{"id":94883,"date":"2019-11-06T15:34:14","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T22:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=94883"},"modified":"2019-11-06T15:34:14","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T22:34:14","slug":"ranil-put-down-at-sajiths-manifesto-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/11\/06\/ranil-put-down-at-sajiths-manifesto-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranil put down at Sajith\u2019s manifesto launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Part I<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The launching of the UNP manifesto in Kandy under the\nauspices of the UNP\u2019s Kandyan Chief, Lakshman Kiriella, exposed what the UNP\nhas been trying to hide from the public. First, it exposed the entrenched\ninternal split between Sajith Premadasa and Ranil Wickremesinghe. All the signs\nof the growing rift were displayed for those with eyes to see. It was pathetic\nto see the Leader of the Party, Ranil Wickremesinghe, sitting in a chair in the\nfront row and fiddling with the pages of a pamphlet (possibly the manifesto)\nwith nothing to do or say, while Victor Ivan, the founder Editor of the Ravaya<\/em><\/strong>,\nwho celebrated the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa in his\nnewspaper, was invited to deliver the key-note speech. Promoting Victor to the\ncentre stage of the UNP is a bizarre event by any standards particularly when\nthe Leader of the Party is kept below as a non-entity. . Judging from the\ndivision displayed at the launch of the manifesto it is bound to grow like\nthe  Dudley-JR split. This divisive trend will not only undermine the\nstability of the Party in time to come but also threaten the unity and the\nprogress of the nation with their in-fighting. As they say in Africa, when\nelephants fight it is the ants that get killed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normally on the day of the launch of the manifesto of\nany party \u2013 the most critical statement that defines the policies and the\nprogrammes of a party on the eve of an election \u2013 the leader takes centre\nstage. Political optics and necessities dictate that on this day the leader of\nthe party should at least share the centre stage with the Presidential candidate.\nBut Ranil was allotted a seat in the front row and left to warm it till the end\nlike any other occupant of seats in the audience with nothing to do or say. The\nmarginalisation of Ranil at this most important event reveals that the split\nhas gone very far deep into the body politic of the UNP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Missing from the scene was also Mrs. Maithree Wickremesinghe, wife of the Leader of the UNP. Usually, she stands by the side of Ranil on all important state and party functions. So why was she missing on this occasion? Isn\u2019t she indicating that she feels the pain of her husband? Isn\u2019t she saying that if the Party has kicked her husband downstairs why should she lend her support with her presence? As stated earlier, optics matter in public affairs. While her husband was ruefully calculating his next move at the launch she, being a lecturer in English at Kelaniya University, must have been ruminating at home about the oft-repeated lines in Shakespeare\u2019s King Lear <\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talk of court news; and we\u2019ll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out; (King Lear, Act V, Sc.III, 16). <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is Ranil out of the inner court of Sajith? Or is he\non the way out totally, sooner or later? With the rise of Sajith in the UNP it\nis clear that, as of now, he has only fallen out with Ranil. In the process, it\nis also clear that he has fallen into the grip of Mangala Samaraweera who has\nemerged as the  main minder of the  UNP presidential campaign.\nBut  this new alliance is no less divisive and dangerous than the earlier\none with Ranil. Mangala is one of the most virulent pro-US, pro-Tamil Diaspora\nagent in the UNP. The consequences of this political alliance will be\nirreversibly detrimental to the nation. (More of this later). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil, in the meantime, has some breathing space till,\nperhaps, May 2020 when he will face the people to receive the final sentence\nfrom an angry nation. But the question hanging in the air, like the sword of\nDamocles, is quite plain:<\/strong> if the Leader is demoted to the front row with\nnothing to say or do on one of the most significant dates, who\u2019s leading the\nParty? Which way is the UNP swinging now? If Mangala is leading  the\nanti-Sangha, anti-national wing of the UNP is there any meaning in the thick pirith\nnoola<\/em><\/strong> displayed by Sajith in his right hand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated earlier, it is absolutely bizarre for the\nleader of a party not to utter one word on the day the manifesto is launched.\nAccording to news reports, he was silenced and made to sit still in the front\nrow twiddling his fingers because he had offended and damaged the image of\nSajith  Premadasa\u2019s  by saying the wrong thing at a press conference\nheld at Temple Tress\u201d, his official residence. Instead of saying that Sajith\nwho is the UNP candidate should be elected for the good of the nation, or\nbecause he is the  right  candidate, Ranil put his foot in the mouth\nwhen he declared that if the people want him as Prime Minister they should\nelect Sajith Premadasa as President. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is no doubt a patronising statement which is\noffensive. This is unadulterated Ranil big noting himself. Obviously, Ranil was\ngoing all out to belittle Sajith. This is predictable because he has not yet\ngot over the pain of the Party rejecting him as the Presidential candidate and\nthis is his way of telling the Party that if Sajith wins (???) it will be\nbecause the people had voted not for Sajith but for him. In his delusional way\nhe fancies that the people are waiting to elect him as the Prime minister in\n2020. As usual he is refusing to recognise the blunt logic facing him:<\/strong>\nwill the man who was rejected by the Party be accepted by the people? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil is also indicating that he is going along with\nSajith in the presidential elections because that would pave the way for his\nvictory in the parliamentary election. In that case, isn\u2019t that the very reason\nwhy people should not vote for Sajith? