{"id":97986,"date":"2020-01-19T19:04:56","date_gmt":"2020-01-20T02:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=97986"},"modified":"2020-01-19T19:04:56","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T02:04:56","slug":"after-30-electoral-defeats-ranil-thinks-he-is-still-a-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/19\/after-30-electoral-defeats-ranil-thinks-he-is-still-a-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"After 30 electoral defeats Ranil thinks he is still a leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s<\/strong>s refusal\n<\/strong>to quit<\/strong>, when the rising waves of the UNP are pushing him\nout, confirms his total inability to grasp the grinding power of <\/strong>the <\/strong>ground realities that had<\/strong> knocked him out 30 times in the power struggle with his opponents in\nthe electoral field \u2013 a fate that has <\/strong>haunted his entire political career. He has yet to learn the lesson\ntaught by King Canute : you can\u2019t dictate to unstoppable waves with royal (no\npun intended!) commands. He is fighting with his back to wall to stall the UNP\nyoung Turks rising against him with a vengeance. Ranil\u2019s defence, according to\nthe newspaper reports, is typical of his arguments which expose his febrile\nintellect and congenital inability to be an effective leader. His arguments and\nhis tactics had never worked to save him, or his party, or the nation. (I\u2019ll\ncome to this later).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the moment he is arguing,\naccording to newspapers, that he had consulted key figures, including prelates\n(possibly Malwatte Mahanayake) who had told him not to quit. This is a childish\nargument of a baby in a crib crying for some sustenance for survival and not\nthat of a mature leader. Can anyone of those henchmen who back him make him win\nelections? Or give him the power he needs to be a leader?  Power has been\nslipping out of him with each election he had lost. The power within the Party\nhas demonstrably  shifted to the young leader, Sajith Premadasa. The\nnumbers are with him. And Ranil is left with only a handful of creepy-crawly\ninvertebrates who had endorsed him. How far can he go with them? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politics depends on hard analysis\nhowever repugnant it may be to the panjandrums holding power. And the grim\ntruth is that Ranil is unwanted by the party, by his fellow Parliamentarians\nand, most of all by the people. The time has come for him to go. He must bow\ndown now to the will of the people who had rejected him 30 times.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a unique record in the\nelectoral politics of the democratic world. Leaving aside all the other\narguments, he should know that in the hallowed traditions of Westminster\nparliamentary system he should have resigned each time he was rejected by the\npeople. To hang on to the seat of the leader after 30 defeats is an abominable travesty\nof all accepted and known norms and traditions of parliamentary democracy. He\nhas made a mockery of democracy. No political leader in the mainstream had\nsubverted the democratic traditions as disgustingly as Ranil Wickremesinghe. He\nhas been a political pervert who has had no qualms about abusing power to\nsurvive in politics. Now I understand why Socrates, Plato and Aristotle\ndismissed democracy as an undesirable form of government. They knew that the\nlikes of Ranil would take over democracies and twist it to serve their mean\nends. As Alcibiades, one of the Athenians, said democracy is acknowledged\nfolly.\u201d  (p.99 \u2013 Athenian Democracy<\/em>, A. H. M. Jones, Professor\nAncient History, Cambridge).<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The highlight of Ranil\u2019s\nParliamentary career reached its climax when he was seen flapping his arms like\na chook without a head on the floor of the House and shouting: Kavuda Hora!\nKavuda Hora!\u201d to cover up his role in the bond scandal. In between he was\negging his stooges to follow his example! It is the most ridiculous show I\u2019ve\nseen on the floor of the House \u2013 and I\u2019ve seen Parliamentary performance as the\nlobby correspondent for The Observer<\/em> from the days when the old\nParliament stood as a monument of democracy with intellectual giants, from both\nsides of the House, dominating each sitting.  As I said earlier, it is the\ntransparent  cheap tactics of Ranil that makes him the biggest joker in\nthe pack. He lacks substance. He has cunning but where has it taken him, his\nparty and the nation? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, he doesn\u2019t deserve to be\na leader because he has shown no leadership qualities in any field to pull the\nnation out of the major crises into which it had fallen when he was leading the\nUNP,  one of the great political parties in the post-Independent era.\nConsider his role in the critical crises he had handled as the leader: 1.\nending the North \u2013 South war and restoration of peace; 2. maintaining and\nprotecting the sacred institutions of democracy: the legislature, executive and\njudiciary; 3. economy, 4, security  and 5. combating corruption. