5th Column
Gross encounters of a political kind
View(s):
My dear Tissa,
I thought I must write to you when I heard that you had crossed over from the Green camp to the Blue camp after being with the Greens for more than thirty years and serving as their secretary for the past ten years. I must admit I was shocked by what you did, Tissa.
I suppose there is no real reason to be surprised about all this when Maithri did almost the same. If at all, his service to the Blues was far greater than what you did for the Greens. Even then, this news about you came as a disappointment, Tissa.
Maybe that was because we were so used to seeing you by the Green Man’s side and at press briefings for the last ten years, telling us how bad the Blue government was and asking us to vote for the Greens. So, when you decide to change your tune and sing for your supper, it is hard to believe.
Why, it was only a few days ago that you cried at Sirikotha, recounting how you worked so hard to bring the Green Man and young Sajith together. That day, you proudly declared you would always be with the Greens and that you could never be bought for money. I guess all that has changed now.
Needless to say, there are questions that are being asked about you. Some want to know whether you are still wearing a cloth (‘reddak endagenada inney?’). Others wish to know whether you are using your mouth to speak! Being a politician though, you wouldn’t be bothered by such issues, would you?
Then there are those who point to the fact that, in the ten years you were general secretary of the Greens, they did not win a single election. They also compare you to your predecessor, who they say was much more dynamic and was in fact, instrumental in forming a Green government in 2001.
But, despite all the criticism I think you must be a happy man now, Tissa, because you have already been rewarded with a ministry. They tell me you are now the man in charge of the nation’s health, the same subject that was handled by Maithri before he decided to leave the Blues.
Tissa, dealing with dengue mosquitoes, striking nurses and doctors demanding better pay is much more difficult than leading the Greens to defeat after defeat. Your predecessors Maithri, Nimal and Fowzie only became unpopular on the job, though Nimal’s waistline increased, signifying prosperity!
You must also be careful about what could happen to you in the future because Mahinda maama is quite clever at giving the ‘karapincha’ treatment to people: he uses them and then discards them when they are not needed. Just take a look at what happened to Dayasiri and you will realise what I mean.
Tissa, have you ever heard that story about a different Mahinda and Tissa, relating to when Buddhism was brought to Sri Lanka? At that time, King Tissa was apparently asked some questions by Arahat Mahinda to see how intelligent he was. I was wondering whether something similar happened to you!
If it did, Mahinda maama would have asked, ‘can you see this tree, Tissa?’ and you have said ‘yes’. He would ask what tree it was and you would have said, ‘it is the family tree’. He would ask whether there are other family trees and you would have said ‘yes, but they are all branches of this tree’.
Mahinda maama would then ask whether there are any other trees other than the family tree and the branches of that tree and you would have said ‘yes, there are but none of them can grow because the branches of the family tree have spread so far and wide’. If you said that, you would have passed the test!
I am not sure whether that is what happened but the moral of the old story is that after Tissa had this encounter, he was unable to hunt the deer that he was chasing after. The story may be different this time around, Tissa, but the outcome maybe the same!
Anyway, I don’t think the general public is impressed with all these crossovers from one side to another. Just as much as an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, I don’t think a general secretary for a general secretary will do any of us much good.
Tissa, we wish you the best of luck because, whatever happens on the eighth of January, you will need a lot of luck to survive in the Blue camp. And who knows, if the going gets tough, you may even ask the Green Man whether you could return to his camp. After all, he took Karu back, didn’t he?
Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS: If you are grateful to anyone this week, it must be to that chap, Udaya. His is the only crossover that is more baffling than yours because even he himself doesn’t know whether he is coming or going. At first he left with his colleagues but now he has come back and no one quite knows why. Maybe it has got something to do with someone who supported his recent election campaign!