{"id":76183,"date":"2018-04-03T18:51:09","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T00:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=76183"},"modified":"2018-04-03T11:10:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T18:10:58","slug":"is-the-opposition-leader-a-regime-slave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/04\/03\/is-the-opposition-leader-a-regime-slave\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the Opposition Leader a Regime Slave?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Tamils never came to terms with democracy. It is such an alien concept to the Tamil society which was always ruled by caste discrimination, tribalism and other outdated concepts. It is no surprise the Opposition Leader (also the TNA leader) always comes to the rescue of the regime! TNA has become the laughing stock of the democratic world where the task of the Opposition is not to prop up the ruling party but to keep it under check. TNA leader is a disgrace to the House of Legislature. If he has any self respect left, he must resign from his post.<\/span><\/p>\n

TNA always bet on the wrong horse and cornered itself into the wrong side of history. It strongly backed the LTTE’s political vision until the LTTE was decimated in 2009 bring peace to the island nation after three decades of war. Sadly, TNA still paddles the LTTE vision. This is why TNA supports Ranil at all cost. In supporting Ranil, TNA made a statement which clearly shows why it supports retaining Ranil.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ranil’s CFA Substance and Indian Commitments Continue<\/span><\/b><\/u><\/p>\n

Although the Court of Appeal declared the Ceasefire Agreement between Ranil and the LTTE Leader illegal in 2008, the deal was never officially rescinded by the parties to the agreement. It still stands between the surviving proxies of them. CFA identified a de facto territory in the north and east as controlled and governed by the LTTE and its political wing. This is what TNA harps in its statement in support of Ranil. TNA knows if the No Confidence Motion carries, it will end Ranil’s long and winding leadership at the top. With Chandrika out of active politics, Ranil is TNA’s only hope to advance its de facto claim. This is the real reason for supporting Ranil.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then there is the India connection. Ranil is India’s choice for power. He has personally undertaken to sign and implement ETCA with India, to turn federal Sri Lanka into a confederated nation, lease Mattala and Trincomalee airport and port to India and enter into a defence alliance with India against China. As India’s proxy, TNA must ensure these things happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Patriotic Second Tier of the UNP<\/span><\/b><\/u><\/p>\n

There is a clear division between UNP’s first tier made up of a close circle of Ranil associates and his culturally South Indian economics team, and, the UNP second tier. This younger generation of leaders have a close touch with ground reality, far more patriotic and educated. TNA and SLPP mortally fears them for different reasons. TNA fears their patriotism will give it a hard time making separatist demands while the SLPP fears competition in its core vote base.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Ranil did his very best to groom a second tier of like-minded UNP leaders, he failed. His choices were either rejected by the people or they turned. This is why LTTE specifically hunted down all patriotic UNP leaders and Ranil’s potential challengers ruthlessly. They include Gamini Dissanaike, Lalith Athulathmudali, General Lucky Algama and General Janaka Perera. TNA is entrusted with the LTTE’s task now. India also intensely dislikes UNP’s patriotic second tier.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fizzling Out UNP New Leader Before 2019<\/span><\/b><\/u><\/p>\n

UNP is extremely unpopular. Economic growth rate has stagnated at just 3.7%. 2018 and 2019 are going to be harder fiscal years as the six year grace period on massive loans obtained in late 2011 to 2013 come to an end. To repay installments, people have to be taxed badly. UNP’s plan was to keep Ranil until late 2019, put all blame on him and push through a popular young leader with a different economic outlook \u2013 a pro-poor economic outlook in wide contrast to Ranil’s Cinnamon Gardens economic policy. This was the same trick UNP played in 1988 to replace JR’s Cinnamon Gardens economic policy with Premadasa’s pro-poor Keselwatte economic policy. By sending Ranil home early, UNP loses this option in 2019. It will not have any shock and awe tactics left for 2019 and no new face. TNA knows UNP even at its worse is far more amenable than another party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/b><\/u><\/p>\n

Political opportunists except TNA who dream of power by keeping Ranil as PM are in for a rude shock. Only TNA benefits politically by keeping Ranil. TNA has shown its inability to break free from its tribal mentality. A popular political commentator’s concluding remarks on the wrong choices of TNA is appropriate. Israeli diplomat Abba Eban once commented that Arabs\u00a0“never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”.<\/b>\u00a0So are Tamils. Having bet on the wrong horse again Tamils must not beg for appeasements (including political solutions) when they lose the bet. Instead Tamils must keep their begging bowl clean.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara Tamils never came to terms with democracy. It is such an alien concept to the Tamil society which was always ruled by caste discrimination, tribalism and other outdated concepts. It is no surprise the Opposition Leader (also the TNA leader) always comes to the rescue of the regime! TNA has become the laughing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dilrook-kannangara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76183","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=76183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}