{"id":66987,"date":"2017-06-16T15:50:05","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T22:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=66987"},"modified":"2017-06-16T15:50:05","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T22:50:05","slug":"reign-of-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/06\/16\/reign-of-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"Reign of chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editorial\u00a0Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The provincial council system seems to have been jinxed since its inception. First, the provincial councils (PCs) were crippled by northern and southern terrorists. Today, the fund guzzling councils are characterised by debilitating power struggles and inefficiency.<\/p>\n

Time was when the proponents of devolution argued that the provincial councils had failed to work because they, controlled by either the UNP or the SLFP, had been reduced to mere appendages of the government in power. This argument was not wholly untenable. The Chief Ministers of the PCs controlled by the ruling party find themselves in a political straitjacket; they don\u2019t dare confront the government to guard their preserves as they, bound by party discipline, fear that their action might rile their political bosses. They are at the mercy of the executive President where their coveted positions are concerned.<\/p>\n

When elections were held to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) in peacetime and an administration, independent of the two main parties, was formed by the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), it was thought the new council would function properly. But, it, too, has failed to live up to pubic expectations. Instead of making the best use of powers already devolved by the 13th Amendment, for the benefit of the people in the war-torn areas, the NPC has chosen to pit itself against the state. Opposing decisions made in Colombo, in addition to supporting UNHRC resolutions against this country, and demanding federalism has been its raison d\u2019etre. Accused of overstepping its constitutionally prescribed limits, it is preoccupied with passing resolutions of all sorts against the government instead of serving the public.<\/p>\n

The situation in the NPC has taken a turn for the worse owing to a power struggle within the ruling coalition. The TNA old guard feels threatened by NP Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran, who has come to represent an alternative power centre in northern politics. The much-talked about motion of no-confidence against Wigneswaran has been the outcome of the bitter rivalries between the two warring factions. Those who are backing him have held a hartal against the move to oust him and handed over a petition against the no-faith motion at issue, we are told. They, however, have been able to muster the backing of only 15 members in the 38-member council, according to media reports. The ITAK alone has 30 seats in the NPC; the UPFA has seven seats and the SLMC one.<\/p>\n

The TNA\u2019s political agenda may not be everyone\u2019s cup of tea, but, as a mainstream party, it has a pivotal role to play in preserving democracy in the post-war period. In spite of its past sins, it remains popular and is capable of preventing extra parliamentary opposition from emerging in the North and the East as an alternative force in Tamil politics. Such a movement might be able to thrive by capitalising on public disillusionment with the main parties as we saw in the early 1980s and, worse, act as a vehicle for extremism. Troublemakers are likely to hijack the ongoing protest campaigns and cause them to get out of hand so that they can radicalise the youth to achieve their sinister ends.<\/p>\n

It behoves the TNA big guns to act responsibly without going for another\u2019s jugular at the drop of a hat and, thereby, plunging the North and East into chaos, which breeds anarchical extremism. They must sort out their differences without placing democracy in jeopardy. Let the government be urged to tread cautiously and pour oil on troubled waters in the northern politics.<\/p>\n

With the NPC embroiled in a crisis, all the provincial councils are now in a shambles due to power struggles. The state of affairs at the centre is equally shambolic thanks to a political cold war between the two main parties which have come together to hold their mutual enemies at bay. Needless to say that chaos at both the centre and the periphery bodes ill for democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editorial\u00a0Courtesy The Island The provincial council system seems to have been jinxed since its inception. First, the provincial councils (PCs) were crippled by northern and southern terrorists. Today, the fund guzzling councils are characterised by debilitating power struggles and inefficiency. Time was when the proponents of devolution argued that the provincial councils had failed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66987","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=66987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}