{"id":93104,"date":"2019-09-18T23:32:54","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T05:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93104"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:30:19","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T23:30:19","slug":"the-impending-fall-of-ranil-into-oblivion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/09\/18\/the-impending-fall-of-ranil-into-oblivion\/","title":{"rendered":"The impending fall of Ranil into oblivion"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

A common snide remark in the days\ngone by used to say derisively that if there is a traffic jam somewhere there\nis a cop in the middle of it. It means that an incompetent cop without any\nsense of direction had caused an unwanted and avoidable problem to the public.\nIn contemporary times it can be said, without fear of being contradicted, that\nif there is a political jam you can be sure that Ranil Wickremesinghe is in the\nmiddle of it. You can also be sure that Ranil has been the cause of it partly\nbecause he has shown no sense of direction in handling the grave national\nissues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it is his disastrous\nCeasefire Agreement with Prabhakaran, or whether it is the\nburning of the CBK-Neelan agreement in Parliament, or whether it is the kurundu\npolu<\/em><\/strong> attack on marchers against him in Matara, whether it is the\nundermining the integrity of sacred traditions of the Parliament, or whether it\nis biggest bank heist in the history of Sri Lanka, Ranil was in the middle of\nit. He has never been able to rise above his self-serving politics of plotting\nand kuth-thufying, <\/em><\/strong>pitting one against another, which has\nresulted eventually in dragging the nation down to its current perilous chaos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nation which ended one of the\nlongest running wars in Asia is still running desperately in search peace,\nstability and security.  When he took over in 2015 there was hope. He\npromised to make a difference\u201d. Today there is only despair without the\ndifference\u201d he promised.. He will be remembered mainly as the man who dragged\nthe nation from hope  to despair. But he sees himself as the solution when\nin reality he has been the incorrigible problem. So like\nmost of our semi-literate and crooked\npoliticians he is under the delusion that the worst thing that can happen to\nthe nation is for him to lose his grip on power, particularly the UNP\nleadership that keeps him going in politics.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take the current crisis in the UNP\nwhich is still running in search of a candidate for the coming presidential\nelection. With only a few days left for the declaration of the election date\nRanil\u2019s party is still twisting in the wind without a presidential candidate.\nAs opposed to this, the main contender in the opposition has already declared\nhis candidacy. But the UNP, the oldest Party in the nation, is still teetering\nwithout naming a candidate. Why? The answer is well-known:<\/strong>\nRanil wants to be nominated as the candidate of the UNP which has openly\ndeclared its preference to Sajith Premadasa in so many clear ways. It is Ranil\nwho is in the middle of this latest political jam. His capacity to create\nproblems is far greater than his capacity to solve any of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last remaining card for Ranil is\nto nominate Karu Jayasuriya as the UNP candidate. This will put Sajith in a\ndilemma. He can oppose Ranil but it will be difficult to oppose Karu as he has\na better image than Ranil in the electorate. In the meantime, the media is\nhaving field day dramatising the rivalries between the UNP leader and his\nDeputy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Ranil cornered by the forces\nraging against him he is playing the role of King\nCanute, sitting on shore and ordering the waves of the sea to stop moving.  The\nPremadasa camp, however, is out there in the open ever ready with sound bites\nto dig their teeth into Ranil\u2019s flesh. The rising popular waves within the UNP\n— and outside it too — have signalled, quite unambiguously, that Ranilhas\nbeen the unwanted and moos-pain-tu<\/em><\/strong>\nJonah of the UNP.  Judgmental opinion believes that Ranil has lost\nthe popular vote of winning even the job of cleaning the toilet at Siri Kotha\nbecause no one can rely on him to clean the droppings into it. They are right\nwhen they think that Ranil do not have the capacity to clean up the rot that\nhas set into the political culture. From the Central Bank to Parliament his\nself-defeating trick has been to appoint committees to cover up the smelly\ntoilets. Perhaps, the most remarkable feature is that, after all these years,\nthe top ranks in the UNP hierarchy have abandoned him. Never before has he been\nin this situation where he has been publicly exposed as a loser by those at the\ntop and at the bottom of the UNP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are, of course, some die-hard\nloyalists who are struggling to save him from his impending fall from grace by\napplying some fresh paint on his ageing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde face. The\nchances of these loyal desperadoes succeeding are as great as any Pamankada or\nAlimankada cosmetician trying to lift the image of a pig by applying lipstick\non its snout. The visible anger and reaction of a critical section of the UNP\nleadership indicates clearly that Ranil\u2019s stature as a leader has lost all\ncredibility. The disillusionment with Ranil is almost universal.  