5th Column

My dear Janaka Bandara,
I thought I should write to you when I heard that you had suddenly been remanded for an offence that you had allegedly committed more than fifteen years ago. Honestly, I was both shocked and surprised to hear about this because although you had been in the news recently, it was for different reasons.

We knew you initially as the son of TB, of ‘kavi kola’ fame. It was SWRD’s ‘revolution’ in 1956 that brought your father in to politics. He remained a devout follower of SWRD and the Blue party but it was the Queen Bee who made him a minister at a time when there were only a handful of ministers.

For the next two decades we didn’t hear from your family in national politics until you made your appearance in Parliament at the same time Satellite arrived on the scene to end some seventeen years of Green rule. Since then, you have risen through the ranks in Parliament to become a minister.

It was Satellite who gave you your first ministerial job, so we thought you would be loyal to the ‘Bee’ family, like your father. But, like many people in the Blue party, you knew how to switch loyalties to the ‘R’ family because you were back in the Cabinet when Mahinda maama got the top job later.

You next came to our attention when, almost at the same time that Maithri left the Blue party, you cried in Parliament, criticising Mahinda maama and saying that the Blue party needed to make changes. At that time, everyone thought that you would be the next person to leave the Blue party.

That was when we began to get confused. Instead of joining Maithri you said that you will stay with the Blues because if you left them your late father would rise from the dead and slap you! It was not a convincing explanation, Janaka, but it seemed that you had decided to stay with Mahinda maama.

The rest, as they say, is history. Maithri won and Mahinda maama lost. Despite you staying loyal to Mahinda maama, Maithri still appointed you as a minister. I think that is where you made the next miscalculation because you seemed keen to promote Mahinda maama as the next Prime Minister.

Why, there was the time when, at a meeting in Matale, you literally fell at Mahinda maama’s feet and worshipped him. Although you didn’t say so at that time, many thought that you were seeking forgiveness for criticising him earlier. Needless to say, Maithri wouldn’t have been too happy!

Then, there was Maithri’s famous ‘address to the nation’ before the elections where he told everyone who cared to listen that he was opposed to Mahinda maama receiving nominations and that he would never be appointed Prime Minister. You were the first to criticise those comments too, Janaka.

Not content with that, a few weeks before the election, you sent your resignation from the Cabinet to Maithri — and sent it in the form of a verse where you again said you wanted Mahinda maama as Prime Minister. I don’t how much of a fan of poetry Maithri is, but I don’t think he was very impressed.

If you have indeed done something wrong, it doesn’t matter when you are punished but still, the timing of your arrest is puzzling. Why we are confused about your arrest, Janaka, is we are not sure why the Police have woken up from a fifteen year slumber to suddenly apprehend you now.

Honestly, Janaka, I do not know whether to be happy or sad about your arrest. If this is the wonderful ‘yahapaalanaya’ that we were promised where the Police conduct their duties without fear or favour and are able to arrest former cabinet ministers without batting an eyelid, that is all well and good.

But if this has happened because your loyalties remain firmly with Mahinda maama, then we need to be very worried. That is because it means that the ‘yahapaalanaya’ that we were promised has disappeared before we could say ‘aiyo Sirisena’ and that we are reverting to our previous bad habits.

You should be thankful that you were at least allowed to remain in hospital while under arrest. People like Sarath, when they were arrested, were denied even that privilege. Anyway, Janaka, this will give you time to reflect on your words and deeds and we can only hope that justice will prevail in the end.

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS: All this just got me thinking about something that Mahinda maama said not so long ago. Remember, he told us that he had ‘files’ on everyone but he would not use them? Well, it looks like he forgot to take them with him when he left and now someone else is making good use of them!