Ranil drives  “Yaha-pala-naya” down the pal-lung
Posted on March 1st, 2015

H. L. D. Mahindapala

On February 27 the My-3” Troika, consisting of Chandrika Bandaranaike,(CBK), Ranil Wickremesinghe and Maithripala Sirisena, passed its half-way mark on its vaunted pilgrimage to political nirvana which, they said, would be achieved in 100 days. This  is the solemn promise they gave the people and, unless they are to be dismissed as a pack of con artistes, their word must be taken seriously.

So it’s time to do a reality check to find out, among other things, (1) how far they have advanced on the road to their political nirvana, with Champika Ranawake beating  the drum for the boru bana of Ven. Sobitha and Ven. Rathana ; (2) how capable the UNP government is to take the Troika down the road to their nirvana and (3) what are their chances of  at least getting somewhere near the Troika’s ultimate goal outlined in the Manifesto. The SLFP MPs – the majority in the House — do not come into the picture because they have been  thrown into the margins with nothing to do but to twiddle their thumbs and munch President Sirisena’s hoppers from time to time.

Perhaps, the best way to  test the progress is to  evaluate the work of the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who, in the post-election period, is leading the Troika after grabbing the lion  share of power. He is the point man who should be held responsible because, under the patronage of the two SLFP heavy-weights that matter now  — CBK and Maithripala Sirisena – he has managed to corral UNPers into a minority government, promising to deliver nirvana within 100 days. Readers may remember that his uncle, J. R. Jayewardene vowed to attain nirvana  in his life time after taking a shot or two whiskey a day. Now his nephew has promised to deliver the whole of nirvana to the people within 100 days which, he says, is coming round the corner.

One way of arriving at a rational and balanced judgment on the performance of the Wickremesinghe-led government is to collect evidence  from reliable insiders who had gone through the  mill. In this  respect there is none better than Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, who was the translator of the Manifesto into English (he was a professor  of English), and was also a part of the machinery responsible for the overthrow of the Rajapakse regime. He even  held a State  Ministership in the government and  then  — then  he  quit in utter disgust! So he should  know who’s in and who’s out and why? He should also be aware of the inner workings of those who seem to be on their way to Dante’s Hell than the promised nirvana. Besides, he comes  with Oxford-Liberal leanings and his testimony should be treated with respect, more so because he  is also the first cousin of the Prime  Minister.

So consider first what he has to say about the key ministry of the Prime Minister – the engine that is supposed to be driving the state to political nirvana promised in the Manifesto. In his  interview with the Daily Mirror he says bluntly: Ranil’s Cabinet portfolio is absolute crackers! (Meaning: insane!). Policy planning, youth, cultural and women’s affairs and investment promotion-but no- one knows where reconciliation fits in. Some people think Ranil is in charge, some think its carried out through a presidential task force but nothing has been done. This government promised to have a ‘scientific’ Cabinet. But guess under which portfolio, the divisional and district secretariats are? When they should clearly be under public administration they are with the Fisheries Ministry!”

In an explanatory note to me he added: The transference of Divisional and District Secretariats to the Home Affairs portfolio, which is combined with Fisheries, is ample evidence of his failure to plan in the interests of the country.

My short response : Is Wickremesinghe building the nirvana promised by the Troika or is he going on a fishing expedition?

That is not all. Have a read of what Prof. Wijesinha has to say about the magic 100-day program – the ultimate test of the government run by Wickremesinghe. When Prof. Wijesinha was asked what he thinks about the 100-day programme, he replied: : It’s a complete disaster because no-one is concerned about the programme. I have noted seven things we must implement before the expiration of 100-days. And there can be no compromises.”

In his hard-hitting interview  with the Daily Mirror Prof. Wijesinha points the finger directly at his cousin, Wickremesinghe. He says: One of Wickremesinghe’s problems is that he is trying to run everything. Look at his portfolios. You think any human being can do all that? This is exactly what happened in 2001. If he repeats the same mistakes, he will be playing straight into the hands of the Opposition. I think Wickremesinghe has difficulty in trusting able people.”

Prof. Wijesinha has hit the nail on the head. He has identified the paranoia that discombobulates Wickremesinghe. The primary instinct that drives him is his mistrust of anyone. This also explains his  inability to be warm, easy-going and keeping everyone at arm’s length with an inane grin. His inability to relate to people also increases his insecurity. He is not only surrounded by some of  his own people gunning for him, he is also surrounded by his own paranoid fears. He is  his worst enemy. Prof. Wijesinha concluded that PM’s ministry is crackers”. But a closer look will reveal that the man himself is crackers. On top of his infirmities he is also burdened with a load promises which he can’t deliver.