It has\ncome to a point where some of traditional Colombo 7 fashionistas, parading in high society  cat walks, have come out\ncondemning him as a pig-headed\u201d loser. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All political metrics indicate that\nthe time for applying cosmetics is over for Ranil. The time has come for him,\nafter his long innings at the UNP crease, to stand down honourably and admit\nthat he has failed to score the winning innings expected of captain. He has\nbeen a perennial failure which has been forecast at birth by naming  him\nas Run- NIL\u201d.\nThe problem with him is that he refuses to admit that he is a spent force. He\nhas never shown a capacity to score a century for his team and win the hearts\nand minds of the nation. If the UNPers don\u2019t\nbowl Ranil out the people will whip his bails out if he steps out to bat in the\npitch that is being prepared for coming presidential elections. (Note for\nthe readers:<\/strong> Please don\u2019t remove the \u2018i\u201d even accidentally and substitute\nan \u2018l\u201d in the word bails\u201d\u2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now Ranil is playing the most\ndespicable role in his career. He is like the dog in the manger. As they say in\nSinhalese:<\/strong>\u201dBalla piduru kanneth naha, kana gonata then-neth naha. <\/em><\/strong>It\nis in this dizzying climate that the NGO , including Jehan  Perera, the\nNapoleon Boru-part of NGOs, have  rushed to back him. Ranil is banking on\nthe depleted cadres of the civil society, (some have abandoned him publicly\ndisillusioned by his role as the scheming Ali Baba of the biggest heist in the\nhistory of banking in Sri Lanka), depleted TNA, depleted Ranil-Party-licker\nChampikaya, depleted Muslims   (his own Muslim chairman is against\nhim), depleted Catholkic belt, and, of course, the JVP, the Sinhala\nPrabhakaranists now posing as the born-again champions of democracy and human\nrights. . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil\u2019s unprincipled and\nself-centred politics is revealed in his choice of presidential candidates.\nTwice he had gone all out to back two complete outsiders: Sarath Fonseka and\nMaithripala Sirisena. Both occasions should be considered as a public\nconfession of his inability to win the confidence of the people to lead the\nnation. He opted for the two outsiders because they had better chances of\nwinning than him. But it protected his leadership in the UNP. Clearly, on the\nprinciple that he supported Sarath and Maithripala he should go for Sajith\nbecause his deputy has better chances of winning than the leader. Besides, he\nis an insider and not an outsider. But he is out to block Sajith\u2019s path for the\nsimple reason that if Sajith wins the chances are that he will lose his power,\nposition and pakum.<\/em><\/strong>  Those in politics will be looking up to\nSajith for leadership and not to Ranil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there was a chance for Ranil it\nwas in riding the anti-Rajapakse wave in 2015. Since then his chances have\ndeclined dramatically. In 2019 the electoral pendulum has swung back\nconsiderably to the Rajapakses. Considering all the available factors, this is\nthe time to back the most favoured candidate, Sajith, though Karu Jayasuriya is\nflapping his wings on the sidelines waiting to be called. Instead Ranil is\nstill hoping that he has  a chance at a time when his image has fallen to\nthe level of the dust under the heel of Arjuna Mahendra\u2019s Central Bank-funded\nboots in Singapore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With his back to the human wall, put\nup by Malik saha<\/em><\/strong> Mangala-young–gay<\/em><\/strong> gang, Ranil, is\nplaying his usual game of appointing committees, planting anti-Sajith stories\nin the media, promoting rival candidates within the UNP to degrade the\npotential of Sajith and, most of all dragging the date of announcing the\npresidential candidate and holding out until the eleventh hour to present a<\/em><\/strong>\nfait accompli<\/em><\/strong> to Sajith. Timing is of the essence now and Ranil\nis aiming to cut off any time that could advantage Sajith to mount a counter\nattack on Ranil\u2019s nominee, which is most likely to be himself, or Karu\nJayasuriya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the latest comments leaked\nto media confirm that both are digging their heels in. Neither is willing to\nyield to the other. Ranil is making a bid to denigrate Sajith\u2019s image, having\nfailed to tempt him with bogus offers, as before, to keep him out of his way.