It is evident that the hopes people developed by defeatingMahindaRajapksa are getting faded. The main reason is the inability of the Victorians team leaders to maintain the much needed unity among themselvesat least till the promised reforms are introduced and fulfilled.
It is noteworthy that (The rival party) the winner defeated the opposition partly not fully.Even thoughMahaindaRajapaksawas voted out, he possessed the majority power of the legislature.Even the influential power that the defeated leader had over the authorities was massive and enormous. Instead of going for a Parliamentary election within the shortest possible time period and then defeating the partly defeated leader fully, the incumbent government made the matters worse for itself by trying to reform the constitution that allowed the former leader to have such massive powers. Such efforts not only defaced the proposed constitutional reforms but also paved way and space for the defeated leader to regain political strength. The most unfortunate situation that emerged through the said chaos is that the ‘victorious’ leaders failed to maintain essential unity among themselves even before much promised objectives of the common mass were achieved(most of those objectives are yet to be achieved).
It is true that these leaders had same kind of adhoc agreement and a sudden determination sans analytical perception, to defeat Mahinda, but once the target was achieved, party politics within the Victorians party began to raise its ugly head; not an unnatural thing though.We still have ‘small leaders’ who think ‘small’- not ‘big leaders who think’ big what is more important for them is the party; or else the nationality, religion caste or creed.Although they talk highly about the country and the people or the citizenry, they are least concerned about them.
Another important factor that affected the incumbent government negatively is Maithripala was a faithful SLFP member who held the post of Honorary Secretary of the party for quite a long time with a lot of dedication and sacrifices for the party, when he emerged as the common candidate at the last presidential election, it was only a small fraction of the party who offered to support him in his new found political campaign. Hiscandidature affected the party but very marginally. It was ethnically right to believe that he was a party rival when he contested the election from the party- union headed by the UNP,leaving his own party SLFP.
In this particular sphere and scenario, it is unethical for the newly elected president to accept the position of SLFP leadership offered to him upon his victory and it is also quite logical and sensible for the party supporters not to accept him as the leader of the party. It is obvious that the President that he made an utter mess of his political agenda by trying his utmost to win back the confidence of the SLFP supporters, thereby ignoring the attention he should have given to more prominent priorities.
Some extremist groups who had been ‘shareholders’ of the Presidential victory also tried to ‘fish in the troubled water’ trying to take the mean advantage of the opportunity and that situation also contributed to aggravate the complicated plight of the ruling party. Their tactful dream had been to creep into troubled SLFP and strengthen their powers while dismantling the coalition between Maithri and Ranil.What they wanted in the heart of the heart was to disrupt and ruin both Mahinda and Maithree and then handle the ruling party according to their whims and fancies.
It is not only for the limited purpose of defeating MahindaRajapakse that the opposition(s) wanted ‘amaithripala’ to be the common candidate. In addition to defeating MahindaRajapaksa, they wanted to uproot all Mahinda strongmen and reform the whole ‘uncivilized’ country with the leadership of a president who would support their ‘social purifying’ or democratization programme/agenda.
There were many hard to achieve national objectives in their agenda too. The support of the UNP was a pre requisite for Maithiri’s victory and when the candidature was offered to him a UNP candidate had to forgo that opportunity not only Ranil willingly made that great sacrifice but also extended the fullest support of the party to make him immerge victorious. The common mass not only knew that RanilWicramasinghewould be the main contributor of the Maithri government while being the Prime Minister therein, but also expected the due to continue their coalition even after a parliamentary election.
The UNP extended their fullest support to the president without hard conditions whatever when the UNP supporters voted for Maithree, it was not only for a period of hundred days of promised reforms, but also for an official period of Presidency. Under such circumstances, if the President says that he has signed an agreement with the UNP plus Ranil only for a period of 100 days to carry out a specific programme, it is ethically unjustifiable.
The defeated party represented the majority of parliament. However in the government headed by Maithiri, if an impeachment motion has been filed against Prime MinisterRanilWicramasinghe with the signatures of 112 parliamentarians it obviously proves that although the President is the leader of the SLFP, he has no power to influence or control the SLFP team of Parliament.
The President’s attempt of justification with regard to the said situation, saying that he doesn’t want to interfere in parliamentary affairs cannot be accepted. Being elected through a poll in which the people placed more trust in the UNP, it is unfair for Maithiri to play its leader, RanilWickramasinghe in an embarrassing situation. His plight is like that of having been sandwiched between two countervailing interests and he will be at unrest. If there is no healthy environment for the President to carry out his duties, he is left with the option of dissolving it. According to the official powers vested with the president, he may remove RanilWicramasinghe from his premiership but it is quite unethical and can be considered a betrayal by the people with whose votes he is where he is today.
There are two issues/ matters of paramount importance that president Maithiripala and premiere RanilWicramasinghe should essentially take into serious consideration. That is President Sirisena was elected not with a voter base he had gained, but with the voter base of the other parties, among the parties that gave the President such people- power, the UNP was the main one and was at the forefront of the campaign. The president should strongly keep in his mind that he won the election mainly through the UNP votes and therefore he has an unarguable and unquestionable moral bond to maintain a healthy relationship with the party throughout his tenure. On the other hand Premiere Ranil should realize that next Prime Minister (who would be elected in future) should be able to work together with the President to solve the burning issues of the country if a situation in which the heads cannot work amicably is created, it is quite inevitable that the country will fall in to pathetic and unrecoverable plight.
The need of the hour at this decisive juncture is such that both these leaders must be humble enough to get rid of the egocentric pride nurtured by the powers of their positions or the powers of their voters and re-coalesce to solve the problems through negotiations. If not it is inevitable that not only these to rulers but also the whole country would collapse.
Same SLFP strong men who humiliated Maithiri so badly at the last election were waiting to tarnish his reputation but now the same double tongue MP’s are now swearing to say that they accept his leadership wholeheartedly. They are making horrendous efforts to put him into an abyss. If the President gets cheated by these devils under the guise of angels the President will rest nowhere but in hell. What is needed to be done by both these leaders is to get rid of pride created by people- power or the power of their positions and work in unity to solve the problems of the day.
Source: http://t.co/tct3VSHcwW
Tags: Current political situations
Posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2015 at 10:49 am