Together with CBK and Sirisena the Troika has taken the nation for a ride at the election promising  the sun, moon and  the stars which they are incapable of delivering. Only those who have gone  crackers would  believe that  they could deliver within 100 days what the nation has failed to achieve from pre-colonial times.

What is most noticeable is the disturbingly erratic behavior of Wickremesinghe since he occupied (temporarily) the prime  minister’s seat. His behaviour is more like that of a pocket Genghis Khan running  berserk with bipolar disorder than a steady leader of a democracy steering its way rationally towards peace, reconciliation and stability. His unpredictable mood  swings from  highs to lows, and vice versa, are a sign of his not having a sound grasp of the realities needed to deal with the increasing momentum of the forces threatening to overwhelm him.

His sense of insecurity unnerved him and reached a new low when  he was confronted with the unprecedented gathering at Nugegoda – a blow that sent him reeling. Shortly after that he went berserk threatening in particular the media that focused on the rise of the Nugegoda Man. Overnight he exploded into a hostile reaction that ran counter to the promised tolerance of a democratic regime which was marketed during the election as the foundation of ya-ha-pala-naya” (good governance).

This malaise of being confounded by the rising political forces  and the disorder arising from dysfunctional governance, highlighted by Prof. Wijesinha, is not confined to him alone. The MY-3” regime, as a whole, is behaving erratically with the three main arms of the regime – 1. President’s wing 2. Prime Minister’s wing and 3 Chandrika Bandaranaike’s (CBK) wing – pulling in three idiosyncratic directions. The Nugegoda rising  is only the  external factor. But the increasing discontent and  frustrations within a coalition of 47 entities (which is labeled as the  National Unity government) and the mismanagement right across the administrative spectrum, identified so accurately by Prof. Wijesinha, are causing internal tensions which, in turn, are pressuring Wickremesinghe from diverse quarters, throwing him off balance.

His tendency to panic is seen in  his unwarranted  and unacceptable threat to Sinhala journalists and media owners. I just can’t believe that a son of Esmond Wickremesinghe, the media magnate who overturned Mrs. Bandaranaike’s government for attempting to take over Lake House, could ever threaten to raid media institutions with his mob (Batalanda-style) if they do not toe his line. It looks as if he has taken over the task of leading  the mob in the absence of his late side-kick, Gonawila Sunil. Only a Prime Minister  who has gone crackers would utter such vindictive vitriol against the media – an institution that was guaranteed absolute security in the Manifesto. Considering  this unexpected volte face it is fair to ask  whether the nation is heading  towards yaha-pala-naya” or towards Angoda.

This excessive reaction can only be a sign of a Prime Minister who has lost touch with reality. Ever since he  became Prime Minister,  Ranil Wickremesinghe has shown alarming signs of erratic behavior. Which other prime minister of the democratic world, for instance, would come out naming journalists who had commented adversely on him? Which president or vice president of International Democratic Union (IDU) would vow to strike out media owners from the stock market because their publications are supposed to have roused communal dissension – Wickremesinghe’s excuse for media suppression?

Not knowing how to respond to the formidable mass movement rising against him Wickremesinghe has latched on to the cheap and dangerous tactic of labeling anyone defending the nation as communalists. His knee-jerk reaction is to raid media institutions with his mob, he says. In other words. he is openly advocating mob rule and not yaha-pala-naya”. Leaving that aside, will he also lead a mob to raid newspaper offices in Jaffna – the seething hot bed of communalism, demonizing the Sinhala-Buddhists day-in-day-out?

 If his  intention is to protect and  preserve communal harmony why is  he targeting only the media in the Sinhala south and turning a blind to the Tamil media which is oozing with anti-Sinhala communal hatred in each and every publication? Isn’t he aware that his proposed constitutional reforms, aimed mainly to appease the Tamil North, will end  up like his futile CFA with Prabhakaran because the Tamil media, which has space only for demonizing the Sinhala-Buddhists, will sabotage his formula? Is  he aware that the pulpit of  the Catholic Church has been used uninhibitedly by the Tamil  clerical hierarchy as the broadcasting station for anti-Sinhala-Buddhist hatred? Is he aware that the Jaffna  University, which is funded by what they call the Sinhala state”, has become the hot  bed of anti-Sinhala-Buddhist indoctrination and activities?

