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Point of view
A mother's anguish
By Ilica Malkanthi Karunaratne
I have been actively involved in election campaigns for about 40 years, but never have I seen such violence, thuggery, malpractices and open flouting of the law, as at the local government elections, on March 30, in Nawalapitiya, where my daughter was a candidate. If this is politics today, she is far better out of it.

It all began at around 7 a.m. when a politician, having followed one of our vehicles, stopped in front of our office, and as one of our supporters stepped out, summoned him, and got his men to assault him. Just as he saw a lawyer, who was inside the office, stepping out on hearing the noise, he hurriedly got into his official vehicle and sped away from the scene.

Thereafter, he went from polling booth to polling booth in the Urban Council area with his gang, assaulting our supporters and snatching their polling cards. Still another group of women were assaulted, threatened and their polling cards snatched by his thugs, in front of a polling booth, which is next door to the Police Station, while two constables looked on in indifferent silence. Several others, among them women and elderly men on their way to vote were assaulted by thugs . In still another incident, one of our supporters who had wandered out on the road, was assaulted from behind; on his head with an iron rod by a group of thugs, and came running to our office, bleeding profusely and screaming in intense pain. We sent him to hospital, and his life is in grave danger even at this moment.

I accompanied my son and daughter to a polling booth, and stayed in the jeep when my son went inside to vote with my daughter. A thug, stationed outside, tried to stop my son from going inside, although he is a registered voter in Nawalapitiya. He then pulled my daughter by her saree and tried to assault her. This is something I saw myself from the jeep. Then, when they came out, he tried to stop our jeep by jumping in front of it with a group of thugs. Further on, another thug tried to hit my daughter, who was in the front seat of the jeep, and shouted filth at her from the road. I went in the jeep with my daughter, as she visited the polling booths, and as we approached one, the politician’s vehicle blocked the road so that we were unable to proceed further. We had to run back, go into a neighbouring house and return later. There was a threat to assault and kidnap two of our candidates, and my daughter had to go with Mr. Lakshman Kiriella, MP, to bring them safely back from the polling booths.

Just before the polls closed, a woman came into our office, complaining that her ballot had already been cast when she went to vote, although her identity card was with her. This shows that the rule of proving one’s identity with the identity card was certainly not adhered to in Nawalapitiya. Those were the only incidents that I witnessed. There were reports of many others, which I did not see myself. Isn't it a democratic and human right to support the party and candidate of your choice?

What is our country coming to that this kind of behaviour is allowed to go on unabated, and those guilty are rewarded with high office? People who behave in this way should be removed from office, or else one can only surmise that those who condone it are as guilty. I do appreciate President Mahinda Rajapaksa's gesture in telephoning my daughter when he heard of the violence, but I will appreciate it even more if some disciplinary action is taken against the perpetrators. What kind of example is this for the young and innocent, who will grow up accepting that one has to behave like this to get ahead?

Behaviour patterns of violence and thuggery, particularly against women, are a trademark of bullies and those with tremendous chips on their shoulders. In retrospect, my mind goes back to elections as they were, in my late husband’s time. His opponent was the late R. S. Pelpola, who was the then Speaker. We never faced situations like this, and everything was most civilised. I recall Mr. D. M. Jayaratne coming up and wishing my husband at the Dalada Maligawa and Mr. Lakshman Kiriella, when he contested the Kandy district from the SLFP, while my husband contested from the UNP, stopping his car as he passed our office to wish me during the campaign. This is how it should be, and this is how it is in countries like Britain, where I have had the privilege to be during many elections.

Behaviour like this makes one shudder, and as a mother I don't think I can take anymore of it. Women's organisations keep saying that more women should be involved in decision making in the central government. One can scarcely wonder in these circumstances why more women don't enter politics. They are subjected to violence and character assassination of the lowest level. Women’s organisations must take up cases like my daughter's, and fight for action against the culprits.

Male chauvinism is at its worst when a woman is better educated, efficient, dedicated, tough, disciplined and a hard worker. My daughter has both academic and professional qualifications, and has made many sacrifices to live in Nawalapitiya for the past three years. She did not enter politics to earn money, but to serve the people by improving facilities in the UC area. She comes from a family, which has a formidable record in service to the country in philanthropy, education, research and agriculture. She does not have to take this kind of abuse, manhandling and violence from anyone, and can live a comfortable life devoid of politics.

I am proud though, that like her father, no one can point a finger at her or challenge her integrity. “It matters not who won or lost, but how you played the game.”

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