{"id":93264,"date":"2019-09-23T20:56:27","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T02:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93264"},"modified":"2019-09-23T13:34:53","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T20:34:53","slug":"end-of-slfp-and-also-unp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/09\/23\/end-of-slfp-and-also-unp\/","title":{"rendered":"End of SLFP and also UNP?"},"content":{"rendered":"

N.A.DE S. AMARATUNGA Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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We live at a time of unprecedented political turmoil and uncertainty. There is no visible government. The officials are probably running the country, and as there is no political direction the economy is gradually and perceptibly declining, making a huge impact on the lives of the poor people as all economic parameters indicate. Prime Minister is doing what he knows best, making more and more promises, and outdoing himself when compared to 2015. President is also doing what he knows best, trying to undermine friend and foe in a bid to survive. There seems to be an excess of acrimony, rivalry, and power hunger.
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Due to these rivalries, acrimony, jealousy and power hunger, two of the major political parties that existed from the 1940\u2019s are showing unmistakable signs of breaking up into factions and disappearing from the face of the earth. The UNP was formed of the leaders who collaborated and learnt from the European master and aped them in dress, manner and culture. They could not reach out to the common man and understand their economic and cultural needs. The SLFP was born to fill this void and look after the interests of the common poor people. “Sinhala Only” policy was meant to be only a rallying call and symbolic of the people’s needs, and not discriminatory towards the minorities. SLFP met with immediate success due to the resonance it struck with the inner feelings of the people, the “civilizational consciousness”. This vital character and identity of the SLFP was destroyed when it formed a union with the UNP, which from its inception was identified with foreign interests and culture, and formed the “yahapalana” government. It is not too late for the SLFP to correct its mistake at this opportune moment, but it seems to be thrashing about due to personal agenda, rivalry, petty jealousy and power hunger. If it misses this opportunity the SLFP would be in political wilderness.
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The UNP also, almost fatally, damaged itself when it joined up with the SLFP in a marriage of convenience. The incompatibility has not only ruined the country in these last four and half years, but almost destroyed the two parties also. The policies of the SLFP have been taken over and preserved for the people by the SLPP. The remnants that remained in the government had made governance almost impossible and now it is in its last throes. Poor governance and economic decline have clearly impacted on the credibility of the UNP leadership, and what it could do at the critical eleventh hour is nothing but make promises. But the damage to the leadership is reflected in the mass defection of the loyalists, and their demand for a different nominee for the presidential election, resulting in a gross rupture of the party. If this crack is not repaired early the party will go to polls in a divided state risking a colossal defeat. But here too the power hunger, personal agenda, petty jealousy, acrimony created by the rebellion and future political stake may not allow room for compromise. If the rebellion succeeds it would be at huge cost and there is no guarantee that undermining tactics, reminiscent of what befell Kobbekaduwa, would not be resorted to by desperate people. Such is human nature infected with power hunger, acrimony and vendetta. If the rebellion within the UNP fails and the breakaway faction joins up with the SLFP, which is waiting to commit ‘hara-kiri”, it will be the demise of the UNP too.
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Sri Lanka is at political crossroads and we may witness catastrophic political upheavals in the near future. But sometimes political catastrophe brings in its wake changes that are better for the people. Our people have relentlessly suffered untold misery due to political blunder, and personal vendetta among the politicians. They deserve a break from all this madness and pettiness, and a modicum of stability in their lives. So, it is good for the people let political parties breakup and disappear.
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N.A.DE S. AMARATUNGA
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N.A.DE S. AMARATUNGA Courtesy The Island We live at a time of unprecedented political turmoil and uncertainty. There is no visible government. The officials are probably running the country, and as there is no political direction the economy is gradually and perceptibly declining, making a huge impact on the lives of the poor people as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-n-a-de-s-amaratunga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93264","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=93264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}