Lankan Puravesiya

Ten years from now how would Sri Lankans reflect back on August 17th 2015. It’s true that August 17th has not passed yet, but no one can ignore the supreme significance of this day. If there is a living soul on Sri Lankan soil that thinks August17th will just be another day under the sun, with the exemption of being a shorter working day, that person should be ashamed of being a Sri Lankan. To understand the importance of the coming general election scheduled to be held on this day one should take a journey down Sri Lankan history.

Sri Lanka has a written history dating back as far as 500B.C, in the form of ‘Mahawanshaya’. From the first king ‘Vijaya’ to the last ‘Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe’, ‘Mahawansaya’ lays out in detail the history of our little island. Other historical sources carry information even prior to this period and make references to the reign of king ‘Ravana’. One important fact standing out from all these sources is the priceless sacrifices made by our forefathers to protect our island nation. From king ‘Dutugamunu’ who was the first to unite this country, to king ‘Parakramabahu’ the Sixth who was the last of the ancient kings to repeat the feat, the sacrifices made by our ancestors to preserve this land for the next generation are forever etched in gold in the annals of history. They will continue to resonate in peoples’ hearts for a millennia to come as they have fueled on the nation for all these years. Be it the epic battle in ‘Vijithapura’ or the courages feats of prince ‘Sapumal’, as Sri Lankans we will continue to reflect back on these glorious periods of history. Such magnificent pieces of history are not limited to warfare only, we will also graciously remember the feats of king ‘Dewanumpiyatissa’ who endorsed Buddhism and made it part and parcel of everyday life. We will forever remember the engineering feats of our ancient forefathers whenever we see the great stupas, giant tanks or the iconic ‘Sigiriya’. But how would we remember March 15th 1815. It is a dark day in history where we surrendered our nations’ sovereignty to the British. It is worth noting that no western power was able to militarily conquer the entire island. The Portuguese and the Dutch were held constrained to the coastal lines. British made several attempts to overpower the Kandy kingdom which failed miserably. However later on, the British resorted to diplomatic ways of overthrowing the king. They learnt the immaculate bond between the king/temple/normal people. Agents like John Doyle closely associated with high ranking officials and noblemen to find ways to turn them against the king. This ultimately led to king ‘Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe’ being handed over to the British by the top brass of the country and surrendering the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. Shortsighted nature of that decision quickly became visible as the British broke their promises one by one. 1818 saw the first uprising, which was brutally suppressed. Thousands of Sri Lankans including women and children were massacred. The entire eastern part of the country which provided rice for the whole of Sri Lanka was converted to a barren waste land. The adverse effects of 1815 would continue to increase manyfold in the next 130 years. Not only would the British deliver a deathly blow to the social fabric of our society but they also purposefully injected social discrimination by favoring a subset of the society (in many cases people who were not natively Sri Lankan). Such favouritism has over the years transformed itself into an ethnic problem, which continues to strangle our country to this day. The social divide was so great that during 1950’s Tamil politicians led by ‘Chelvanayagam’ made the 50/50 demand. It is stated that first Prime Minister ‘D.S Senanayake’ at one stage even agreed to give 60/40 to which the Tamil politicians promptly disagreed. How a population comprising of 10-15% of the total, make such a demand is beyond reason. However the fact that event at that time Tamil politicians not agreeing to the 60/40 power sharing clearly goes on to show their ultimate goal of wanting to achieve a separate, autonomous land for themselves by dividing Sri Lanka.

