{"id":103285,"date":"2020-06-07T22:44:02","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T04:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=103285"},"modified":"2020-06-07T15:43:26","modified_gmt":"2020-06-07T22:43:26","slug":"return-of-dayan-jayatillekareincarnation-of-varadraja-perumals-defunct-cabinet-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/06\/07\/return-of-dayan-jayatillekareincarnation-of-varadraja-perumals-defunct-cabinet-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Return of Dayan Jayatilleka:Reincarnation of Varadraja Perumal\u2019s defunct Cabinet Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The Twentieth century, it is safe to\nsay, has made all of us into deep historical pessimists<\/em> \u2013 The End of History and the Last\nman<\/strong> \u2013 Francis Fukuyama<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the primary tasks of a creative\nand path-breaking political scientist is to demystify and demythologise the\nhidden past to raise the consciousness of a shared \/ common political domain to\nprogress into a better and a new world, leaving the misery of the failed past.\nTo achieve this objective, they must be blessed with a holistically integrated\nintellect with a critical capacity to grasp and understand the new realities\nthat rise constantly as opportunities to carve new paths to the world of\ntomorrow. But the stupid political scientists will continue to find excuses and\ntheories for the failed past to resuscitate, justify or glorify the political\ncriminals who misled the people into inescapable depths of death, destruction\nand despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nregret to say that my long-time friend Dayan Jayatilleka, who never ceases to\nadvertise himself as a political scientist extraordinaire, has revealed that he\nbelongs to the latter category of political scientists as demonstrated in his\nlatest outburst against the Sinhala-Buddhists, regurgitating the hackneyed\ntheoretical concoctions that had not taken him or his fellow-travellers\nanywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tirade<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nhis latest tirade against the Sinhala-Buddhists in the Financial Times,\nshedding buckets of tears for Tamil grievances and aspirations\u201d, he has\nreturned to his original ideological base locked in cock-eyed theories that\nformed the basis of Varatharaja Perumal\u2019s state that was dead at birth. He\nsnaked out of it and meandered for a while in the sober world of hard realities\nwhich eventually manifested itself in full measure in the last Presidential\nelection. (November 19, 2019). In fact, he was an integral part of it\ninitially. He was a leading light in Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s viyathmaga. But then\ncame the tempting offer of an ambassadorship in the Yahapalanaya administration\nand he jumped into it breaking all known Sri Lankan records in high-jumping. He\nmust be excused because this kind of high-jumping is built into his genes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nalso gathered that before going on his mission to Moscow he rushed to Prime\nMinister Mahinda Rajapaksa and assured him that he would work for \u2018Pohottuwa\u2019\nunderhand, betraying his sworn commitment to serve the Yahapalanaya regime. In\nother words, he was acting according to his genetic make-up of being an\nUnder..\u201d (no, I do not want to mention the obnoxious word for reasons he knows\nbest) doing underhand deals!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before\nI dig my teeth into the meat of his latest attack on Sinhala-Buddhists, it is\nnecessary to highlight that no one can beat Dayan Jayatilleka\u2019s extraordinary\ncapacity to stooge those in power disguised as \u2018political science\u2019. The\nunscrupulous jumps he makes from one side to another is projected by him as the\nquintessence of political science computed at the highest cerebral level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\nbegan his career in stooging as a Cabinet Minister in Varadaraja Perumal\u2019s\nCabinet. But Perumal was a stooge of India. And, ipso facto, that makes Dayan a\nstooge of India. Of course, this was done in the name of political science,\nwith a bit Gramsci, Lenin and Marx thrown in for good measure. Then he veered\naway from Perumal and gravitated towards President Ranasinghe Premadasa. They\nwere two extremes in the inter-ethnic equation. The somersault he made from\nPerumal to Premadasa deserves an Olympian medal. But it was one of the few good\n\u2018scientific\u2019 decisions he ever made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\nhas also kept one foot in NGOs. He was in fact the master of ceremonies for the\naward given to Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu by Jehan Perera \u2013 a Tweedledumbo\nscratching the back of Tweedledingo, with the blessings of Dayan presiding over\nthe ceremonies. Of course, all this was done in the name of \u2018political\nscience\u2019. He thinks that his capacity to rationalise each jump into various\ncamps is \u2018political science\u2019. It is his political science that made him one of\nthe leading lights in Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s viyathmaga<\/em><\/strong>. It is the\nsame political scientist who is now attacking Gotabaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nin his latest outburst in the Financial Times<\/em><\/strong>, reviving the myths\nof Tamil \u2018demands, grievances and aspirations\u2019, he has turned against his idol\nof yesterday, Gotabaya. He condemns the triumph of Gotabaya as \u2018armed\nDharmapalism\u2019, echoing Isaac Deutsche\u2019s \u2018Prophet Armed: Trotsky.\u2019 But he was\nquite happy to continue under \u2018armed Dharmapala\u2019 until he was recalled. Then\nwhen he was recalled he saw his world tumbling down. If he was a man of\nprinciples dead against \u2018armed Dharmapalaism\u2019 why didn\u2019t he send in his\nresignation immediately from Moscow saying he will not serve \u2018the Sinhala Hard\nRight\u2019\/ \u2018Sinhala ultranationalist unilateralism\u2019, which is aiming to for the\nfirst time\u2026.. end of Tamil political history\u2019 the end of history of a\nspecifically Tamil politics, the politics of power-sharing at the centre and\nautonomy at the periphery, damned in the President\u2019s discourse (Parliament Jan\n2020) as \u2018political agendas founded on race\u2026playing the role of king maker\u2026the\ninfluence of extremism\u2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nhe stayed on hoping that he could continue to represent President Gotabaya —\nthe \u2018Sinhala Hard Right\u2019, the \u2018armed Dharmapala\u2019 even though he knew that\nGotabaya had acknowledged his debt to the \u2018Sinhala Hard Right\u2019 \/ \u2018armed\nDharmapalism\u2019 for his victory. As a \u2018political scientist\u2019 he should have known\nwhat he meant and resigned instantly to prove that he was a man of principles,\nif he has any. He did not resign. He was with \u2018the Sinhala Hard Right\u2019 until he\nwas recalled. And when he was thrown out of Moscow, leaving him without a job,\nhe went bananas. If, however, he was asked to continue he would have taken the\nfirst trans-Siberian train to Vladivostok \u2013 the other end of Russia \u2013\nproclaiming all the way across the vast tracts of the largest land mass in\nAsia, as loud as he can, that any rise of any shade of Prabhakaranism and the\nVadukoddian ideology was contrary to the principles of his theoretical dodo,\nGramsci and his latter-day idol, Gotabaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His\nkinky obsession with Gramsci is as relevant to Sri Lanka as the authoritarian\nmilitarism of his most favoured political hero, Fidel Castro. Sri Lanka\u2019s\npolitical and social achievements are far greater than those scored by both put\ntogether. Take, for instance, his baby doll, Gramsci. There isn\u2019t a following\nfor Gramsci even in Italy \u2013 his homeland. But Dayan is now fossicking\ndesperately for Tamil Gramscis in Jaffna. In Moscow he would have noticed that\nno one gives a hoot to Gramsci. Gramsci was an Italian egg-head whose inedible\ntheoretical spaghetti twisted round his head provided no relief to the hungry\nItalian workers in Mussolini\u2019s jails. His negligible impact on the Italian\nworkers\u2019 movement did not go beyond the impact of the local Marxists at the\nWellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills. He failed to move the Italian workers to\nany meaningful political goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fashionable\nthinkers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nItalians are reacting to Covid-19 more than to irrelevant Gramsci. But after he\ncame back from Moscow Dayan has gone hysterical. Dayan is fossicking in Jaffna\nfor Tamil Gramscis who will be totally irrelevant to either peninsula politics\nor national issues. His writing indicates that his knowledge of Gramsci makes\nhim an exceptional \u2018political scientist\u2019. Our intellectuals are very good at\ndropping names of fashionable thinkers of the West. But they never pause to ask\nhow relevant they are to ground realities of Sri Lanka. For instance, in the\nlast presidential election was it Gramsci who determined the result or\nDharmapala? They drop names to impress how clever they are. But how many of\ntheir theories have moved the nation beyond its cultural and spiritual base?