Sweet tunes of jayaMangala might be too noisy for others

By Rypvanwinkle

My Dear Green Man,

I thought I must write to you when I saw you at the 'janarala' on the same stage with Mangala. Honestly, I was not sure whether I should be happy or sad about that, but I thought I should be relieved because you are at least in Sri Lanka now, instead of taking off to some far off land to ward of the 'senasuru apala'.

But what are all these rumours I hear, Green Man, about the Greens, especially after you agreed to tie the knot (politically of course!) with dear Mangala? First we heard that you had agreed to change the long treasured 'aliya lakuna'. Then, we heard that you had even offered Mangala the deputy premiership!

Now, I am no expert on election symbols, Green Man, but I still feel that in the far away villages in the remotest corners of the island, the 'aliya' means something to most people. It is a symbol of what the Greens have stood for over the years and has earned the respect of the masses through generations. By ditching that for what is literally a two piece ensemble, you may be losing a lot, Green Man. I am sure if Uncle Dicky was alive, he would have advised you, 'ehema koranna epa'!

Even more strange is the news that you have offered Mangala the deputy premiership, Green Man. You must surely take the award for building castles in the air! Here you are, the leader of the opposition for the last thirteen years – except for two years in between – and you are going around doling out premierships to people!

And pardon me if I am wrong, Green Man, but as far as I am aware there is no 'deputy premiership' in our country. That is unless, you being the cunning political animal that you are, offered Mangala a carrot which you could later say cannot be given…

But then, the very next day, what do I see in the newspapers? There is Seeni Bola, grinning from ear to ear, with Mahinda maama at the 'mandiraya'. If he is trying to send you a message, I don't blame the man.

Why, he with a half a dozen others from the Blues came over to your camp and what did he get? A couple of years at Welikada. Then Mangala arrives with just his Sripathi sidekick, manages to change your symbol and gets away with the promise of a deputy premiership! Seeni Bola is not a happy man, I can tell you…

I guess you must be having to deal with all this these days but you must be also busy defending yourself against allegations that firstly you insulted the Armed Forces by calling Thoppigala a jungle and then that you insulted the Maha Sangha by saying the Hela Urumaya monks were selling their vehicle permits.

As far as I know, Thoppigala is a jungle and selling vehicle permits is anyway wrong but I don't think anyone quite has your knack of saying the correct thing in the wrong way and ending up with egg all over your face. Remember, those statements about chewing gum and bracelets, Parakramabahu and Pasdun Rata? I think you should take someone with you always to speak after you and say, "actually, what he really meant was…..". Otherwise, with enemies like you, Mahinda maama won't need any friends!

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS - On second thoughts, maybe you should dump the 'aliya' symbol. But don't just throw it away, though. Give it to Mahinda maama and get his 'hand' symbol from him. After all, wouldn't that be more appropriate because green people are now calling the shots among the Blues and blue people are slowly trying to take control of the Greens!