So how would August 17th 2015 go down in history ? Will it be the day Ranil Wickramasinghe(RW) becomes the prime minister for the 4th time. Whatever the electronic or the social media has to say this general election is about selecting the prime minister. One might argue that without worrying about the political party we should vote for the local politician who is most qualified, least corruptive and most deserving to represent the parliament on their behalf. However that approach in the current context is a grave mistake. Maithripala has clearly demonstrated that he doesn’t want to exercise executive powers vested within the president. Therefore the whole responsibility of the country would mostly lay with the prime minister and the cabinet. Even during the last six months this was clearly evident. Ranil Wickaramasinghe was largely running the show, at times even neglecting the requests or advices of the president. Even though voters would be selecting local representatives that decision would ultimately directly impact who would be made the premier of our country. Unlike in previous occasions the selected prime minister would be making all key decisions about the fate of the country for the coming 5 years which would continue has a profound impact for years to come. Therefore if anyone doesn’t give due consideration as to who they want to see as the prime minister at the coming general election, before casting their vote, they are making a fundamental mistake. Voters should first decide from which party they would like to see the next prime minister. This entirely depends on the prime ministerial candidate of the respective party. After making that decision only, should one select the most capable person from that party from their local community to represent the parliament. It might be true that your favorite cricketer or your favorite actress is contesting in the general election from a certain party. But just because of that reason, you should not cast a vote for that party without giving due consideration to the person who would become the prime minister if that party goes on to win the general election. Simply put your favorite cricketer or the actress would have little or no impact on the strategic direction Sri Lanka would tread in the coming 5 years compared to the impact the prime minister has on those issues. Thus first decide from which party or whom you would like to see as Sri Lankas next prime minister and then decide the local representative of that party whom you would like to see elected to the parliament. Blindly voting for local super heroes would result in creating a brittle parliament that would be susceptible to external and evil forces attempting to break our beloved mother lankas unity and sovereignty.

So why would one want to make Ranil wickaramasignhe the next prime minister ? Ranil Wickramasinghe started politics under the guidance of his uncle J.R Jayawardena. Simply put if it wasn’t for family politics, if it wasn’t for his executive president uncle, there won’t be a RW today. It is no secret that during the JVP uprising Ranil was directly responsible for brutal massacre of youth in his infamous ‘Batalanda’ torture house. What kind of a sick person would draw satisfaction in seeing innocent youth being tortured to death? This is a fact and not a myth as some of the ‘Lamborghini’ allegations fired against Mahinda Rajapakse. In fact a commission consisting of three supreme court judges appointed by the then president Chandrika Kumaratunga found Ranil Wickaramasinghe guilty of such offences and recommended that his civil rights be apprehended. Such was the compassionate and ‘clean’ nature of Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, nothing less than a convicted murderer who happens to wear a clean suit. After the heroics in Batalanda, Ranil got a lucky break to be the prime minister under the president D.B Wijetunga. He became the prime minister simply because the top brass of the UNP got wiped out by a terrorist attack. That particular LTTE attack took out some of the best politicians this country had ever produced. No wonder JR Jayawardena had a large influence in making RW prime minster at that point. However in 1994 elections, luckily, Chandrika Kumaratunga became prime minister (and later went on to become the first women executive president) and thus Sri Lanka was spared of the RW madness. Ranil never possessed a sound personality and never got the approval of the average Sri Lankan. RW never understood the average Sri Lankan simply because he was preoccupied with the colonial style of politics. Hailing from an affluent family he never had the iota of interest in understanding the average/low income/middle class Sri Lankans. Although a politician for around three/four decades RW doesn’t see the struggle of the common man. He only sees and is a master of projecting fantasies where youth drive ‘Volkswagen’ and wear ‘Bracelets’. The mad dictatorship of Ranil would come to light during the 2001 UNP government. As the prime minister of the country Ranil made the ultimate betrayal. The Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol of the army was silently but effectively removing the top leaders of the LTTE from the face of the earth. Prabakaran himself had feared for his life. After two decades long brutal war there was finally some light at the end of the tunnel. Alas, RW through the Millennium City incident made all army personnel behind the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol be an open secret. As soon as the names of these gallant heroes were out, Prabakaran didn’t need a second invitation and immediately started hunting them down one by one. Army soldiers whose only motive was to protect our motherland were shot dead in broad day light. Some were hunted down inside their own police offices. Every