Columns

Regardless of whatever possessed inebriated supporters of the so-called Joint Opposition to climb a lamppost in the capital and hang precariously from that perch while screaming rowdy slogans during the Rajapaksa-led ‘peoples power’ march to Colombo this Wednesday, this exuberance (to put it kindly) did their political puppeteers no favours.

An unhappy spectacle of raw greed
That was just one action, some may protest. Yet, by itself, it was fairly symptomatic of the unbecoming character of this much hyped march, boasted at bringing Colombo to its knees. What it did was not to bring anything to its knees, far less the capital, though most quarters of the city emptied towards afternoon as workers cannily went home to avoid trouble on the streets but to ‘treat’ us to the unhappy spectacle of bedraggled and intoxicated ruffians holding Rajapaksa flags askew and grinning horridly at television cameras as they staggered along.

Saffron hued monks failed to lend any dignity to the event despite the lofty trumpeting of a ‘satyagraha.’ What emerged instead was a muddle of political speeches on the same tired themes with no clear purpose or thrust. Indeed, the march highlighted the disreputable nature of the motley crowd positing themselves to grab political power. Looking at what unfolded, it became easy to understand the apprehension with which minority communities in Sri Lanka view political mobs. Only a twist of the imagination is required to picture these self-same ruffians setting houses on fire and torching human beings.

This is no idle thought. After all, this is exactly what has happened in this country under all Governments, I might add. The Rajapaksas have no singular distinction in this regard. However, there is a difference here and this is an important one. When the Rajapaksas are in command, the extraordinary overlaps the ordinary. The thuggery is open and unabashed, not limited to particularly volatile times. Under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, villages became dens of infamy with rape centres run in Dereniyagala by Rajapaksa-linked local councilors and Southern politicians openly raping female tourists and killing males as was the case in the Khurram Sheikh incident.

Signs of rowdiness already emerging
I deliberately refer to the Southern villages as what prevailed in the North and East under the Rajapaksa Presidency was far worse with victims not receiving any justice whatsoever. And in Colombo, lest we forget, bare bodied men danced in front of the Chief Justice’s house when she was tossed out of office with less ceremony than a common thief is treated by the police.

We can see trends of this riotousness already developing as the Joint Opposition grows emboldened by the failures of the Government. This is evident in local councils supported by its ‘pohottuwa’ (flower bud) party, to wit it must be added that anything less pure and innocent as a flower bud than this party with its leaders implicated in various crimes is hard to conceive. The Maharagama Urban Council is a prime example. Its Chairman captured headlines some months ago due to an official notice requiring citizens and employees to refer to him as ‘Sir.’ This week, media reports were to the effect that its workers had gone on strike alleging that this same worthy had got them to kneel before him and had mercilessly assaulted them, landing all four employees in hospital, one reportedly in serious condition. The offence was the charge that the employees had imbibed liquor while on duty. If so, the response to this surely would have been to initiate disciplinary action?

Regardless, the humor that arises therein is piquant and exquisitely so. So during the very week that the Rajapaksas boasted that they would bring Colombo to its knees (having failed to do so), the only miserable creatures brought to their knees (literally) were the workers of the Maharagama Urban Council, seemingly on the charge of being drunk as leveled by the head of the Council though he has denied that he assaulted them, which denial is to be expected.

Little sincerity in promises held out
That being so, it must also be quipped sardonically that being drunk is certainly not a reprimand that the intoxicated rabble rousers hanging from lampposts on Wednesday in their support of the former President will likely appreciate. But quips aside, this is not the only instance of rowdiness that has arisen since the ‘pohottuwa’ party captured power in local councils earlier this year, though it will take more space than what this column permits to enumerate all of them.

This is the precise turbulence that underlined Wednesday’s march with little sincerity in the promises held out by speakers to heal the nation’s ills. Though Joint Opposition spokesmen cited the numbers game as demonstrating the political strength that it could command at any given moment, the flavor of this ‘protest’ was more indicative of a gambit to dodge the court cases now proceeding with some alacrity against its key leaders rather than a genuine calling of the ‘yahapalanaya’ Government (very rightly) to account for its failings.

Even when assessed as fair mindedly as possible, this was not a march that awakened an inkling of reassurance that the former President, his family members, political allies and supporters have learnt basic lessons as to why the electorate rejected them three years ago. One element of that rejection was rapacity and avarice for power which caused fundamental damage to the country’s already weak political system and governance institutions. But the second element and equally vital was the shining hope reposed by Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim religious heads, disparate communities, artistes and professionals in the unlikely candidature of Maithripala Sirisena, as backed by the United National Party to change Sri Lanka for the better.

Lawlessness is not an alternative to flawed ‘yahapalanaya’
These were two inseparable reasons as why that change took place. If it was pure misrule by Rajapaksas alone, that would not have prompted the ejection of the Rajapaksas from power. Since that hopeful moment in January 2015, failures of coalition leaders, President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the tasks of nation building have dimmed that light. As Sri Lanka stares to the future, no party and no potential Presidential candidate promises to quite capture that sense of exhilaration which pervaded the air then.

However, with all that palpable disappointment or even righteous anger that we may feel, the alternative to ‘yahapalanaya’ muddling of governance cannot be that lawless exhibition that we saw in Colombo on Wednesday. The underlying message with its implicitly ominous warning was clear as the ‘pohottuwa’ marchers wound their unsteadily boisterous way through the capital. In truth, this is the mayhem that we may well expect in the event of a Rajapaksa-return.
That much is very clear.