyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  better off when he loses elections because he has all what he wants as the Leader of the Opposition ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” bullet proof cars, drivers, offices, trips abroad, five-star hotel holidays ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” without having the responsibilities of running a government.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In times of need he can also count on the backing of President Mahinda Rajapakse to suppress his UNP opponents. So why should he bother about winning elections when he can get all what he wants by losing them?ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Where will this leave Tissa Attanayake, Gamini Jayawickrema Perera and Michael Joseph Perera and all the other seniors who had carried the Party on their shoulders? Where else but on the wrong side of history! Or, to be more precise, they will be hanging around just outside his office of the Leader of the Opposition as long as they keep him in office! The way events are moving even the seniors will have no place in WickremesingheƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s comfort zone because advancing history, which waits for no man, will by pass them all as they get rolled up like bits of waste paper and thrown into the nearest wpb either in Parliament or at Siri Kotha.