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sixth is the fate of the UNP\nunder his stewardship. The  self-destructive in-fighting speaks for\nitself. Never has the UNP fallen into such disrepute and degeneracy\ntraumatising not only the Party but the nation as well. This apart, he should\nbe judged mainly on his role in the five main issues listed above.  Which\none did he solve? Any leader who had solved any one of these issues that \nplagued the nation — the longest war, erosion of moral values, loss of\nsecurity, corrosive corruption etc.,– would deserve the eternal gratitude of\nhistory. But is there anything remarkable or memorable in his role in any one\nof these crises? What everyone knows is that he has worsened the situation each\ntime he stepped into each crisis. So how will history judge him? Will history\ncategorise him as a male Queen Anula surrounded by Tamil gigolos? Will his\nred-lipped Secretary\u2019s letter be the final epitaph on his gravestone? Will\nhistory hang him with the bond noose tightened round his neck? Will generations\nto come spit on the memory of his traitorous move to let our heroic soldiers be\ntried by foreign judges for  saving the nation  and  democracy\nfrom the tyranny of the fascist Tamil Tigers and restoring the peace that he\ncould not restore with his fake Cease Fire Agreement in 2002?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No leader in the post-independent\nera had misread, misjudged and misdirected the nation as Ranil. That is why he\ncould not tackle any one of the major issue listed above. He pretended to be\nthe solution. But on each issue he became the problem. He never knew how to\nhandle a problem head-on and work out a solution to the last detail. He always\ntook refuge under his numerous committees. He never grasped the dynamics of the\npolitical culture of the people. Ideologically he was most comfortable with the\nWest and their agents in NGOs who ran his agenda. Neither he nor his catchers\u201d\nin the foreign-funded NGOs ever produced a viable solution to any one of the\nnational crises. He failed because he followed the NGO agenda abandoning the\nmainstream culture.  Which one of their confidence \u2013 building theories\never helped to end the war? Which one of the political, military and\nterritorial concessions made by Ranil helped the nation to regain peace? The\nfake theories and futile peace deal with Norway led Ranil and NGOs nowhere. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without any highfalutin theories\nMahinda Rajapakse showed results by doing what had to be done with his brother\nGotabaya Rajapakse. A leader is known by his victories and not by his defeats.\nRanil has never shown any leadership qualities. Now he is a tired old man,\nexhausted septuagenarian, with nothing new to offer except further defeats. Is\nthis what the Party needs? With his demoralising record of successive defeats\nhe would not survive one day if he was a leader in a Western democracy. \nHe knows it. So why does he want to hang on to the  chair in Siri Kotha\nfrom which he cannot deliver results? The acid test on which he can be retained\nas the leader depends on what new strategies he has to offer to win back the\nSinhala-Buddhist base he lost in the last election. How can a leader who is\nprominent  Dayakaya of the Gangaramaya Viharaya \u2013 mark you, he also comes\nfrom a leading Buddhist family \u2013 lose his Sinhala-Buddhist base? It is the\nrefusal of the Sinhala-Buddhists to recognise him as their trustworthy leader\nthat has damned him forever and no one is to be blamed  except his warped\npolitics that made him believe that his future is in the West and  NGOs. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil Wickremesinghe is now a\nscared man clutching at straws. He is facing a future without pomp, glory and\npower. Like the way he did not know how to handle power he is now befuddled not\nknowing how to live without power. Throughout his adult life he had not earned\nhis crust with any hard labour. He did a brief stint in Senator Tiruchelvam\u2019s\nchamber and that is a tale not worth telling. The rest of his time he had been\na free-loader living off the public purse. He has been living the highlife\nholding public office, junketing abroad, hobnobbing with the bigwigs like\nGeorge Soros who had virtually ignored him, or paying pooja to Buddhist\nprelates while stabbing Buddhism in the back with his NGO \u201dcatchers\u201d. His best\npolitical buddy was Mangala Samaraweera who now takes refuge only in the Buddha\nand Dhamma and not the Sangha. He is surrounded by a gang of mediocrities who\nhad contributed their best to run the most despised  kakistocracy in the\nhistory of the nation. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His known record shows that he has\nnot produced anything worthwhile to make him look like a leader who can be\ntrusted to make the nation great.  Take, for instance his 19th<\/sup>\nAmendment \u2013 his great political initiative that was supposed to be the\nko-ka-tath thigh-layer\u201d (cure all). None of the so-called independent\ninstitutions set up under it lived up to the promised expectations. A good\nexample is the Police Commission. His hand-picked expert, Prof. Siri Hettige,\nbolted from his job as Chairman, on some silly pretext within a few months.