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\nhis latest somersault Dayan has jumped into the camp of discombobulated jokers\nin the anti-national NGOs. His greatest achievement so far was his victory at\nUNHRC. Did he score that victory defending the bellicose Vadukoddian ideology\nor the peace-making state of Rajapaksa \u2013 the leading icon of Sinhala-Buddhism\nin contemporary times? He might try to come back saying that there is a\nfundamental difference between the Rajapaksa he served in Geneva and the\nRajapaksa who has thrown him out now. But that will be all hogwash. He will\nonly be splitting hairs trying to prove that there are two Rajapaksas, one of\nwhom is not so Sinhala-Buddhistic as the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nare in a time when even the UNPers regret that they had swung to the \u2018Hard\nTamil Right\u2019, giving \u2018Ellam\u2019 which runs parallel with Eelam, under Ranil\nWickremesinghe, a leader rejected by his followers. The millions that voted for\nGotabaya were not that stupid not to recognise the difference between the many\nshades of Prabhakaranism, including cock-eyed Dayanishitism, which pretends to\nbe the kokatath thailya<\/em><\/strong>, and the Sinhala-Buddhist forces that\ntook on the most formidable force ever launched by the Tamils, backed by\nSolheims, Millibands and the well-oiled machine of the Tamil Diaspora. Whether\nin the Vadukoddai War, or in electoral contest, or in confronting Erick\nSolheims and Millibands the Podi Appuhamys and Podi Nonas who voted with their\nfeet knew that the Rajapaksas stood as defenders of Sinhala-Buddhism. If they\nknew it at that level how come our \u2018political scientist\u2019 didn\u2019t know it? Why\nwas he with the \u2018armed Dharmapalas\u2019 when they were buttering his bread? And why\nhas he jumped once again to \u2018armed Vadukoddians\u2019 who committed the grievous\ncrime against peace \u2013 the only community to do so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His\ncareer has zig-zagged across the political compass in so many directions that\nit is difficult to locate him at any given place at any given time. He has been\nall over the place, justifying each position as the latest political science of\na pundit whose infallibility exceeds that of the Pope. His unscrupulous tergiversations\nindicate clearly that he is for sale for the highest bidder. Dayan, as everyone\nknows, is the proverbial hound who is loyal to any master willing to let him\nlick the crumbs that fall off the table. Karl Manning was thinking of\ncharacters like Dayan when he said that the intellectual\u2019s pen is always ready\nfor sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spinning\nhis theoretical yarns as usual, pretending to be Marx XIV (or is it Gramsci\nII?) he has come swinging against Gota. This Pavlovian behaviourial pattern,\nsalivating at the first sight of a bone thrown in his direction, is a clear\nindication of an incurable recidivist returning to his infantile days when he\nwas a stooge of Varadraja Perumal who was a stooge of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\ndon\u2019t have to ask him to get stuffed because his head is already stuffed with\nall the theoretical muck that justifies authoritarian Castro\u2019s one-man regime\nand other left-wing characters of the Marxist left. He believes in his\nexaggerated greatness as if he is God\u2019s gift to Sri Lanka. But only knowing\npeople know (Singlish) that he has been juggling so many balls that he has come\nto point where he does not know whose ball he is juggling now. What is clear\nnow is that he up for grabs for anyone who wants their balls to be juggled. He\nis now trending towards Sajith Premadasa. Soon he is likely to surface as the\nguru and ideologue of Premadasa. Will Premadasa abandon his other guru, Victor\nIvan and hire Dayan. Or will he have both?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor\nIvan theories didn\u2019t take Sajith very far in the last election. The populist tampons\nand buns didn\u2019t win. The people went for their spiritual and cultural values.\nHow far will Dayan\u2019s theories take Sajith?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nsum up, the grass that comes of the bull at the butt end of his anatomy has\nbeen more productive to the nation, down the ages, than the constipated\ntheories that had come out of Dayana\u2019s four-legged brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s\ntime he started thinking on two legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More on DJ\u2019s cock-eyed <\/strong><\/em>theories\nnext<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala The Twentieth century, it is safe to say, has made all of us into deep historical pessimists \u2013 The End of History and the Last man \u2013 Francis Fukuyama One of the primary tasks of a creative and path-breaking political scientist is to demystify and demythologise the hidden past to raise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}