5th Column

My dear Sajith, Anura, Champika and the Field Marshall,

I thought of writing to you this week because the entire country is slowly but surely coming to a standstill. No one seems to have any idea about what will happen next. We have seen insurgencies, terrorism, tsunamis, terror attacks and pandemics but we haven’t seen anything like this!

Gota maama who took over promising us visions of splendour and prosperity, which is nowhere to be seen. His government is in tatters. Some of his chief lieutenants such as Udaya and Wimal have left him and are playing a double game. The Green Man is nominally PM, but is really little more than a peon.

None of this would have mattered if we had fuel, food, gas and medicine. Instead, we have shortages, tokens, never ending queues, fairytales about ships that are due to arrive but never do. We are told to grin and bear all this while watching cricket where the most heard slogan is ‘Gota go home’.

A few people started a protest. This grew into the ‘aragalaya’ or ‘struggle’ at Galle Face. The crowds maybe less at Galle Face now, but there is an ‘aragalaya’ in every home – a struggle not only to make ends meet but also to get gas, fuel or other essential items, go to work and return home, every day.

Gota maama tried to buy time by asking the Green Man to become PM. Some thought the Green Man would be able to work miracles. He hasn’t. Instead, he’s telling us every week about how bad the next week would be. All the Green Man has done is to prevent ‘Gota going home’ a few weeks ago.

Sajith, many people blame you for not accepting the PM’s job and forming your own government a few weeks ago. You say you did so on principle because Gota maama refused to give you a timeframe to abolish the Presidency. If that was indeed the real reason and you stand by that, I won’t blame you.

Even though the Green Man is PM now, it is still Gota maama who calls the shots, appointing who he wants as new ministers. Meanwhile in Parliament, Basil’s boys get their own way, even though Basil himself has left the chamber. So, Sajith, if you were PM now, you could be in the same situation.

Still, Sajith – and Anura, Champika and the Field Marshall too – there is a growing sense among the people that, while the country is facing a crisis which it has never seen before, all of you, as the main figures in the opposition, have done very little about it except talk and talk and talk about it.

Sajith, we have heard a lot of talk from you. When you speak in English, we feel that we should run and find a dictionary. We do need less talk and more action from you as the leader of our opposition. You were a boy then, but maybe someone can tell you about what JR did in that role in the mid ‘70s.

Anura, the corruption you exposed was an eye opener but we have heard a lot of talk from you too. Haven’t the rathu sahodarayas relied on slogans for too long now? Isn’t it high time for you to come up with a plan of action rather than shouting from the rooftops without providing a solution?

Champika, we know you are an ambitious man. There is nothing wrong with that. You have worked with Mahinda maama as your leader, the Green Man as your leader and Sajith as your leader – and have left them all. Shouldn’t you think of saving the country before thinking of your leadership prospects?

Field Marshall, you and Arjuna are probably the only persons who have contested with both the rathu sahodarayas and the Green camp. Now is the time to put those links to good use. You saved the country from Prabhakaran. Saving the country from the ‘R’ dynasty might be a harder battle to win.

Right now, we hear all of you holding separate media briefing, protests, rallies and saying that Gota maama’s days at the top are numbered but nothing has happened. That is because all of you are hopelessly divided and you are trying to outdo each other without fighting the common enemy.

What we also see is that all of you – Sajith, Anura, Champika and the Field Marshall – are playing your own little political games and thinking ‘what’s in it for me’? That is what prevents you from working together and joining forces against Gota maama and his cronies. So, they continue to thrive.

All of you must realise that, regardless of all your slogans and rhetoric, Gota maama won’t resign. You don’t have the numbers in Parliament to oust him. There are no elections due for another two years. So, you should get together and work out a strategy to change what is happening now.

Although the saying goes ‘march separately, strike together’, in this instance you must march together and strike together. After you do that, you can go your separate ways and let the people decide who will lead the nation. What we see now is that you are marching separately and not striking at all!

We cannot go on like this for another two years. If you don’t work together and come up with a plan to end the current state of affairs, the shortages will continue and civil life as we know it will come to a halt. What happens after even food becomes scarce is unthinkable: riots, a civil war and a bloodbath.

They say every country gets the government it deserves. Sadly, we have also got an opposition we deserve. The people are cursing the government now. Remember, Sajith, Anura, Champika and the Field Marshall, if you don’t do your duty now, it won’t be long before they begin cursing you too.

Yours truly,

PS: Hirunika is fighting a lone battle. I don’t agree with everything she does, and yelling at the gates of people won’t bring down a regime. Yet, she isn’t afraid to stand up for what she feels is right. We admire her courage and determination – and wish that you had at least a fraction of that!