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, Ranil is sharpening his knives to cut Sajith\ndown to size. He is putting Sajith in his place even before either of them get\ninto their seats of power. The election is yet to confirm their ambitions. But\nRanil is jumping in first to make it known that he still calls the shots.\nSajith\u2019s reaction was predictable. The Party picked Sajith because Ranil is the\nbest known loser. If he was in the test team Arjuna Ranatunga would have thrown\nhim out on his ears years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his characteristic style, Ranil was attempting to\ninflate his image as the indispensable man in the UNP. Naturally, this\nstatement had backfired and the social media was all agog with this remark.\nResult: <\/strong>Sajith and his minders decided to punish Ranil, the Leader of\nthe Party, by marginalising him at the launch. Ranil still refuses to accept\nthat he has been digging his own grave.  Rejected by the people for the\numpteenth time at the polls, rejected by his party once again to be the\nPresidential candidate, he has now been thrown out of the centre stage to a\nseat on the floor, with nothing to do, or nothing to say. Is there another\nplace lower than that for a leader of the Party? How many more indignities is\nhe going to suffer before he faces the day of reckoning? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second point exposed at the launch was even worse. The\nUNP minders of Sajith rubbed salt into the wounds of Ranil when they invited\nVictor Ivan, the man who went all out to crush the UNP, to deliver the key note\naddress of the day. Can anyone imagine Ranasinghe Premadasa sitting as a silent\nspectator on a seat on the floor with nothing to do or say on the day of\nlaunching the party\u2019s manifesto? The choice of Victor Ivan as a key-note\nspeaker in itself was bizarre. He was not only in the top of ranks of fascist\nJVP that set out to destroy parliamentary democracy and all its institutions\nthrough brutal violence but also the bomb-maker of  the fascist JVP that\nkilled thousands of innocent civilians..  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, Sajith knows that Victor joined Lalith\nAthulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake to denigrate and destroy his father,\nPresident Premadasa, Victor launched his Ravaya<\/em><\/strong> with the main\nobjective of destabilising the presidency of Premadasa. He launched his tabloid\nwith the blessings of the Western and Indian embassies who joined hands to\noverthrow Premadasa. The irony of ironies staged at the launch of the manifesto\nis stunning :<\/strong> Sajith Premadasa had picked the editor who celebrated the\ndeath of his father in the Ravaya<\/em><\/strong> to deliver the key note address\nat the launch of his manifesto. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Sajith got what he deserved. Victor began by\nsaying that he has not come to talk about Sajith\u2019s manifesto. With that\nintroduction he launched into an agenda of his own. Victor took the opportunity\nmarket his koka-tath-thailaya <\/em><\/strong>(cure-all). He told the true\nbelievers of the UNP that Sajith\u2019s dream\u201d in the manifesto is good but it will\nnot solve the crisis of the nation. According to his sermon there is only one\nsolution:<\/strong> a new constitution which is also the main demand of TNA, NGOs,\nand the Ranil-Mangala Samaraweera combo of the UNP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demand for a new constitution comes mainly from\nthese groups. Their main objective is to reconstruct the constitution to fulfil\nthe demands of a political cabal of mono-ethnic separatists seeking to impose\ntheir rule of the Tamils, by the Tamils, for the Tamils only, (all of which is\ndisguised as federalism), over two-thirds of the coastline and its hinterland.\nNot satisfied with the new constitution-makers are also bent on guaranteeing that\nthe rest of the one-third should also be governed on principles of pluralistic\ndiversity where the majority must be forced to abandon their traditional\nheritage and govern according to the minority demands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the political equation in the proposed\nnew constitution runs like this: 100% untrammelled minoritarian rights will\nrule the North and the East but the majority will not be entitled to 100% of\ntheir rights to rule the South. The majority will have to divide their 100%\nequally with the minority which will leave them roughly 50% of their rights,\nwith some luck. And pundits like Victor hope to build reconciliation and peace\non this formula of enshrining only minority rights at the expense of the\nmajority. The constitution-makers will ensure  that the minorities will\nhave a share of power not only to dominate what they claim to be their ethnic\nenclave but also the rest of the nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the majority must keep their doors\nopen to entertain all the demands of the minority \u2013 even when they take\nan  extremist and violent turn \u2013 but the minority must be given the power\nto shut the world out (with cadjan curtains) for them to  rule it their\nway. Can throwing  the weight of the constitution in the direction of one\nminority solve the problems of  all the  other communities? Can \nthat be a viable constitution? Or is it a con of fake theoreticians whose\nconstitutions  are  designed  to explode in their own hands like\nthe bombs they made?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victor Ivan began to change  constitutions when\nhe joined Rohana Wijeweera, the Sinhala  Pol Pot. When that failed he\njumped into Chandrika Bandaranaike\u2019s camp. When that failed again he jumped\ninto Mahinda Rajapakse\u2019s camp. From there he jumped into the lap of Ranil\nWickremesinghe \u2013 a dangerous place. Now he has jumped brazenly into the laps of\nMangala-Sajith duo. It is predictable, that he will lead them to a futile end,\nas before. If he thinks that his new constitution will solve the problems that\nhas plagued the nation during the last 71 years then he must think again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS: The full video  of the\nproceedings of the launch was on Facebook. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala Part I The launching of the UNP manifesto in Kandy under the auspices of the UNP\u2019s Kandyan Chief, Lakshman Kiriella, exposed what the UNP has been trying to hide from the public. First, it exposed the entrenched internal split between Sajith Premadasa and Ranil Wickremesinghe. All the signs of the growing […]<\/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-94883","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\/94883","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=94883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}