5th Column

My dear Mahinda maama,

Although I last wrote to you only a month ago, I thought I must write to you again, not only to wish you for your seventy-third birthday but also to find out what exactly your plans are, after you were given a premature birthday present by Aiyo Sirisena, your friend turned foe, who turned friend again.

I hope you won’t misunderstand, Mahinda maama. Most Sri Lankans — even those who vote for the   Greens and the Reds — respected you as the person who rid the country of terrorism and the Tigers, a task which even political giants like JR and Preme could not achieve despite their best efforts.

You had the courage to stand up to the West and India, telling them that you will wage war, no matter what they said. You believed the Tigers could be defeated and annihilated when the rest of the world told you otherwise. So, for ridding this country of terrorism, we will always be grateful to you.

The people did repay you for your efforts, electing you into office again with a massive mandate eight years ago, ignoring the fact that the chap running against you was the General who led the war effort, another courageous man who risked life and limb and once nearly died in a Tiger bomb blast.

After your victory, you had a golden opportunity to make history. You could have settled differences between our communities because if you supported a plan to do that, the majority would have   endorsed it wholeheartedly. However, you chose not to do so. You won the war, but lost the peace.

That is when the rot set in. Those around you made money using your popularity as an excuse. You yourself began to believe you could do no wrong. That is why you punished the General and sacked a Chief Justice who defied you. You also changed the Constitution so you could run for office again.

When Aiyo Sirisena announced that he was running against you for the top job, I am sure you must have laughed. How could that chap take on you with all your charisma, power, money and influence and win? The people of this country thought otherwise. To everyone’s surprise, they sent you home.

Still, what a disaster Aiyo Sirisena is. He was elected to restore democratic processes and the rule of law and to clip the President’s powers. He is doing just the opposite. JR once said that all that he couldn’t do was to turn a man into a woman. Given half a chance, Aiyo Sirisena will try even that!

If you waited patiently until the election, you would have won the race easily because people have now realised that Aiyo Sirisena was not the angel he promised to be. Also, the Greens are incompetent and insensitive and some of them are corrupt too. So, your actions are puzzling, Mahinda maama.

Some say that you took this hasty step because the wheels of justice, which were slow to turn for many years had suddenly begun turning at lightning speed. Others say you had struck a deal with Aiyo Sirisena, so he could run for the top job again. In return, he will make those wheels turn slowly again.

You must realise that no one for a moment believes Aiyo Sirisena is doing all this by himself. Appointing you, suspending Parliament and then trying to dissolve it — and disrupting it when that failed must have had your blessings. This shows that you haven’t changed your ways.

Since then, Parliament has been at its worst: Thilanga yelling at his former boss, Arundika sitting on the Speaker’s seat, Johnny throwing chairs, Dilum ripping microphones, Prasanna playing with chilli powder and slapping policemen, and Wimal literally throwing the book at the opposition.

It is also pathetic to see the ageing Boralugoda cub barking like the lapdog he has now become. It was even sadder to see Sudarshani, one of the supposedly ‘educated’ people in Parliament, a doctor to boot, dragging away the Speaker’s seat and showing why the medical profession has no dignity left.

Yes, we have also seen Palitha brandishing a knife and Dilip raising his sarong but even you would concede that the conduct of your chaps has been, by far, disgraceful. While all this was happening, all you could do was to watch with a smile and then walk away — while your goons played merry hell.

Seeing all this and witnessing how state newspaper officers and television stations were stormed by your supporters soon after you took over as ‘PM’, seeing how Captain Cool was treated and hearing of various appointments that are being made in a hurry we have to ask- do we really want you back?

Mahinda maama, you have made a foolish decision again. Three years ago, you took Basil’s and Sumaney’s advice and called for early elections. This time, you trusted SB to deliver the numbers and became the PM who no wants to recognise. After what you have done for us, you do not deserve that.

Having come this far with Aiyo Sirisena, it is difficult to undo what you have done. On Friday, it was proved again — this time, with a proper vote — that you don’t have a majority in the House. So, wouldn’t it be better to go now, before you are forced out? Think about it, will you, Mahinda maama?

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS – We have been told you can’t run again for the top job. Still, at the rate Aiyo Sirisena has violated the Constitution, that is not a major issue. You could always say that the 19th Amendment applies only after it was enacted — so you can do two more terms. Or, was that always the plan, Mahinda maama?