passing day paper headlines carried news of an intelligence unit official’s murder. The idiotic and unpatriotic nature of RW had surrendered Prabakaran the very best of best soldiers of this country. With that betrayal the chance of ending a brutal war appeared dismal. Not stopping there Ranil went ahead and signed a cease fire agreement with LTTE even without notifying the then executive president Chandrika Cumaratunga. Such was the arrogant nature of this dictator. The cease fire agreement gave LTTE a legitimate status in the north. If it was allowed to continue for several years, LTTE would have the advantage of showing the world that they had their own administration system in operation in the Northern Province. That would provide them the basic footing in convincing the internal community that they should recognize Northern Province as a separate state. How can anyone in their right mind elect such a hopeless person who doesn’t give a damn about what happens to the country, as the next prime minister. We’ve heard JVP activists express their resentment over their actions in the 90’s. We’ve heard Mahinda Rajapakse admit that he made some mistakes. But have we ever heard Ranil saying anything about his misdemeanors about the Batalanda torture house, about the Millennium City incident, about the Cease Fire Agreement giving a legitimate state of recognition to LTTE. That’s the nature of Ranil. He is constantly living in a dimension of his own, where satisfying uncle Sam and carrying forward the infamous of legacy of his role model uncle JR Jayawardene is his main obsession. The greatest obstacle Sri Lanka faced after gaining independence is the brutal three decade long war. What was RW role during the 5 year period where the entire nation was behind the security forces to end it ?. What actions did he take as the leader of the opposition during this critical period ?. We should not take defeating the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world lightly. If the war didn’t end in 2009 what would be the state of Sri Lanka now ?. We all witnessed the arms storages of LTTE consisting of small submarines, small air planes, surface to air missiles etc which was enough to terrorize the nation for decades to come. During this critical period RW mocked the security forces. The infamous statement saying ‘Toppigala is a mere forest’ will forever be looked at with disgust by every Sri Lankan generation to come. Not merely stopping at his words, RW converted them to actions when he went around the world asking foreign countries and banks not to give loans to Sri Lanka. Such was the contribution of Mr.Clean to the eradication of terrorism. A person who never uttered a single word against Prabakaran, a person who never uttered a single word of encouragement to security forces recently threatened to ‘bury’ Mahinda Rajapakse. That is clear evidence as to the personal revenge RW is after. RW doesn’t care anything about the country.

Even during the period from 2005 to 2014 there were numerous struggles within the UNP party to get rid of Ranil. It is a undisputed fact that Ranil is a very cunning politician whose lust for power is boundless. That’s the very reason he was able to change the UNP constitution so that unless the leader steps down voluntarily or dies, there is no other way someone else could become the party leader. That’s the kind of person who is now boasting about good governance. How can anybody trust a person with good governance of the entire country, when his actions in the context of his own party speak otherwise? The internal power struggle of UNP saw many aspiring politicians leaving the party simply because they were not prepared to accept Ranil as their leader. With time UNP’s top brass became more or less puppets of Ranil himself. Ranil entrusted the party to his clan and to people whom he could control. One only needs to look at the composition of the current cabinet to notice this. What qualification does Ruwan Wijewardene has to be the state Minister of Defense ?. Defense ministry is of key importance, especially given the fact that only 5 years have passed since the end of the brutal war. Ruwan Wijewardene represented parliament for the first time in 2010. So why would such a key ministry be given to such a person who has virtually no experience. Ruwan Wijewardene is related to Ranil and hails from the Jaywardene dynasty. It’s widely rumored that Ranil is grooming Ruwan Wijewardene to be the next heir to his throne. On one hand RW is making accusations of Rajapakse family politics whilst on the other hand he is guilty of the same mistakes. The reality is Ranil has entrusted key positions within the cabinet and within the administration to his buddies. It’s just hard for the public to recognize them since they don’t share the ‘Wickramasinghe’ surname. Akila being entrusted with the ministry of education is another prime example for this. What qualifications or experience does he possess on the field of education ?. Ravi Karunanayke who has a proven track record of fraud at various levels, and the person who single handedly destroyed SATHOSA is given the Ministry of Finance. The list goes on and on. More than 80% of the current UNP portion of the cabinet comprises of politicians hailing from Colombo and are buddies of Ranil. We have to ask whether Ranil is taking voters to be plain stupid. While lashing out at Mahinda Rajapakse for doing family politics in public, RW is doing ‘buddy’ politics. Imagine what RW would do if he had his own blood line. Appointing Ghotabaya Rajpakse as the secretary of defense is something that no Sri Lankan has any issues with. He was a more than capable person for the job. Making Basil Rajapakse one of the most powerful ministers would have raised few eye browse, but nobody would disagree that Basil had worked for the party