It is good that
a leader of a country meets with the leaders
of foreign countries and exchange pleasantries, if he has done his duty
by his own people, and the country is in
good health politically ,economically, and
socially and there is security and peace provided for the people.
But
President Maithripala Sirisena has in
reality gone with a begging ball to Japan having politically caused
destruction to a country which was peaceful and secure and the people enjoyed a
reasonable living standard.
That was
thanks to a government that had been led
by a leader with a vision-Mahinda Rajapakse
despite being unreasonably accused of corruption and that
he had left the country in debt. Even if it was so the corruption of the
previous regime did not stop the people live
in peace and in security, enjoying the fruits of a fast developing country.
But
unfortunately when Maithripala Sirisena made his family visit to meet Emperor
Akihito and Empress Michiko, Sri Lanka is
poor , indebted on the verge of
bankruptcy. The people are without any hope of development of the country, they
in poverty reduced to living on one meal a day, and the country is virtually burning
in fires of Communal dissension caused by Maithripala Sirisena’s own government’s
mismanagement. It reminds one of an old adage of Nero playing the violin when Rome was burning.
It is
alright visiting Emperor Hirohito, if it
could be of some use to Sri
Lanka . But from his past experience of shaking
the un-gloved hand of Queen Elizabeth he should know by now that it had not make any beneficial changes between
the governments of UK and Sri Lanka .
It is far
better to win the hearts of the people of Sri Lanka than those of Emperor Hirhito,
Prime Minister Modi or Queen Elizabeth.
In fact President Maithripala Sirisena along with his Prime Minister is the most
unpopular President in Sri
Lanka . The people of Sri Lanka did not pay heed to all the poison gas he spitted out against President
Mahinda Rajapakse, without even pronouncing the word
“ pohottuva”, from all the political
platforms of the SLFP Meetings during the Local Government election campaign.
The people
listened to him but paid no attention to his speeches reeked with poison, because
the peoples of Sri Lanka know that though
President Sirisena, UNP and its ally the
JVP do not stop making allegation of corruption against Mahinda
Rajapakse, his family and all who were connected to him , it was only President
Mahinda Rajapakse who was able to give the much needed peace and security to
the people of Sri Lanka.
That was
very much more than Sirisena Ranil duo, who gave nothing other than dragging Sri Lanka deeper
into the darkest period of its history.
Still the
Media and and some journalists do not hesitate to condemn President Mahinda
Rajapakse without giving him due credit for what he made of Sri Lanka , until the taking over of its government by the
disastrous Yahapalanaya. There may have of course been corruption under that government too, but that government
cannot be equalled to any previous governments or the present Ranil-Sirisena government, as despite allegations of Corruption President Mahinda Rajapakse was able to
provide to the people a development of the country as they had never seen under
any of the previous Government. On the contrary the Ranil-Sirisena Yahapalanya
is the worst and most corrupt government
Sri Lanka ever had since Independence .
News First-
News line of the 15 March , 2018 turned out to be the worst fiasco of a TV
talk-show, which may perhaps be appreciated only by the Colombian anti
Rajapakse ilk. It was not a debate but more a monologue where the invitee was made the unfortunate audience on to whom the
TV Programme presenter vomited out his pent
up anti Rajapakse feelings. The unfortunate “audience” of the journalist
diatribe was the gentle Dinesh Gunawardhana.
The
interviewer began by asking what his thoughts were coming over the Rajagiriya
flyover, and whether there was a parking lot under it. He addressed him Mr.
Dinesh. He could have called him simply Dinesh which would have been more
polite, or if he wanted to address him
as an elder politician as Mr. Gunawardhana. But such niceties were left out,
perhaps because he knew Mr. Dinesh was soon to get dirtied with
the dish wash he had collected to shower on him.
After the
first few warming up questions, the News Line journalist asked his Mr.Dinesh, why
he keeps supporting the clay footed Mahinda Rajapakse, and asked whether he
does not at moments, when he is alone, or when going to sleep think that
Mahinda Rajapakse is a racist. Thereafter it was a case of his putting the
question to Mr. Gunawardhan , and before he answers barges in with his vituperations against all the ill of Mahinda Rajapakse and his
Government.
When
Mr.Gunawardhana began by saying that Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse was the President who
eliminated terrorism and brought peace to the country, the exasperated
journalist vehemently retorted that he is very much indebted to Rajapakse for
ending the war of terror and bringing peace but he said that he and his family
cannot keep on referring to that all the time to cover up his wrong doings. He
said that now Sri Lanka is independent and
absolutely free and safe. One was not safe those days where the government had
created a fear psychosis. One hesitated even
to have a cup of coffee with a friend in a restaurant.
The
journalists are free, we are independent and can live our lives to the fullest
he said. We can writeand say any thing against the Government and Editorials could be written against the
Government without fear of being taken away in white vans or killed. The half
an hour of the program passed with Mr.
Dinesh having nothing much to say being reprimanded by the journalist. That was the freedom he had gained under
Yahapalanaya and how he treated with
scant respect an MP of the opposition- which the journalist referred to as “you
and your band”.
Mahinda
Rajapakse did not come into power in a period where there was peace and security
as it is now. He had to work with all types of people with different characters
and a wrong step taken with a raging terrorism in the north, would
have resulted in misery to the country and the people. Though these journalists
can now speak of “ hard times” then under Mahinda Rajapakse , they cannot
imagine what it was to have taken the
reins of the government under the then prevailing time.
Bu the
value of Mahinda Rajapakse as a great political leader, his great contribution
to Sri Lanka
and its people can only be gauged and understood by the Sinhala Buddhists. That
is not being racist, but stating the stark fact.
The Tamil
and Muslim Communities have nothing to loose under Yahapalanaya, it is the
Sinhala Buddhists who stand to loose everything including their 2600 years old
Buddhist Culture, the rightful place of their language, their religious
philosophy to which generations have for
2600 years dedicated themselves. And now they have to adopt them-selves to a
new constitution, new laws, and a new political culture.
They are
also proposing that a statue of Mandela be erected in the North. That is when the Tamils in the North have
started breaking Buddhist statues and demand that neither Buddhist statues be
built in Nagadipa, nor Cremation Rights of dead Venerated Monks be carried out
in Jaffna .
We have
nothing in common with South Afrika , which had
an apartheid Regime. In Sri
Lanka the Sinhala, Tamil and Sinhala have
lived as equals sharing in everything, socially, and economically, until the
Tamil politicians began interpreting communal relations differently.