5th Column

My Dear Maithri,
I didn’t think I would be writing to you again so soon but I feel I must, after hearing what you had to tell us the other day when you tried to explain to the country why you were forced against your better judgment to give nomination to Mahinda maama to contest the upcoming elections.

It was obvious that you were quite upset when people who voted for you began calling you a traitor and accused you of betraying the ideals of ‘Yahapaalanaya’ although I do agree with you that they called you those names only because of the freedom you gave us after you assumed office.

It was good to hear your side of the story and hear you explain why you went along with the Blues for some time. You said that this was because you needed their support to pass the 19th amendment in Parliament. If you didn’t get that done, Mahinda maama would be contesting for President again!

We heard you argue that you did everything you could, to hold the Blue party together because you didn’t want it to break up. That was because firstly, you were a loyal member of the Blues for nearly fifty years and secondly you didn’t want the Greens having a huge majority in the next Parliament.

Obviously you have not been very successful in holding the Blues together because some of them are now contesting with the Greens while others seem to have united around Mahinda maama if only to ensure their own survival. Still others who support you are also contesting with the Blues!

Anyway, it was also good to hear that you had advised the Green Man about what happened at the big bank and how he should call for the resignation of its Governor. He didn’t listen to you and now it has come back to haunt him as probably the biggest campaign issue against the Greens. Serves him right!

Despite all this, I think you made a few mistakes in your first few months in office. You did promise a ‘maithreepaalanaya’, but you tried too much to live up to your name. For instance, when some Blues defied you and joined the campaign to resurrect Mahinda maama, you didn’t crack the whip on them.

You would say that was because you needed their support in Parliament but as weeks went on, it was becoming clear that they were trying to hold you to ransom and not allowing you to take full control of the Blues. You didn’t realise that quickly enough and when you did, it was too little, too late.

Your biggest mistake was letting Susil and Anura hold on to their positions within the Blue party and the alliance. We knew they were loyal servants of Mahinda maama and after all, Anura was appointed to your job by Mahinda maama after you left. How could you trust them so much?

The next mistake is the biggest of them all- offering Mahinda maama nomination from the Blue party. You say that if you didn’t do that, he would have still contested and that would have split the Blues. Now, the Blues are split anyway and Mahinda maama’s chances of making a return are better.

Although it must have been reassuring for all those who voted for you, Maithri, to hear you say that you wouldn’t nominate Mahinda maama as the next Prime Minister, the Blues are behaving as if that is a foregone conclusion, if they win. In fact, they openly said so at Anuradhapura on Friday!

I suppose the big question that most people have in their minds is that if you couldn’t withstand the pressure to offer Mahinda maama nominations, how you could summon up enough courage and refrain from naming him as Prime Minister, especially if he has a majority of MPs supporting him?

We heard you say that you would be ‘neutral’ at the elections, although it is difficult to imagine how you would do that when you have already said that you were against Mahinda maama and even predicted that he would lose. Nevertheless, I am sure some people would be relieved to hear that!

So, by addressing the nation on Tuesday, I think you convinced most people that you were forced to do what you did but sometimes you have to learn something from Mahinda maama too: when you have the power, you must use it; if you don’t, others will try to take that power away from you.

I guess we can do nothing now about the last six months but I hope you have learnt your lessons from them. We all know the upcoming elections are crucial not just for Mahinda maama, the Green Man or for you, but for the entire country because it would decide the fate of the nation for the next few years.

Yours truly,
PunchiPutha
PS- Remember, Maithri, they are already talking about ousting you from the leadership of the Blue party and the alliance and at Anuradhapura they were talking about abolishing the office of the President altogether. I hope you realise that if the Blues do win the elections, an impeachment may not be far away. And don’t forget your own grim warning about being ‘six feet under’, and as you yourself pointed out, the top job will then be only a bullet away from their grasp!