demonstrating his skills as an excellent organizer and a coordinator, and nobody would agree that he was an incompetent person. There might be other appointments in the Rajapakse government that saw relatives or friends being appointed who were not qualified. But the fact remains Ranil will also do the same and the consequences of such actions by RW will be far more disastrous. Appointment of Arjuna Mahendran is the most recent example for this. How can somebody in their right mind appoint a person who is not even a Sri Lankan citizen as the central bank governor and give him the responsibility of shaping the financial strategy of Sri Lanka. Let alone appoint him, why would RW try to cover up the bond issue. President Maithripalaa Sirisena in his nations address stated that he had advised RW that it would be good if the central bank governor could resign. It’s an open secret that when President Maithripala Sirisena tried to appoint a committee to investigate the issue when he first heard about the scandal, RW threatened against it, and appointed his own committee consisting of UNP loyalists who unsurprisingly found no wrong doing. If there was no wrong doing, how can the central bank suddenly take loans up to 30BN for 30 years at a higher interest rate ?. How come other bidders are unaware about the extension to the limit ? How come only the company belonging to the nephew of Arjuna Mahendran know about the increased limt ?. Any average person would see that such irregularities amount to a scandal. Furthermore it’s just not another political scandal. It’s the biggest scandal ever, amounting to 40BN and on the increasing with every second that passes by. People of Sri Lanka would continue to bear the burden for the next 30 years. Sri Lanka being a developing nation, political scandals are not a new thing. But the sheer scale of the bond issue is mind boggling. The most perplexing thing is even after the country’s president expresses his concern over the issue and suggests to the prime minister that it would be good if the governor resigns, to this day nothing has happened, no one is responsible. RW has bent the law, the administration and acted as a mad dictator. If anyone forgot the nature of Ranil, given for the last 10 years he didn’t have the chance to wreak havoc, the central bank bond issue is a clear wake up call. All this hype about RW being Mr.Clean and never having any corruption charges against him is pure BS. It might be true that he might not have accepted bribes similar to an office clerk. But the frauds and dealings that RW had been involved in has cause great suffering to mother Sri Lanka. He has shown time and again the actual notorious, sinister nature of himself that is masked behind the Mr.Clean hype. The truth can never be hidden. Karma will eventually caught up one day.

Ranil is a faithful servant of USA. He recently stated that he went to USA and sought their help on defeating Mahinda Rajapakse for 1 year. It is common knowledge that USA wanted to overthrow Mahinda Rajapakse because under his government, Sri Lanka was closely working with China. China saw Sri Lanka as a strategic point in their modern silk road. Fearing Sri Lanka’s close dealings with China, USA wanted to see Sri Lanka move away from China. USA wanted to control Sri Lanka. In the recent wikileaks it is clearly indicated USA wants to control Sri Lanka as they see us as the ‘pivot of asia’, a central place from where they can exert influence on the Asian region. USA intends to setup military bases here as part of that objective. However Mahinda Rajapakse would not give way to this. Whilst Chinese interest in Sri Lanka was financial, USA interest in Sri Lanka was purely political and selfish. China was an alley where both Sri Lanka and China could benefit. However from the things happening in world stage currently, and from what the past has to offer, the same can’t be held true for USA. Furthermore some recently declassified emails from Hilary Clinton clearly goes on to show, how she tried to persuade IMF & World bank not to give financial aid to Sri Lanka during the last stages of the war. During that period China, Pakistan were the only friends Sri Lanka had. Those countries helped as militarily as well as financially. So there was no alternative for Mahinda Rajapakse other than to have close ties with countries like China other than USA. USA sees RW as an obedient servant, whom they could easily control. However they also know he is not a popular figure. That’s why in January 8th they installed Maithripala as the president, but behind the scenes RW was entirely running the show. There were some unconfirmed reports indicating that even president Maithripala once discussing with ministers that the western powers want Ranil to be the next prime minister. Clearly western powers want RW made the prime minister because he is a loyal puppet of the west. Sri Lanka is sovereign nation, the very reason why we have elections and select ministers and have a parliamentary system is so that the will of the people could be exercised in a proper manner. That is the very basis of democracy. If we want to have puppets running our country dancing merely to the tunes of foreign powers we can very well choose to abolish the parliamentary system and have a governor from USA or India controlling the country as was the case before independence. As Abraham Lincoln once said, a government is coined as “government of the people, by the people, for the people”, under RW government would be for the betterment of foreign powers. It is true that being a developing nation and a smaller nation we are pushed and pulled by the heavy weights. But that’s the very reason why we need people with a backbone at the top so that the ship could be sailed safely through turbulent winds. RW is definitely not of that caliber.