Isn’t Wickremesinghe’s idea of promoting communal harmony similar to that of producing the sound of a clap with one hand? Or is his attempt to suppress the media in  the  south a part of his hidden agenda to whip the media bosses into line and through them prevent the journalists from challenging the legitimacy of his naked ambition to be the unelected prime minister of a minority government as long as he can?

Is he aware that the political culture of mono-ethnic extremism  is ineradicably rooted in Jaffna soil? Jaffna never took to any humane ideology – socialism, liberalism, pluralism, pacifism, humanism etc., — other than Hindu casteism and Tamil racism. Prabhakaran is the inevitable manifestation of communal hatred fed to the Tamil community by successive generations of Tamil political leaders. Tamil communalism took a virulent turn when G. G. Poonnambalam launched his politics of percentages (50-50) demonizing the Sinhalese and denigrating the Mahavamsa.

Is Wickremesinghe aware that  the first communal party was established in Jaffna  in 1921 when Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam broke away from the Ceylon National Congress and formed the first communal organization called the Tamil Mahajana Sabhai? Is  he aware that the Sinhalese did not go down that communal path initially and that S.W.R. D. Bandaranaike established the Sinhala Maha Sabha only in 1935 purely to counter the rabid racism of G. G. Ponnambalam?

An objective and deep analysis of the history of communalism will establish that Sinhala-Buddhist communalism was only a defensive reaction to the mono-ethnic  extremism of the Tamil north. It is the rabid racists of the North who drove the Sinhala-Buddhists of the south into the arms of their extremists and counter-violence. It is Prabhakaran who turned the sleeping Sinhala-Buddhists into the  best fighting  forces against terrorism. It is the threat of separatism that has made the south resist any concessions to the north. It is the Tamil strategy of running to India that has raised the existential fears of the Sinhalese. So if Wickremesinghe has any political sense to analyze and work out  remedies for reconciliation and  peace he must first change the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist political culture of North. Neither he nor anyone else can succeed if the minorities continue to threaten the majority with their hatred.

Before raiding newspaper offices in the south Wickremesinghe, if he is  really serious about communalism, must  first lead his mob into Jaffna and raid the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist Tamil newspaper offices and establish his credentials as an even handed anti-communalist. After that he can come down to the south to carry on with his thugs in  the south, if he is still among the living.

13 Responses to “Ranil drives  “Yaha-pala-naya” down the pal-lung”

  1. Lorenzo Says:

    Run-nil is an ANTI-SINHALA-BUDDHIST racist.

    Otherwise he should FIRST invade UTHAYAN newspaper.

  2. Christie Says:

    Namaste: Indian Imperialist are behind all politics in their colonies. I would like everyone in this forum to see what Indian colonial parasites, Indians and Indian vermin are doing to the subjects of their colonies. They are no different to the British or other imperialists. As I point out to everyone Indian won this time with Governor Chandrika, Kankani Ranil and Coolie Sirisena. There is nothing subjects of Indian imperialists can do for another six years, only a fool will
    dwell in the 100 day sacred cow. It is the time they want to make sure what the results of 080115 will continue without major problems. The next step is to make sure that the majority Sinhalese will not have a two third majority in the parliament and you can see it happening. Jai Hind.

  3. Dilrook Says:

    The SLFP should take up the constitutional amendment promise of President Sirisena. It is obviously a popular promise voted in by the voters. SLFP should fully support not just the dilution of the executive presidency but the complete abolition. Along with it the other promise to reform the election system should also be passed in parliament.

    By doing so, SLFP can turn the tables on the UNP and secure the due place of nationalists. The presidential election was designed with minorities in mind. It worked well for the majority during the war and immediately after it. However, in peace time the executive presidential election is heavily minority friendly.

    Even parties like TNA (14 seats) and SLMC will support the abolition of executive presidency and going back to the first-past-the-post election system (or a system with a combination of it and the PR system). By doing so they can prevent EPDP, UNP and SLFP from taking away their seats in parts of the north and the east. Anyway there is nothing SLFP and UNP loses. There are enough votes in parliament for these.

