UNP went into the Wanni and brought a halo
The speed with which the PA lost the moral
high ground to the UNP is amazing. But, today, it has become easy for the entire power elite to support the UNP. This has placed them in a jolly comfortable position indeed.

But, this was not always the case. In the Jayewardene era, post 77, the power elite - which included everybody who was a hard nosed capitalist or an eager entrepreneur, and everybody who wanted to keep the power of the owning classes intact - was happy to have the new UNP regime in power. Specially a UNP regime which was dismantling the state controlled economy and installing in its place a liberalized economy in which the private sector was to be the (rather absurdly called) "engine of growth.''

But the elite's dream of a UNP monopoly on power and of uninterrupted one party rule, buttressed by an unstoppable economy - a Singapore in repeat - - was shattered by the tendency of the UNP to constantly reach for the moral low ground. Starting from the attack on Sarachchandra, and applying the doctrine of brute force introduced by JR Jayewardene, the UNP was sliding gradually into the status of "political entity untouchabale''. In short, the UNP was becoming an embarrassment even to the sort of diehard business classes that wanted a rightwing capitalist elite firmly ensconced in power.

The rest is history. The UNP began to symbolize the post independence moral nadir - the party was becoming an embarrassment even to those who supported it often without many moral scruples. The PA came to power in 1994 almost entirely due to the fact that the party captured the moral high ground and pressed home the advantage. This was despite the fact that the economy was performing quite well, at least to the satisfaction of the business elite and their employees.

It seemed that the only thing the PA had to do to be in power after that was to cling on to the moral high ground. This is what the President tried in fact to do for most of the PA's two terms in government. The UNP on the other hand was almost totally blackened and blighted by its notoriously unorthodox hold on power for 17 years, that it appeared the UNP would never make a comeback.

But, when the PA went to war, after a brief dalliance with peace trying to talk to Velupillai Prabhakaran, the UNP sneaked into the moral high ground. First, it appeared to be a mere journey into the Wanni jungles to get acquainted with the other side. But eventually the PA saw it as the worst form of political expediency.

But, whether Ranil Wickremesinghe and his UNP was sincere or not in the bid for negotiations with the LTTE, what happened was that it enabled the UNP to recapture "moral authority''. Not forgetting that this was of course the moral authority largely in the eyes of the power elite. But, this was what mattered. If the power elite saw that the UNP has been redeemed from its pariah status earned by 17 years of political debauchery, then of course, the UNP was ready for power.

Today the UNP is still occupying that moral high turf, and basking in it. It would have been funny had it not concerned matters of such tremendous import. It is funny anyway. Journalists who were with the PA and supported the PA to a man almost, in the ouster of the UNP, now cheer, albeit in solemn tones for the UNP, because it is the party that "represents the moral compulsion towards negotiations''.

The NGOs support the UNP because the UNP is the "only honourable party which is willing to talk to the Tigers in a bid to settle the national issue.'' The business classes support the UNP because it is the "only party that listened to the clamour for a political settlement.'' When all these people see in the UNP the exemplar of political morality, the masses of course will follow, and reward the UNP for the fact that the party is seen to be so eminently doing the right thing. Bala Thampoe, old union war horse who has still not lost any of his caustic ill-humour, said it best when he told a group of unionist seminar goers recently that "if the UNP won on a mandate of peace they deserve it because the other side missed the opportunity.''

It may be another matter that the UNP always fitted in with this role of "being in accommodation with the minorities.'' Writing about political reality of the post 56 decade, K. M. De Silva states "the primary feature of the new balance of forces has been the acceptance of the predominance of the Sinhalese and the Buddhists within the Sri Lankan polity, and as a corollary of this a sharp decline in the status of the ethnic and religious minorities. Neither the UNP nor the Marxist left was entirely happy with this situation, but political prudence required them to refrain from any public repudiation of at least the first part of the arrangement.'' ( "Reaping the Whirlwind'', Penguin books.)

When the PA was attempting to accommodate the LTTE, it looked like a bit of play-acting. How can this party (the SLFP) which brought about the "predominance of Sinhalese and Buddhist within the Sri Lankan polity'' morph into the party that - even with time - brought Prabhakaran into the fold?

In this way, the UNP has come a full circle, and after launching the war against the Tiger first, the UNP has now somehow captured the moral highground among the elite who define the politics of the day by striking a more minority-friendly posture than the opposing PA.

This has of course made it easier for the entire power elite, particularly the land-owning and entrepreneurial classes to support the UNP without having to muster an excuse for it. If war doesn't breakout and cataclysm doesn't follow, it is a happy situation for the economy of course. If those "captains of industry'' can make the economy grow without any political instability, then the UNP would have struck a perfect balance in keeping industry running while not having the masses rising up in revolt.

Doesn't seem very peculiar then that the PA cannot do anything these days to ignite mass support. Nalin de Silva says the SLFP must be made the party of the Sinhalese. Seems like this is what the SLFP wants to do now. But how can this be done, when the minorities decide who forms the government in these curious times, in which even the UNP has acquired a halo?

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