It is widely rumored that the general election was called on by the president at the request of foreign powers. They wanted to see a new government in place before September when the human violation report against Sri Lanka would be bought. If we had such presidents during 2009 the war would have never ended. During the last phase of the war many countries were exerting pressure to stop the war. Several foreign ministers including David Milliband of UK met with then President Mahinda Rajapakse in an attempt to achieve this. President Mahinda Rajapakse had clearly said to David Milliband that ‘Sri Lanka is no longer a British Colony’. It is because of only such acts of valor that we Sri Lankans enjoy peace today. It is appalling to hear some so called patriotic politicians who joined the UNP front to contest in the coming general election clamor that it was them, who gave energy to fight the war. The political leadership given by Mahinda Rajapakse to eradicate terrorism and free the entire nation of LTTE menace is undisputed. It’s a feat that will be graciously remembered by everyone for generations to come. Given the foreign powers at play against Sri Lanka the political will and the strategy exhibited in achieving the end objective is something that every living Sri Lankan today and those that will be born in generations to come, are forever in debt to Mahinda Rajapakse as well as the gallant soldiers who valued their own lives behind the sovereignty of mother Sri Lanka.

RW had stated recently that on January 8th people gave a mandate to make Maithripala Sirisena the president and himself the prime minister. Was that what actually happened on January 8th ?. January 8th saw the defeat of Mahinda Rajapakse. The slogan of Maithripala’s campaign powered by UNP was ‘Good Governance’. Maithripala although in political arena for close to 50 years, was largely an unknown character to the general public. He was the general secretary of the SLFP and the health minister, on few occasions he had acted as the defense minister when Mahinda Rajapakse was out of the country. It was a known fact that he wanted to have the prime minister post under Mahinda Rajapakse, which was ultimately given to the most senior minister within SLFP. There was no outstanding achievement by Maithripala on his resume, although there were allegation against him on adultery and corruption those didn’t penetrate the public mind. Who in Sri Lankan politics doesn’t have such allegations?. There was nothing to be excited about him but on the same time there was nothing to be against him. This is in contrast to RW, whose character and conduct is well known to mature voters. That’s the very reason RW didn’t contest in the first place. Even foreign forces knew that if RW was fielded as the presidential candidate he would lose hands down. ‘Good Governance’ campaign focused on corruption and state property misuse of the then government. Most of the allegations were levelled against sons of MR and close relatives. These allegations took wings and spread across the online communities. There was no rebuttal from the Mahinda Rajapakse campaign for these allegations. On the contrary the allegations against Maithripala were largely confined to state media and there was no online or social media presence for those. This resulted in southern vote being divided. Most notably the floating vote base and some of the SLFP voters swung to Maithripala’s side. Bulk of the new voters would have selected Maithripala as well. These voters genuinely believed that a ‘change’ was needed for ‘Good Governance’.

