From the Blue Corner

10th October 1999

They will smile with him, talk to him and vote for PA

By Paakshikaya

My unseen friend, Viruddha Paakshikaya writing in these pages last week is brimming with confidence about the UNP's chances at the forthcoming elections. Reading his column, one finds that there is only a single argument that supports this theory: that the present government is a coalition and that its partners will defect to the UNP at the next election!

Viruddha Paakshikaya appears to place a lot of faith on one man to make this hope a reality and that man is M. H. M. Ashraff. He is confident that given the present differences of opinion Mr. Ashraff has with some members of the cabinet, there will be a definite split in the Alliance.

Now, I'm not sure whether to call such thinking the height of absurdity or the height of optimism, my friend. Viruddha Paakshikaya, you do not appear to know the cardinal rule of politics as it is practiced in this country: there are no permanent friends or enemies- only permanent interests and I say this with all due respect to Minister Ashraff, and not in any derogatory sense.

Even his enemies will concede, Viruddha Paakshikaya, that Mr. Ashraff is a clever politician, if ever there was one. But apart from being a representative of Muslims in the East, Mr. Ashraff has played another important role: he has prevented the Muslim youth of that area from gravitating towards the LTTE.

In so doing, whether we like it or not, Mr. Ashraff has built a power base in the East and that is something no UNP leader -or SLFP leader for that matter- can claim credit for. In the process he has also emerged as a national figure.

I'm saying all this, Viruddha Paakshikaya, not because I like Mr. Ashraff very much- in fact, I do not subscribe to his brand of politics because he uses the communal factor to get votes- but because these are the harsh political realities of today.

And we in the Peoples' Alliance are alive to these concerns, unlike you, Viruddha Paakshikaya. Of course I will not hide the fact that Minister Richard Pathirana, a man with a conscience doesn't like some of the policies proposed by Mr. Ashraff and has said so openly. I will let you in on a little secret and tell you a little more: several other ministers too share Mr. Pathirana's concerns and have reservations about Mr. Ashraff's actions.

But make no mistake, Viruddha Paakshikaya, all these people are mature politicians who realise that whatever differences there may be, they need to be sorted out within the principles of the Peoples' Alliance and that will be done.

And I daresay that this little dispute wouldn't have gone so far had President Chandrika Kumaratunga been in the country in the past week. But the President was away on official work and our so called "free" media blew the issue out of proportion and made us believe that the government was in imminent danger of collapse because Mr. Ashraff was to withdraw his support to the PA. And my naïve friend, Viruddha Paakshikaya and many others in his UNP were already celebrating and forming a shadow cabinet!

Remember, my friend what those in the UNP said in August 1994. You said that the then newly formed PA government would last only a few months at most because we had only a one vote majority in Parliament. That was five years ago.

But what have you done since then, Viruddha Paakshikaya? Have you been able to exploit that wafer-thin majority to bring about the downfall of this government? Of course not. Then, is that a reflection of the competence of the political skills of President Kumaratunga or the political impotence of your leader Ranil Wickremesinghe? I believe it is a combination of both!

Viruddha Paakshikaya also makes a hue and cry about the various issues raised by Batty Weerakoon of the LSSP, Indika Gunawardena of the CP, the EPDP , the PLOTE and the DUNF. Why, Viruddha Paakshikaya, that is only natural and to be expected. These are minor partners in the PA and they all sense that polls are at hand and that the major partner, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party needs their support before the elections.

They feel this is the best time to state their demands and win them. As long as such a process occurs within a democratic framework I see nothing wrong in that and in fact that is how it should be! And here you are, in your own utopia, believing that these demands will lead to the UNP winning the next elections! Of those you have mentioned, I can confidently predict that it is only the PLOTE and the EPDP which will even consider power sharing with the UNP.

Yes, the LSSP and the CP will make their dissent known while in the PA but may I predict that they will never ever consider forming a government with the UNP.

Why, you even say that Comrade Vasu is not happy with the PA. That too may be true. But would you expect him to vote against the PA just to install a UNP government? Surely, we all know the answer to that, don't we, Viruddha Paakshikaya?

So, may I make a prediction, my friend? I say that after President Kumaratunga returns to the country she will have free and frank discussions with Minister Ashraff and all others concerned and that compromises will be reached and that there will be no change of the Muslim Congress's support to the PA government.

That will emerge within the next few days and the PA will be even more strengthened to fight the next election of which I would take the liberty of making yet another prediction: the Presidential election will be held first and President Kumaratunga will win handsomely over Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Thereafter, the lady will revamp her government, bring in some new faces and retire some of the old hands and then go for the general election. As it happened in 1994 the mandate received in the first election will be enhanced at the next election and the PA will have a more than one vote majority in the next Parliament. Tell me frankly, Viruddha Paakshikaya, does this sound very unrealistic to you or do you feel it is likely?

Of course in the meantime Ranil Wickremesinghe is entitled to engage in his verbal gymnastics and little peccadilloes like boarding the Ruhunu Kumari from Galle. The unfortunate fact for the UNP is that after that trip, Ranil Wickremesinghe thinks it is best thing that happened in the history of the railways since the steam engine was invented!

Yes, my friend, the people will not mind having Ranil Wickremesinghe in their railway compartment and talking to him for a while for he is after all an amiable gentleman.

But they are also intelligent to spot this for what it is- a publicity stunt aimed at portraying Ranil as a "man of the people" which we all know he is not. So, they will smile with him, talk to him- and then vote for the PA at the next election! After all, one train ride cannot erase his upbringing, past record and public image just like that!

I must conclude then with this tailpiece: I asked one of your UNP stalwarts why there was such a fuss about Ranil undertaking this train trip and pat came the reply: "that's the first time he has been on a train!" Need I say any more, Viruddha Paakshikaya?