    Abolishing executive presidency does not divide the country or give more autonomy to provinces as it stands today. In fact continuation of the incumbent executive president may divide the country faster. When the new parliamentary election system is introduced, it becomes easier for the SLFP to gain 2/3 in parliament which can be used to abrogate the 13A. Then it does not require the support of the president (abolished) who is now manipulated by the minorities.

    It must be remembered that in 1994 the SLFP led PA came to power promising the abolition of the executive presidency and election reforms. It repeated these again in 2005 Mahinda Chinthana. But these promises were never kept. Both Chandrika and Mahinda dropped these in their manifestos for the second term. Sirisena will do the same. Worse, if Ranil replaces Sirisena as executive president, then he will never lose his grip on power. Given the current state of the nation, executive presidency must be abolished.

  4. Susantha Wijesinghe Says:

    HLDM !!! RANIL will never be able to run this beautiful Sri Lanka. HE DOES NOT HAVE THE CLOUT THAT CAN bring people around him for basic organizational ability. He has a very remarkable attribute in him. IT IS FEAR, FEAR all the way. He has proved himself a COWARD, that is compatible with his restricted knowledge, and basic intelligence. He is a congenital thug and a murderer. Batalanda style and Gonawela style of underground Scum, speak for him. He was a happy man, being in the Opposition as Leader, ensuring his monthly pay cheque and all the perks that was bestowed with his position, until Chandrika appeared, bringing him a Tray of Western Hossannas, laced with mellifluous regime change, plump carrots. The $Greenery came in many bags, which Treasury Chandrka handled and appropriated to the listed channels. The Recipients kept millions for future personal use, and that is how a BEEEG BAAAG went into a house at Mountlavania, which was supposed to be President Maithreepalas Son Dahams Girl friendssFathers House.

    So if the Family members of the President has access to millions of $US, it is envisaging a Carnival after things calm down.
    Ranil has many many PortFolios. Can someone please enlighten me, how much Treasury Funds are allocated to each of his Portfolio, and the additional payments made to the number of his list of Employees. Again, the Number of Vehicles allocated to him, and the gas bills per month. We are just looking at the expenses of the Prime Minister WE HAVE TO KNOW THE NUMBER OF PORTFOLIOS HE HOLDS. THAT WILL GIVE A CLUE TO HIS INCOME ONLY FOR THAT.

    Lets open the subject tomorrow.

  5. Independent Says:

    But some good things also happening. It appears that Runil is not Running the Kudu Business.

    කුඩු අහේනියක්

    මිළත් වැඩි වෙලා

    2015 මාර්තු මස 02 07:38:37 | ආරියදාස කොඩිතුවක්කු
    Tweet හෙරොයින් කුඩු ග්‍රෑම් 25 ක් සමඟ වැල්ලම්පිටියේ පුද්ගලයෙකු තංගල්ලේදී අත් අඩංගුවට ගත් බව පොලීසිය කියයි.

    කුඩු වැටලීම් වේගවත් වීමත් සමග කුඩු මිළද ඉහළ ගොස් ඇතැයි මත් ද්‍රව්‍ය නාශක කාර්යංශය කියයි.

    මීට මාස කිහිපයකට රුපියල් 60,000 ක් වු හෙරොයින් කිලෝවක වීථි මිළ අද වන විට රුපියල් කෝටිය තෙක් ඉහළ ගොස් ඇතැයිද කියති.

    ඒ අනුව රුපියල් 6000 ත් 8000 අතර වු ග්‍රෑමයක මිළද දස දහස තෙක් වැඩි වී ඇති බවද වාර්ථා වෙයි.

  6. ranjit Says:

    Thanks HLDM for keep informing and reminding the people of this country about these traitors time to time in this column. We come to know many things thru the writings from well known contributors in this web than in daily news papers we have in this country. Reading news papers and watching T.V. channels these days is a waste of time and boring because you find only Jarapalana news of lies and preaching hatred.

    I think people can write about this Batalanda Thug pages after pages same like about the Choura Regina. How can a 29 times loser can be a good or a strong person whom we can trust to Govern our country? How can we trust a woman who once said that she was ashamed to be called a Sri Lankan? How can we trust people who say MR.Prabakaran to the worst enemy we had in our history a born killer who massacred thousands of our citizens in cold blood?

    MY3 is a back stabber who left the party and it’s President thru the back door. He became the President with the help of the west and the Indian Govt. No one can deny it. A person will never leave a party like S.L.F.P. if he is genuine. He was hijacked from S.L.F.P. by a coup orchestrated by the western powers and there was proof for it which never investigated.