Although Mahinda Rajapakse camp alerted users on foreign power interventions and sinister motives of them to divide Sri Lanka, many thought that was just another election trick. Many who voted for Good Governance voted because of Maithripala and not because of Ranil. They thought they are electing an executive president who would exercise the powers with due consideration. This is not to say that UNP doesn’t have a vote base. There are voters in Sri Lanka who would vote UNP even if a scarecrow is fielded. That’s the nature of Sri Lankan politics. There are other elements vehemently opposing Mahinda Rajapakse. The so called elite families in Colombo can’t stand a man from south running the country. These elements still live in the colonial era. For them their eternal hero is Ranil Wickramasinghe. These would anyway vote UNP regardless of the campaign. This is clearly evident in the 2010 presidential election as well. That result largely comprises of these two groups. On top of these groups ‘Good Governance’ campaign was able to draw some votes from the south and some percentage of SLFP votes were also obtained by Maithripala. The conduct or the lack of it of some SLFP MP’s in some districts had a negative effect also. Bulk of such MP’s would ultimately be given ministerial posts by Maithreepala later on. However did the northern voters cast their vote purely due to Good Governance ? Did they want to see corruptions being get rid of or did they want Mahinda Rajapakse to be get rid of ? LTTE is no more, but it was just the military manifestation of the separatism movement. Although average Tamil people continue to live peacefully among Sinhalese in the southern areas, the Tamil politicians would not stop at anything less than a separate state. This has been their sole objective in the post independent era. To expect them to give up on this objective merely 5 years after the end of the war would be unrealistic. They knew Mahinda Rajapakse would not betray the hard won peace. They knew Mahinda Rajapakse would never agree to a federal solution. For them their worst enemy is Mahinda Rajapakse. They would not hesitate in considering enemy’s enemy as a friend. That’s why they voted for Sarath Fonseka in 2010 and that the reason they voted for Maithripala in January 8th. On January 8th they made sure that they will give their fullest support to overthrow Rajapakse by voting in great numbers. The high voters turn around stands as evidence to this. For the Tamil people there is no alternative but to vote for TNA whatever their personal opinions may be. For decades LTTE forcibly nurtured and brain washed their heads. After LTTE, TNA continues to tread the same path camouflaged in diplomatic ways. Five years is just not enough for free thinking Tamil people to come forward, form their own political parties and tread a different path. Mahinda Rajapakse did what he could towards reconciliation. He held the northern provincial council elections; he drove a massive development campaign to uplift the lives of northern people. To say he did nothing toward reconciliation would be blunt understatement. Although Mahinda Rajapakse was prepared to shake hands, nothern politicians (apart from Douglas Devananda) refused vehemently, clinging on to their ultimate dream of a separate state. They have not given up on their demand for the pound of flesh, regardless of how unjust the demand is. They along with foreign powers worked tirelessly towards ensuring that Maithripala would get the most votes from nothern part. Muslims also voted against Mahinda not due to ‘Good Governence’ but because they had also developed hatred towards Mahinda and Sinhalese. The Beruwala incident served as the perfect catalyst for them to turn against Mahinda. It gave them the perfect excuse to express their open dislike towards Sinhalese. That incident was not the fault of Sinhalese only. Muslims living on the area are to be blamed also. Hostility that was slowly building up in the background towards Sinhalese found the perfect valve to let go in Beruwala. True that, properties of Muslims were damaged and lives were lost, but again, the blame can’t entirely be dumped upon the Sinhalese. There are faults on both sides. Hakeem of SLMC has time and time again expressed their longing for the creation of their ideological state of ‘Nasaristan’. Although the average Tamil people and the average Muslim people might live among the majority in harmony the minority politicians are promising them fantasy worlds. Average people being humans are inevitably drawn towards them, who wouldn’t like to live in their own country where everybody follows your religion and customs. Average people might be content with what they have now, but the politicians have infected their minds with dreams of a promised land. Therefore from their perspective voting for the ‘promised land’ is justifiable. To see beyond the fantasy and realize that the problems faced by average Muslim or the Tamil is not much different to those faced by the average Sinhalese and that the power hungry politicians are taking them for a spin takes a special effort and a peaceful mind. It was not to achieve ‘Good Governance’ that they voted for Maithripala. They simply voted against Mahinda Rajapakse as the stepping stone to achieving separate states. So ‘Good Governance’ was essentially a marketing campaign targeting the weakest aspect of previous government designed to capture the votes of the south in defeating Mahinda Rajapakse. Those who voted for ‘Good Governance’ never voted for Ranil. Ranil becoming prime minister never penetrated the public mind as something catastrophic. Furthermore there was no alternative but to give the prime minister post to UNP, since Maithripala’s campaign was entirely fueled by UNP. General public was used to seeing executive presidents running the show and prime minister being a more or less a figure head. Nobody thought RW would run the show and Maithripala would take a back seat. At least nobody thought Maithripala would take the farthest seat from driver to enjoy the scenic beauty and never worry where the vehicle was headed. To have complete faith on RW for a politician of Maithripala’s stature was just beyond reason for many Good Governance advocates. It just put the entire country in harm’s way.

