5th Column
A red-letter day and those who hold sway
View(s):
My dear Somey sahodaraya and Anura sahodaraya,
I thought of writing to you after hearing the shocking news that there has been a leadership change in the Red party. I must say I was shocked not because of the leadership change but because of the way it had happened.Just think about it: When we woke up on Sunday all was well with the world and the only news we heard was that your Red party was having its convention. When that day ended, however, we were told that Somey sahodaraya had retired and that Anura sahodaraya had taken his place!
These are times when even Sangakkara doesn’t retire after getting three hundred runs — though it might cost his team the chance of winning a match. Why, Somey sahodaraya, those ‘actresses’ seemed to show more regret at being refused nomination than you did about leaving the leadership!
Come on, sahodarayas, where was the drama and the intrigue? Why was there no mud-slinging between those aspiring for leadership? Why couldn’t you get hold of a television network and use it to assassinate the character of leadership aspirants?
For the past twenty years, the Reds have told us that they believe in democracy. Then, you could have done this the democratic way and had elections to choose a party leader — and of course, have mobs at the ready to stone and destroy the party headquarters if the elections didn’t go according to plan!
Somey sahodaraya, I am really disappointed in you. With all your experience in this game why did you retire without a fuss? You could have packed the politburo with your nominees and ensured that you would remain the leader forever, even though you kept on losing elections!
Tell me — and you know I can keep a secret — did you think of leaving because a drunken MP started abusing you and tugging at your shirt at a meeting of MPs in Parliament? Now, if that happened and you wanted to retire, I can quite understand.
Or is it that the wife of one of your party’s leading members walked out in a huff, blaming you for everything just because she was refused nomination for the provincial council elections? Now, if that happened, you would be embarrassed — and that may have been a good enough reason to retire!
Somey sahodaraya, you could have at least left with a parting shot by appointing a ‘Leadership Council’? Then, if something went wrong, you could always wash your hands of the matter saying it was done by this ‘Leadership Council’. Of course, if something went right, you could always take the credit!
Anura sahodaraya, I hope you realise how fortunate you are. Someone tells me that the Reds change their leaders only about once in twenty years. But I can assure you, becoming a leader of a major political party in this Paradise of ours is by no means an easy task.
Why, if you are in the Blue Party the leadership changes-from one dynasty to another — about once in fifty years. If you are in the Green party, the leadership used to change fairly regularly for some time, but then nothing has happened for the past twenty years — and may not happen for the next twenty.
Anura sahodaraya, you should know how lucky you are because there are persons who cannot become leaders of political parties even though they are the sons of Presidents. Then there are others who are leaders of parties but they cannot contest elections because they have lost their civic rights!
Anura sahodaraya, from what we have seen of you we know that you are a man who takes his work seriously and at least so far, you haven’t done anything scandalous. We hope you can maintain that as you lead the Reds — maybe for the next twenty years or more!
I hope you realise, Anura sahodaraya, that for many people the Reds still conjure up visions of youth being murdered by the roadside and bodies burning on tyre pyres. That is an unfortunate aspect of your history that you have to live with — but you must assure us that such events will not happen again.
Anura sahodaraya, you couldn’t have taken over the party at a better time. I know the Blues are having the time of their life but that is because the Greens are hell bent on self-destruction and the General is still struggling to get his act together. Surely, the time is ripe for the Reds to cash in?
We wish you well, Anura sahodaraya, not because we agree with your socialist policies but because we believe that we should get the Opposition we deserve. In recent times, the Reds have proved that they are more committed and disciplined than the others, so maybe they should be given a chance too.
Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS: Guess who the biggest loser is in all this? That would be poor Wimal. Had he still been with you, it is more than likely that the leadership of the Reds would have passed on from one ‘wansa’ to another ‘wansa’. Of course, he will say that he is a minister but we all know that the entire membership of his ‘Yellow’ party can be crammed into a three-wheeler, don’t we?