5th Column
Maithri: Lessons from history
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My dear Maithri,
I thought I must write to you because you are the man of the moment. Everybody is talking about you because you have offered yourself as the ‘common’ candidate that the entire country was speculating about for the past few months — and declared that you would take on Mahinda maama.
I must admit, Maithri, despite the speculation and rumours about you that had been circulating for several days, I was shocked and surprised at the announcement on Friday. After all, only a day earlier you were present when the Blues endorsed Mahinda maama as their candidate-and you had agreed!
We knew that the opposition was looking high and low for some time now for someone who would be able to challenge Mahinda maama at the election but if someone had told me that it would be you, I would have said, “bambuwa thamai”!
So, when I heard that the ‘common’ candidate was not the Green Man but ‘Maithri’ my first thought was that it was his wife! The Greens did that once, didn’t they, when Gamini was killed and I am sure there would be some who will argue that the Green Man’s wife would get more votes than he would!
But make no mistake, the Green Man is smarter than we give him credit for. It was he who insisted that the ‘common’ candidate should not be revealed until the election was announced — and there is every chance that Mahinda maama would have cancelled the race if he knew it would be you!
As you said on Friday, I think the Green Man did his duty by the country not only by dropping out of the race but also by obtaining the support of the Green party for you. That will go a long way, if all the Greens remain united and campaign well and truly on your behalf.
So, it came as no surprise when you said you would appoint the Green Man as your Prime Minister. This chap has the annoying habit of becoming Prime Minister when someone else is President and then messing things up both for himself and for his party. I hope he does not repeat this again.
When we watched you declare yourself as the ‘common’ candidate on Friday flanked by Satellite and the Dentist I must admit we were impressed by your performance. You didn’t play to gallery and chant empty slogans — and you did not forget to thank Mahinda maama for winning the war either!
Of course, you are not the first General Secretary of the Blue party to decamp to the other side. SB did it a few years ago but he has now returned to the Blue party where he maintains a low profile. We hope the same fate does not befall you.
Maithri, you promised to abolish the Executive Presidency in one hundred days. We have heard that promise several times from both Satellite and Mahinda maama in the last twenty years, but we hope that you will be different. And, no one asked Satellite what happened to her time frame of six months!
It is ironical that although you were with the Blue party for almost forty years, on Friday you said you would be contesting from the Green party. So, for the first time, both the contestants for the top job will be from the Blue party. Ah, old SWRD would have been a proud man, had he been around!
There are those who say that you became the candidate only because the Green Man allowed you to — and that he did so because he knew that he would lose if he ran the race, so he wanted to survive until he gets a proper chance. After all, that is what happened with the General five years ago.
History though, appears to be repeating itself differently. Fifty years ago, the Green Man’s father set up a cross-over which brought down the Blue government. CP, who represented Polonnaruwa district, and who was upset at not being appointed Prime Minister when SWRD died, led that cross-over!
There are other lessons from history that you should learn from, Maithri. As the General has said, being the ‘common candidate’ is not an easy task. You told us on Friday that you are aware of the risks and I hope you are: you could lose your pension and earn a prison sentence for your efforts!
Regardless of who wins on the eighth of January, we believe that a healthy contest would be good for democracy. As the Dentist said on Friday, it is not a good idea to grant too much power to anyone for too long-and I think that is what most people would want changed. So, we wish you well, Maithri.
Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS: More than thirty years ago, another Maithripala from Rajarata, not from the Polonnaruwa district but from Medawachchiya in the Anuradhapura district, tried to prevent the Blue party from being under the control of one family and fought for its leadership, but he did not succeed even though he had the support of the son of that family. Today, you are engaged in a similar exercise. For your sake, we must hope that history will not repeat itself!