\nRanil\u2019s other handpicked head of the Police, IGP, Pujitha Jayasundera, is in\nremand jail. Instead of being independent the IGP was caught on camera saying\nYes, Sir. I will not arrest him, Sir\u201d to one of his political masters. Within\nhundred days of Ranil assuming office he imported Ali Baba from Singapore to\nrob the Central Bank. That was the beginning. The end was filled with dramatic\nthrills. Full of fireworks. All the evidence hidden in Ranil\u2019s corrupt and\ndegenerate regime was exposed in Ranjan Ramanyake\u2019s tapes. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the bond ropes fail to hang\nRanil then surely the Ranjan tapes doing the rounds in social media will\ncertainly be sufficient to tighten round his neck and choke him. Whatever\ncredibility there was in Ranil\u2019s regime has been eroded with a few recorded\ntelephones calls. It is the explosive revelations of the hitherto unsuspected\noperations in Ranil\u2019s regime that have come to light. Every bit of it makes\nRanil look like a the most inept, corrupt and disreputable leader ever produced\nin the history of the nation. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His chief partner in the crimes\nagainst the three pillars of the state \u2013 the legislature, the executive and the\njudiciary \u2013 has been Karu Jayasuriya, the Speaker. Together they reduced the\nParliament to a brothel. Which Parliament in recorded history had appointed a\nleader with only 16 MPs in a House of 225 MPs as the leader of the opposition?\nHe was imitting his uncle JR\u2019 who appointed  Appapillai Amirthalingam to\nspite and deprive Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike her legitimate place. Jointly with\nthe consent of Karu he manipulated Parliament to avoid the necessary scrutiny\nof the biggest daylight robbery of the Central Bank. Jointly, with the consent\nof the Speaker, he introduced subjects that needed two-thirds majority\ninto  bills that  could pass with a simple majority. As the veteran\nParliamentarian from the old House, D. E. W. Gunasekera said in a TV interview\nRanil never led a debate or wound up a debate on major issues like the budget.\nNor  did he not command the respect of the House like Mrs. Sirimavo\nBandaranaike and Dudley Senanayake who had only turn round and stare at the\nback benchers to  quieten them down. On the contrary, he led mob rule on\nthe floor like burning the CBK- Tiruchevlam peace deal inside the House. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After presiding over the biggest\nbank robbery of the nation, after using Parliament as a corrupt institution to\nlegalise his shady deals, after agreeing to hand over our soldiers to be\ncondemned by foreign judges, after the collapse of the 19th<\/sup>\nAmendment, after instituting the illegal FICD as a Star chamber to persecute\nhis political opponents, after joining  the NGOs to run their agenda\nagainst  the will of the people, after undercutting his own deputy in the\nPresidential election, after failing to give any hope to the nation during his\nstewardship, after letting himself down with his pathetic performance to hang\non to a leadership slipping away from his hands, and now after the Ranjan tapes\nexposing how his regime perverted the key institutions of the state, including\nthe judiciary, is there any purpose in retaining him as their useless leader?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every move Ranil makes indicate\nthat he is desperate to hang on to power. He is bent on hanging on to power and\nnot to give any constructive or promising leadership. Well, he has had power in\nhis hands for over two decades. What good has it done to anyone, including him?\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranil is trapped in his\nself-centred, dog-in-the-manger brand of politics. He knows he can\u2019t win. Nor\ndoes he want any anyone else to win, if he can\u2019t win. UNP at this stage is\nfaced with a critical issue: Is the UNP ready to go for surgery to cure the\ncancer eating its heart out from within? Ranil is a political patient who can\u2019t\nbe cured. Obviously, the answer is to get rid of him. If it doesn\u2019t happen\ntoday it will have to happen tomorrow. That is inevitable.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has been the bane of the Party.\nAnd also of the nation. Moving him out will be like moving out an evil planet\ncasting its malefic spell on earth. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future depends on the UNPers\nfast-forwarding their clocks.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019ss refusal to quit, when the rising waves of the UNP are pushing him out, confirms his total inability to grasp the grinding power of the ground realities that had knocked him out 30 times in the power struggle with his opponents in the electoral field \u2013 a fate that […]<\/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-97986","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\/97986","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=97986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}