\nDeceived by the previous feint offers that took him nowhere Sajith seems to be\ndetermined not to give in this time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil, however, knows that if he\ngives in he will have no future in politics. As stated earlier, the nation and\nthe Party will look up to President Sajith Premadasa as the leader. Ranil will\ncease to be the indispensable force in national politics or in the Party if the\nPresident is Sajith. This inevitability would clip the wings of Ranil. The big\nstick used by him to determine politics in the big league of political leaders\n\u2013 and the American Embassy, of course — will be whittled down to a toothpick.\nRanil\u2019s manoeuvres are to save his leadership role at any cost.. It is not a\nmove to save the nation, or the party. It is Ranil trying his best to save\nRanil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil is banking mainly on five\npolitical sources in his presidential race. He hopes to win the support (1) of\nhis divided Party (1) the TNA (3) the Muslims (4) the civil society and (5) the\nJVP. His latest tactic is to challenge Sajith to prove that he can win over\nthese groups. In other words, he is telling Sajith:<\/strong> These are my\npeople. How are you going to win them over to your side?\u201d Ranil\u2019s question is a\ndirect threat to undercut Sajith\u2019s image and chances to win the backing of the\npro-UNP minorities. Ranil is telling his Deputy that he has the cards up his\nsleeve to undercut him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, Sajith is doomed mainly\nbecause Ranil is not likely to throw his full weight behind Sajith, even if the\nlatter wins the nomination.  Ranil will front up in public pretending to\nsupport Sajith. But Ranil\u2019s tendency so far has been to undercut Sajith and\nprevent him rising to a position of commanding power that would undermine his\nown leadership. Sajith is a Deputy Leader by name. On par with Sajith is Ravi\nKarunanayake \u2013Ranil\u2019s doppelganger–as an Additional Leader with equal claims\nfor the leadership in the event of something happening to Ranil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, the visceral personal\nstruggle for power within the Party has gone far deep into the body politic of\nthe UNP that it will be almost impossible to stop the internal haemorrhaging in\ntime to present a credible image of unity before the election. Whether both can\nsell a winning image, plastered with band-aids, to the voters is questionable.\nThe bitter division, fought openly in public, will only add to the deepening\ncrisis within the Yahapalanaya regime led by Ranil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both know that a divided UNP will\nkill the chances of either of them winning the election. The other most likely\noption is to present Karu Jayasuriya as the compromise candidate. He is waiting\non the sidelines hoping that a last minute compromise would throw him into the\nring. But internal bleeding has eroded the integrity and credibility needed to\npresent the UNP as a viable force to govern the country. Its stature has\ndropped to almost the same level as it was in 1956 in the Sinhala-Buddhist\nelectorate. It has to lean heavily on the minorities to save its respectability\nand future as a political party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil has fallen almost to the same\nlevel as West-leaning Sir John Kotelawela, one of the despised figures of the\ntime. Ranil\u2019s chances of rising from the stinking Meethotamulla politics of the\nUNP under his stewardship is nil, even with the backing of the five forces\nwhich are no longer formidable as it was in 2015. Besides, the anti- Rajapakse\npendulum of 2015 has swung back with a new momentum to give the Rajapaksas a\nlead in the race to the next presidency. If the dictum that it is not the\noppositions that win but it is the governments that lose is valid then the\nchances of the UNP winning either the presidential or the parliamentary\nelections are zilch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incremental decline and fall of\nRanil\u2019s image has one good silver lining: <\/strong>he will be thrown out of\npolitics for good. History will write him off as morally corrupt pimp of the\nWest who dragged the Grand Old Party, the Parliament and the people to the\nlowest moral level in the post-independent era. He will never rise again. It\nwill be good riddance of bad rubbish that ruined the nation throughout his\nfailed career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The knell of parting day will toll\nfor Ranil on election night. But how many UNP mourners will be there to follow\nhim to his political grave?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala A common snide remark in the days gone by used to say derisively that if there is a traffic jam somewhere there is a cop in the middle of it. It means that an incompetent cop without any sense of direction had caused an unwanted and avoidable problem to the public. […]<\/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-93104","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\/93104","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=93104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}