My Dear Rukman,
I thought I must write to you after I heard you demanding a special convention in the Green Party, apparently to oust the Green Leader. Needless to say, I was saddened more than I was surprised which is why I thought I should write this little note.
Remember, Rukman, there was a time when the Greens were known as the Uncle Nephew Party or the 'Unge Nedeyange Pakshaya'. And that seemed to be true too, because we first heard about you when you were selected to contest the Dedigama by-election after your uncle Dudley's death in 1973.
That election must have been a baptism of fire for you because the Blues asked your namesake, Dharmasiri to contest you and all the then blue government's resources were pitted against you. But in the end, you won by a convincing margin of more than 3500 votes.
That was a turning point for the Greens who were in the opposition then, but soon you were out of favour with JR, the new party leader who probably saw in your surname a potential threat to him because politics in Sri Lanka at that time seemed to revolve around the two 'nayake' families.
So, when the elections in ’77 came and the story doing the rounds was that the Blues were so unpopular that even a 'polpiththa' fielded by the UNP would win, you found yourself without a nomination for Dedigama.
The Old Fox had outwitted you in a move that was to see you out of Parliament for the next 17 years. So, rather than stay with the Greens and fight with him, you went away and formed the 'Dudley Peramuna' first and then your own party which came to be known as the ELJP.
History tells us that the ELJP never really won any elections and we only heard of it when, as its leader, you helped the Old Fox's successor negotiate with the rathu sahodarayas who were then staging a bloody insurrection in the south of the country.
When that insurrection was finally crushed, you quietly returned to the Green Party and was rewarded with a return to Parliament from the Polonnaruwa district, although we didn't quite understand what links you had in that region.
You had to wait several more years to earn a ministerial post and I have a lingering suspicion that you may have been disappointed with the portfolio the Green Leader offered you -- that of Environment and Natural Resources! I am sure you didn't see it as a just reward for your 'services' to the party.
Troubles began for the Green Man even while the green party was governing the country, although Satellite was still in the saddle and making life difficult for the Greens.
Since then, it has been battle after battle with the Green Man and to his credit; he has survived every attempt from within the Green Party to politically assassinate him. And I don't think I am wrong in saying that you have supported some of those attempts, Rukman.
But if you look back at those efforts carefully, you would realise that most of those who tried to oust the Green Man are now happily with the Blues: Sarath, Millinda, Johnston and Laskhman to name just a few of them.
You accuse the Green Man of being ineffective and not having what it takes to lead the Greens to victory against Mahinda maama — and I know there are many who hold that view — but don't you think that periodic attempts to oust the Green Man are also causing enormous damage to the Greens?
And whenever there is an unsuccessful leadership bid and Mahinda maama happily lures away a few more Green stalwarts, those who support those defectors and their electorates also align themselves with the Blues. That way, many electorates which were traditionally green, have now turned blue!
Why, even the gentle Karu, whom everyone wants to install as the Green Leader once fell for the trap, didn't he? And although he eventually returned to the Greens, the problem is that the 17 others that he took with him are still with Mahinda maama and are in fact his leading standard bearers!
I totally agree with you, Rukman, when you say that winning the Colombo Municipal Council is a far cry from winning the next countrywide elections but the fact is that the Green Man's challengers couldn't even manage that in the local councils that they campaigned in!
Therefore, Rukman, wouldn't it be better if everyone in the Green Party put their heads together and worked out the best strategy to defeat the Blues instead of sharpening their knives to stab each other in the back? And, yes, that applies to the Green Man too who must learn to forgive and forget…
You accuse the Green Man of helping Mahinda maama's cause, Rukman, but don't you and the other so-called 'dissidents' realise that only one person has benefited from each rebellion you launched against the Green Man over the past few years — and that person is none other than Mahinda maama!
Think about it, Rukman. We say so because we believe that just as much we needed a strong government to defeat terrorism, we also believe that there should be a strong opposition to keep that government in check and offer the people a real choice at the next elections instead of being also-rans!
Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS: Isn't it ironical that in the Green Party Dudley's nephew, JR's nephew and his successor's son are all involved in this controversy over the party leadership, a generation later? Nothing really has changed in the 'Unge Nedeyange Pakshaya', has it?
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