POLITICAL SKETCHBOOK

POLITICAL SKETCHBOOK by Rajpal Abeynayaka

In Diyatalawa, there is talk of canines and vision
Though politicians tend to focus on one or two key issues when they make political speeches, Anura Bandaranaike is one politician who delivers, or delivers himself of a whole corpus of thoughts when he is in front of a microphone. The SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) might however be considering handing Anura Bandaranaike some sort of sanction for saying 'api balu deshapalanaya karranne ne.'' (Roughly translates as we will not do dog politics.) Anura Bandaranike was saying the 'PA would have encircled Temple Trees - except that we do not do this type of thing, as we do not do dog politics.''

Encircle Temple Trees? From a psychical point of view, even a first year student with any elementary sense of spatial logic, would tell Anura Banadranaike that the only thing he has to do to 'encircle' Temple Trees is to stand in front of it. So why get the whole PA behind him to do that task?

But, the following does not qualify as 'dog politics.'': Anura Bandaranaike says that come the next election, ''people will set fire to S.B. Dissanayake's house, sorry, his palace, and S.B. Dissanayake will not be able to escape because he will not be allowed to exit through the Bandaranaike International Airport -- he will have to exit with the help of the Tigers.''

Well, all that can be said about that is, 'twas a long time since President Bandaranaike (Kumaratunga), and S.B. Dissanayake used to get on like a house on fire, but there was such a time indeed. That was the time when Anura Bandaranaike was on the outside spitting into the PA. Now, he is on the inside spitting out but is he in fact on the inside spitting out or on the inside spitting up? Ask any elementary physical science student what happens when one is on the inside spitting up -- especially when one is in possession of a large cherubic face?

Anyway to deal with the entire corpus of Anura Bandaranaike's speech in Diyatalawa to PA grassroots organisers will not be advisable as his speeches are corpulent as they are carping. But he does slide easily as an eel from one topic to another and from setting houses on fire he quickly settles onto matters of political vision. He says " J. R. Jayewardene had a vision.''

Then he says ''Premadasa had a vision.'' Then he says 'the only politician who does not have a vision is Ranil Wickremesinghe.'' Anura Bandaranaike certainly has a vision for the future. No question about that. When Premadasa was the President he said the Premdasa-Wickremesinghe combine is leading the country to ruin. Then he joined Ranil Wickremesinghe a few months after that.

Then, in Ranil Wickremesinghe's UNP he was so far-seeing that he said his sister is taking the country towards the dustbin of history, or at least somewhere in that downward direction. Few moons later he joins her in her party too. He is developing so much vision, come to think of it, soon he might be able to look down from where he is standing and even see his feet?

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