{"id":84044,"date":"2018-12-09T15:05:02","date_gmt":"2018-12-09T22:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=84044"},"modified":"2018-12-09T15:05:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T22:05:02","slug":"why-ranil-must-go-before-ms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/12\/09\/why-ranil-must-go-before-ms\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Ranil must go before MS"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shivanthi Ranasinghev\u00a0Courtesy Ceylon Today<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

At the time of writing, the legal battle to allow for a general election was before the Supreme Court. Outside, the debate was whether we need a presidential or a parliamentary election. Those calling for a presidential election claim that Maithripala Sirisena is the root cause of the current chaos. He is not the root cause, but he engineered the precipitation of events that have resulted in the current dilemma.<\/p>\n

However, the biggest threat comes from the group that he gave leadership to till 26.10.2018. This group came in the guise of good governance, but since then had exposed their evil intentions. The urgency for their removal has arisen because their evil plans are about to bear fruits that will divide our country into nine separate very powerful centres with a very weak Central Government. It is even possible to amalgamate two or three provinces together under one Chief Minister. Had the new Constitution come through as scheduled, then it would be better to contest for a Chief Ministerial post than for the country\u2019s Premiership. The 26\/10 simply thwarted that new Constitution that was to be pushed through the backdoor in early November.<\/p>\n


\nMS became the Common Candidate in 2014 to avenge a personal grievance of not being appointed as the Premier. Thus, he joined forces with a group that was centered around Neo-liberalists and separatists. For the first two and half years, his main focus was venting out his bitterness against the Rajapaksa family. It is difficult to say where MS currently stands on this national issue, as he is very good at hiding his true intentions \u2212 even from his closest associates.<\/p>\n

The Neo-liberalists are headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe and his inner circle, who hardly represent the UNP\u2019s core values. Together they have hijacked the UNP supporters\u2019 loyalty. The true UNP supporter is not with RW, which is the reason that he cannot win an election on his own. MS, who was the SLFP General Secretary before becoming the Common Candidate was able to attract the confidence of the UNP voter base that RW, despite being the UNP leader, could not. Most unfortunately, his dismal performance does not affect his position as the leader of the UNP.<\/p>\n

The important point though is the unabated confidence certain external forces have in him.<\/p>\n

RW is one politician who does not care about the local media. Sirasa, as one of the biggest electronic media channels in Sri Lanka has not disguised their outright dislike of RW either. Yet, it does not affect RW as he is not a dependent on their support. His support base is the external forces who have a vested interest in Sri Lanka and who sees in him a means to achieve their geopolitical goals.<\/p>\n

The separatists are the TNA, the LTTE\u2019s one time political proxy. Despite the eradication of the terrorist group, the TNA remains unabashedly racist and undeterred in their separatist quest. Their confidence is also derived from the very same external forces that keep RW propped up. Their efforts to reverse the 26\/10 should pique the curiosity of all. TNA must be the only Opposition that works hard to reinstate an ousted government.<\/p>\n

social base<\/strong><\/p>\n

The JVP is also in this group. They no longer represent the true communist or socialist ideologies, but the social base that is angry and frustrated with the society. Therefore, the JVP would not support a government under which the country would prosper as that would affect their core voter base.<\/p>\n

Instead, they will always ensure that the government machinery, irrespective of the governing party, never addresses their voters\u2019 grievances, but continues to create issues for the people.<\/p>\n

Just like vampires fear the sunlight, the only force that can truly vanquish this Neo-liberal, pro-separatist, opportunistic force is the country\u2019s citizens. Only their sensible vote can save our country and it is the only force against which the powerful external forces are powerless.<\/p>\n

This collective group were propelled to power on the platform of good governance\u201d. For this purpose, the then US State Secretary John Kerry is on record as having spent approximately USD 300 million of US taxpayers\u2019 money to spread disinformation against the Rajapaksa administration to change the voters\u2019 opinion against their own government. It is not only the US that has accepted their role of perverting democracy. India too claimed ownership to the regime change\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of 26\/10, RW did not go to his voter, but called upon a select group of foreign envoys and had long discussions with them. Their own agitation was visible. While the German Ambassador Joern Rodhe tweeted that listening to all sides is part of their job, the manner in which they acted at a time where there was a clear division in the country raised eyebrows. RW then summoned the foreign media.<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath there were only two incidents with one death – quite unlike the current situation in France. Yet, these were blown out of context. Travel warnings were quickly issued, and MS was urged\u201d to stick to the Constitution\u201d or the violence might spill to the streets and that could translate into ethnic violence. In short, a so-called crisis was hyped and blown out of proportion by this select foreign group and their mouthpieces. Only afterwards did RW meet with his voters. Most ironically, during these rallies, the cry to replace him with Sajith Premadasa was heard loud and clear.<\/p>\n

The undeniable fact is that the 26\/10 plunged the country into chaos. However, it was caused by RW\u2019s actions of refusing to accept his termination citing it as illegal and unconstitutional. He did not take up his case with the Supreme Court. Instead, a No-Confidence Motion was passed by the ex-Yahapalana Government and their Opposition against the PM. This contradiction must be clearly seen through to understand the confusion that is deliberately being created.<\/p>\n

The effort is somehow to reverse the 26\/10 because they have a contract to fulfill. As explained by a number of legal experts on the Constitution such as President\u2019s Counsel Manohara de Silva, the new Constitution would have been pushed through illegally as was done previously with the Office for the Missing Persons Act and the Enforced Disappearance Bill. While these did not come to public attention, the Speaker took measures to showcase the agitation caused by his carefully calculated steps in handling the two No-Confidence Motions. Again, without getting distracted by the side shows\u201d, it is important to ponder as to why the Speaker did not follow the clear procedural steps of a NCM. Any impartial observer would agree that the Speaker did not behave reasonably or sensibly.<\/p>\n

Using money power, the new Constitution too would have come through, which would have reduced the Executive President to a mere puppet of the Parliament. This new Delimitation Commission would be then appointed to change the number of seats from 225 to 233. Experience we had with the Local Government and then Provincial Council elections should tell us whether we can then expect an election in the near future or not.<\/p>\n

Without elections in sight, the economic disasters of the \u00a0Yahapalana \u00a0Government can continue unabated. If one recalls pre-26\/10, the Yahapalana economic mess had people at boiling point. Yes, there was the \u2018gamperaliya\u2019 and \u2018Enterprise SL\u2019. Yet, what\u2019s the use of these programmes when cost of production is high and markets lose to imports.<\/p>\n

These would have only pushed people into debt. Without economic independence, there can never be political independence and that was the \u00a0Yahapalana Government\u2019s objective.<\/p>\n

This general election is not really about sending people like Prasanna Ranaweera or Palitha Thewarruperuma home. It is to send into political exile the truly evil masterminds, who for the past three and half years were manipulating the Constitution, the economy and people\u2019s aspirations to legitimize the era of the LTTE in our country.<\/p>\n

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shivanthi Ranasinghev\u00a0Courtesy Ceylon Today At the time of writing, the legal battle to allow for a general election was before the Supreme Court. Outside, the debate was whether we need a presidential or a parliamentary election. Those calling for a presidential election claim that Maithripala Sirisena is the root cause of the current chaos. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84044","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=84044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}