5th Column

My dear Sarath,
I am writing to you because no one seems to be able to keep you out of the news for long: somehow, you find a way of making headlines and stirring a new controversy, just when we think we have heard the last word from you!

We heard you saying recently that ‘yahapaalanaya’ has outlived its usefulness and that the way it has been carried out right from the very beginning when the Prime Minister was appointed, was not quite correct. I must admit, Sarath, that I am quite confused about all this, though not at all surprised.

If I remember, Sarath, it was only a few months ago that you were telling anyone who was willing to listen to you that we should all vote for ‘yahapaalanaya’ and a change at the top because Mahinda maama was should not be allowed to carry on forever by running for a third term of office.

Why, Sarath, you even went to the extent of asking us for forgiveness for allowing Mahinda maama to run for office in 2005. You said you made a mistake by clearing him of all charges in that famous ‘Helping Hambantota’ case and that you felt responsible for the mess that Mahinda maama created.

Now though, you have suddenly changed your story and I presume you want us to get rid of ‘yahapaalanaya’ too. I am confused about why you have suddenly had a change of heart so soon, Sarath, but I am not surprised because over the years, you have consistently been inconsistent!

Don’t we all remember how Satellite handpicked you from the Attorney General’s Department and appointed you to head the Big Bench over and above many others who had served long and hard on the Big Bench? You didn’t cry foul then, did you, Sarath?

Whatever Satellite’s faults — and there are many of them — she stood by you. When the Greens tried to impeach you on various charges, she first prorogued Parliament and then dissolved it to prevent that. But then, you never had a reputation for being grateful, did you?

When the opportunity came for you to decide on when Satellite’s second term of office ended, you decided to take one year away from that period, allowing your good friend Mahinda maama to run for early elections, thereby ensuring that he won. And, that was despite Helping Hambantota too!

Although you and Mahinda maama got along very well at first, we saw that you had different opinions as you approached your retirement. That was the time when you were delivering hard hitting judgments against senior public officials, some of whom were Mahinda maama’s loyal servants.

Correct me if I am wrong, Sarath, but I believe that by the time you retired, there was very little love lost between the two of you and Mahinda maama would have been relieved to see you go. A lady was appointed to head the Big Bench not long afterwards, but, as we all know now, that is a story in itself!

Something else that strikes me, Sarath, is that whenever we discuss the problems in our country, we seem to link it to our Constitution and then blame it all on old JR whose brainchild it was. Now, if there is any other individual who should be held responsible, I think that is you, Sarath.

That is because, when Green opposition MPs crossed-over and joined Satellite’s government for the first time and the Greens went to court against them, you ruled that those crossovers were legal, even though they had been elected on the Green party’s list. We all know what happened next, don’t we?

When it was Mahinda maama’s turn to run the country, he took that tactic to the extreme, ‘bribing’ Green MPs with ministerial portfolios left, right and centre and making up the numbers for an artificial two-thirds majority which he then used to amend the Constitution as he pleased.

That led to the 18th Amendment which allowed him to run for President umpteen number of times — and that is the mess that the ‘yahapaalanaya’ had to unravel with a lot of difficulty. Now, dare I say that, had you ruled crossovers were illegal in that first instance, none of this would have happened!

Sarath, you must excuse us when you suddenly appear on the news and tell us your latest views — and expect us to change our beliefs accordingly. We know you are a great student of Buddhist philosophy. Is that why you constantly keep changing your mind — because nothing is permanent?

If you look around you, you will find a lot of people who should be happy in their retirement still trying to cling to positions of influence though everyone wants to get rid of them. The worst example, of course, is Mahinda maama. All I can hope for you is that you don’t fall in to that category, Sarath.

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS: A few months ago, who would have thought that the ‘other’ Sarath would have a happier ending to his career than you? Look at him today, he is a Field Marshall and he even has a road named after him. Ah, I think you took the wrong road by not supporting ‘yahapaalanaya’!