Even in this general election Ranil has stated after forming a government he would do the maximum dissolution of power that can be done within a single country. He has also stated a new constitution would be formed in order to facilitate this. TNA leader sampanthan had stated that they are perusing a federal solution and hope to achieve it by 2016. SLMC secretary Hasan Ali has stated Ranil has agreed to the demand of creating a separate administrational district for Muslims. This provides clear indication as to why Muslim and Tamil politician supported the ‘Good Governance’ campaign during the last presidential campaign. They are seeking to divide Sri Lanka. That’s was there main motivation then and it’s the main motivation now. ‘Good Governance’ is a distraction created to cover this up from the majority Sinhalese. Whilst Sinhalese ditch Mahinda Rajapakse in the hope of achieving good governance, others are hell bent on dividing this country and see Mahinda Rajapakse as the biggest obstacle towards achieving that. To think Ranil Wickramasinghe will provide good governance is beyond any reason or logic. Ranil has not been reborn during the last 5 years or gone through a transformation where his attitude or the way he thinks has changed. The past provides ample evidence as to how disastrous the future could be if Ranil wickaramasinghe becomes the prime minister. Let alone good governance RW will not even let the sovereignty of Sri Lanka prevail. Voters need to be alert to this fact and not let Ranil become the next prime minister. Otherwise August 17th 2015 would be seen as the reincarnation of March 15th 1815 by our younger generations. We would forever be seen as the generation that foolishly threw away the hard won unity of our beloved motherland.

It is crystal clear that Ranil should not be made the prime minister and thus UNP should not be the party one should vote for in the coming general election. This leaves the option of Mahinda Rajapakse becoming the prime minister or somebody else from UPFA becoming prime minister. Although president Maithripala has stated in his national address that he wouldn’t make Mahinda Rajapakse the prime minister, by constitution he has no other option to do so if UPFA has a clear mandate. Constitution amounts to something along the lines of ‘president should appoint as the prime minister the minister who has the confidence of most number of MP’s at the discretion of the president’. It specifically mentions about having the confidence of most number of MP’s. If the president could choose any MP as the prime minister, then there would be no necessity for having such a clause. The notion of president selecting the prime minister in previous occasions is highlighted in the media to support the argument that what matters is solely the discretion of the president. But in almost all previous occasions the elected president had been the party leader which had the majority power in the parliament. Due to being party leader, and since that meant he held the control of MP’s from his own party, president could select the prime minister more or less in his own will after consultation with party seniors. Given the prime minister post was largely a figure head it didn’t draw much attention in previous occasions. However in the current context although Maithripala is the leader of UPFA and SLFP, it is clearly Mahinda Rajapakse, whom 99% of the party members prefer as the prime minister. This is a fact even admitted by the president Maithripala in his address to the nation. It’s true that January8th Maithripala appointed Ranil as the prime minister even though UNP had a minority in the parliament. That’s simply because the majority of the parliament consisting of UPFA ministers didn’t oppose that decision, which was the correct ethical choice. However after RW made a mess of the central bank issue and the irresponsible nature of the FCID conducts, UPFA did bring a no confidence motion against RW. At that point Maithripala didn’t have any other option but to dissolve the parliament and call an election before his originally planned date. So if Maithripala doesn’t appoint Mahinda Rajapakse as the prime minister in the case of UPFA winning a majority in the parliament, it would become impossible to conduct the parliament. Furthermore according to the newly passed 19th amendment the parliament can’t be dissolved immediately as well. Thus President Maithripala has no option but to make Mahinda Rajapakse as prime minister if UPFA goes on to win a majority of seats. Another possibility is that UPFA would see a power struggle after the election where Maithripala commands the control of majority of elected MP’s and someone else other than Mahinda Rajapakse becomes the prime minister. However this is highly unlikely, as it is Mahinda Rajapakse that the general public sees as the prime minister. It is Mahinda Rajapakse who has the backing of the masses at the grass root level. To go against people’s will would be distractors for the image