    Ranil the great lover of the west who took the Premiership by force was a well know traitor,Thug and a liar. He was the traitor who said that we Sinhalese cannot win the war and laughed at our heroes when they were marching forward taking over lost territory one by one. He was the traitor who gave in writing nearly half of our land to Mr.Prabakaran (as he put) and said ” you rule half and I will rule the other half” and Choura Regina was the witness to that most treacherous act ever done by a Sinhalese. He was the man responsible for thousands of killing of Innocent youths in my country during 70’s & 80’s. Both of them were responsible for the killing of 700 policemen during the LTTE war. This whole lot have done more harm to our country than any other political party in Sri Lanka. When five leaders namely JR,Premadas,DB,Ranil and Chandrika were unable to stop the war only son of Mother lanka who promised and stopped the cruel war was none other than our great hero his Excellency Mahinda Rajapksa. We as citizens of Sri Lanka owe him our valuable lives for saving us from the LTTE cruelty and from the clutches of those Barbarians. The ungrateful Sinhalese who rejected him have realized already the mistake they have made after seeing these Yahaplana thugs Governing the country taking revenge and harassing innocent people and also seeing the rise of Tamil & Muslim separatism.

    No need to use any good or bad words on the one eyed woman because if you read Chora Regina you can you will understand who she is and was.

    These trio should be eliminated somehow in this coming General election and to do that we need to educate people of the danger we will face if these Jarapalanaya continues with these western & Indian backed Govt of MY/Ranil/Chandrika. Join Nugegoda Man movement on 6th in Kandy to give your full support with words and deeds to save our Motherland from all evil enemies withing and from abroad.

  7. Susantha Wijesinghe Says:

    RANJIT !! IF YOU ARE IN KANDY ON THE 6TH, PLEASE TRY TO GET THE TWO MAHANAYAKES TO GRACE THE OCCASSION.

    RANIL HAS ALREADY STARTED INTIMIDATING THE MEDIA. ALL HIS MEDIA POW POW IS LACED WITH THREATS OF SOME KIND OR THE OTHER. CHANDRKA SET THE WHOLE COUNTRY ON FIRE, AND WAITING TO SEE WHO WILL COME OUT OF THE DEBRIS. WHAT A DILEMMA THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS BEEN PUT INTO, BY THIS SCHEMING, SCHIZOPHRENIC, SCOUNDREL, VIRAGO, WHO STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN.

  8. Fran Diaz Says:

    India is driven by the West. Present Sri Lanka illegal govt is driven by the West too. It’s all Westward Ho ! with crazies in the driving seat serving the needs of the West more than the needs of local folk !

  9. callistus Says:

    දැන් ඔය independent කියන එක්කෙනා ව්‍යංගාර්ථයෙන් කියන්නෙ ඉස්‍සර ආන්‍ඩූව කූඩූ ඇල්‍ලූවෙනෑ කියලද

  10. Indrajith Says:

    No! He/she is complaining that the prices of Kudu is very expensive now!

  11. Lorenzo Says:

    BIGGEST drug dealers are OUT of business now.

    Wele Suda, Dumb-inda Silva, Malaka, Jayarathna, Nimal Lanza, Mohommed Riyaz, etc.

    That is why there is a supply shortage.

    A GOOD MOVE by My3 govt. we should all appreciate.

  12. Independent Says:

    CalISus/Indrajit,
    No I did not say anything (actually I am not allowed). I copied what Ariyadasa kodituwakku said. Obviously, if this report is correct ( THESE CAN BE TOTALLY FALSE FABRICATIONS OF RUNIL AND MY3 DROHIYAS). What it means, for Lankaweb readership, is previous government tried very hard to do it but could not. This government , using their good relationship with KUdu Karayos managed to bring KUDU price up.
    Are you happy ?

  13. Geeth Says:

    කැලිස්ටස්,
    නෑ ! නෑ !! කැලිස්ටස් ළමයෝ!!! ඉන්දි පන්දන් independent කියන්නේ ……රාජපක්ස කුඩු වික්ක කියලනේ. ඒ කියන්නේ…අතින් අල්ලන්නෙ නැතුව වික්ක කියලනේ…! එකනේ එයා රනිල් කුඩු විකුනන්නෙ නෑ කියල කියන්නෙ.

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