of Maithripala. As Mahinda Rajapakse respected the January 8th mandate of the people, Maithripala would have to respect the August17th mandate of the people. Not to do so would make Maithripala a dictator himself, a term he kept using against Mahinda Rajapakse during the last presidential election. However either way Mahinda Rajapakse or someone else from UPFA becoming prime minister is far better outcome than RW becoming prime minister. Mahinda Rajapakse has publicly admitted that he did make some mistakes which he has clearly stated he would not be repeating if given a mandate. Furthermore even during the presidential election bulk of the allegations were levelled against associates of Mahinda Rajapakse and not Mahinda Rajapakse himself. Bulks of such associates are not contesting in the coming general election. Furthermore giving a majority in the parliament to UPFA means President Maithripala would also have a significant influence on the conduct of the government. In the case of UNP government Maithripala would be hugely sidelined, simply because no UNP minister would go beyond Ranil’s word. But if UPFA is in power, Maithripala could work with UPFA MP’s at a personal level. This is simply because he has been working with them for the past so many years. So UPFA winning means more purposeful involvement of Maithripala in the strategic decision making of the government. Associates of Mahinda Rajapakse could be moderated also by Maithripala. So setting aside the personal agitation President Maithripala has of Mahinda Rajapakse, UPFA coming to power in August17th general election and Mahinda Rajapakse becoming prime minister is a far better outcome than giving power to sinister Ranil and his gang of buddies, even from the point of view of president Maithripala. However in the case if UPFA doesn’t go on to win a majority and UNP doesn’t also have a clean majority there is still a chance of UNP forming a coalition government with the likes of TNA and JVP. There are also rumors of some UPFA ministers after getting elected defecting to UNP side with blessing of Maithripala. We earnestly hope that such defections would not materialize beyond rumors, in the case of becoming a reality, president Maithripala would be slowly treading a path of self distructing his image as well as the confidence public has of him.

It is an open secret that JVP has become pawns of UNP. JVP was a party with a strong vision whose followers were supremely dedicated to it. That vision was based on socialism. Dedication of its followers saw two youth uprisings in the 70’s and in the 80’s. Uprising of 80’s was brutally suppressed by the then UNP government. Youth were massacred and tortured by the UNP using state sponsored torture houses. Batalanda being one such infamous torture house. JVP leader and founder Rohana Wijeweera was burned alive in Borella cemetary. JVP also killed innocent government workers and army personnel. It was a dark, resentful period in the history of Sri Lanka. During the 90’s JVP entered main stream politics laying to rest its belief in revolutionary struggle using weapons. Its followers were dedicated to socialism and were supremely disciplined & dedicated to the cause of the party. How such a party becomes pawns of UNP and thereby help implement capitalism policies is beyond reason. The hardcore JVP supporters would never cast their vote to the JVP this time around. Current leadership is a humiliation to everything JVP has stood for all these years. People correctly see them as ‘red elephants’. JVP’s previous leader Somawansha Amarasinghe has publicly charged current JVP leadership of accepting money from UNP and aligning itself with UNP policies. In the coming general election voting for JVP is indirectly favoring Ranil.

In order to ensure the sovereignty of Sri Lanka, it is a must that Ranil is not made the prime minister. In order to ensure the average Sri Lankan lives are enriched it is a must that Ranil is not made the prime minister. In order to make sure that our younger generations are passed on a united, undivided Sri Lanka it is a must that Ranil is not made the prime minister. The only way to make sure of that is by voting for UPFA and making sure that August17 doesn’t become day of resentment for generations to come. We should be vigilant to the fact that politicians of minority parties are hell bent on diving this country with the help of foreign powers. Foreign powers are supporting these politicians so as to exert their influence on the South Asian region through Sri Lanka. Ranil will do as told by these external forces and be completely ignorant of the native Sri Lankan peoples demands. This moment is a critical juncture of our history, mess it up and we would be opening up the doors to hell. Make the correct decision and we can protect our country so that we can work on improving living standards of each and every Sri Lankan. That correct decision is voting for UPFA and ensuring Rani Wickramasinghe does not become the prime minister !!!!