By Vishwamithra –

“Power is given to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters. to be able to dare!” ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

Power lends control and control begets false superiority. That is why those who seek power always tend to pursue it to the exclusion of everything else. Sometimes, in fact, more often than not, utterly incapable men are found to be in seats of absolute power; they show ease and comfort in adjusting to the new circumstances surrounding the lofty perches which, if abused or even misused willy nilly, one day would make the holder of those high pedestals regret so much, even driving them to suicide. In most circumstances, those who attain power and then exercise it to the hilt without any consideration for those who become subject to that power, do not realize the very fundamental nature of all things, including power, in this vast universe: impermanence. Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha has taught us that universal truth.

Here I am talking about political power, which Henry Kissinger described as the most powerful aphrodisiac in the world. All those, except perhaps a handful in history, who occupy the seats of power begin indulging in the alluring comforts and luxuries that power throws out towards the occupant; they in modern-day terms, it could be wining and dining in supra-class hotels and restaurants, single malt whiskey accompanied by occasional heroine and cannabis; it could be a most attractive lady of the evening looking forward to satisfying the erotic demands of the subject we discuss.

Those who provide these uncommon and seductive wants of the politician whose power could bring forth an expansion of the business empire of the provider of the comforts would willingly and readily do so for the benefits that accrue are many and vast. When the day begins in the morning, when his personal assistant provides the daily schedule, the politician is always ready to sacrifice a meeting with the constituents for a one-hour business transaction with the businessman who has pledged to fund the next campaign. This is universally true, whether the politician is a Provincial Councilor, Parliamentary MP, Cabinet Minister, Prime Minister or even the President. Such beguiling aura is providing shade and shelter to that duo: politician and businessman.

But it was service that the politician promised on the election platform. Policies and principles, that were promulgated by these politicians, have now taken the second or third place. The constituent has been relegated to the last in the line of priorities. One day of the week was scheduled as the day for the constituents. That day has now become once in two weeks; that day of the constituents meeting becoming once a month is now the subject of gossip among those who are close to the man installed in power.

Neglect of the electorate is accelerating in pace and the comforts and luxuries the politicians become associated with enhance exponentially. Did the constituents foresee this aspect of his MP at the beginning of the campaign? Certainly not. Deception is absolute and complete. That is the wicked irony of it all. The electors are too naive to rationalize what’s happening to their MP. Power has gripped him by the throat and he has become a willful victim of the power game that is being enacted before the eyes of the constituents.

Has Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) & Company fallen into this trap? If yes, have they realized the sad truth about this phenomenon? If they have realized it, are they willing to fight it or are they also willingly discarding the whole dynamic by continuing to ignore the true picture and get entrenched in the murky and muddy soil deep and getting buried? AKD and his government need to answer these uncomfortable questions now and provide plausible answers. The people might wait that long, but no further.

First of all, AKD & Company needs to confront this stark status and provide sincere solutions. But they are in great danger of being called a ‘one man show’. I’m sure the readers can remember who else was called a ‘one man show’ President. It was R Premadasa. Premadasa was so cocky and arrogant about himself and his rhetoric, it was impossible to detach himself from the very concept of government. He didn’t trust anyone else in the government. He had his own mafia-style investigative team which was commonly known as the ‘Lawrence mafia’. The executive powers of Presidency, which were hardly or never exercised by his predecessor, JR Jayewardene, Premadasa used and abused to the bitterest end, ordinary men and women lived in fear. He maneuvered the entire government machinery to his whims and fancies.

Yet his Cabinet of Ministers were quite content and comfortable with that status quo. They were subjected to humiliation and terror, yet they tolerated it because there was no alternative to the luxuries and comforts that their positions brought forth. Real power, not just the veneer of it, starts eating into their very fabric of makeup; without their realization or even mere understanding, that all-consuming and absolutely irritating bug of power gets beneath their skin; its consumption continues until the patient has his last breath. It is not a very enchanting and inviting spectacle. Its mean and nasty apatite for the patient’s flesh and soul, if he still has one in a real sense, can never be fulfilled.

AKD & Company must beware of this cannibalistic desire; however much AKD thunders from atop the political platform, all his subordinates are ordinary and mundane men and women. Their resistance to these base and basic human needs and desires crave fulfillment and there comes a line which they should not cross at any cost and at whatever the price that is dangling before their countenance.

Service, a very subjective and intangible aspect of their chosen profession, which should be at the very core of their professional priorities, cannot be sacrificed for want of another proverbial shoe. Service cannot carry any price tag, period. The first and only purpose of this chosen profession is service. Whether that service is rendered at a micro level by carpeting their rural road or enhancing the foreign exchange availability at a macro level, it should not be relegated to any other need of the hour.

The clash, or mildly expressed as a squabble, between power and service should not be expressed in terms of measurable dollars and rupees. Power could assume many distorted elemental facets; all the facets must be taken as one and the same. For power delivers the holder’s needs and wants. Its fundamental characteristic of temptation and enticement, both in one, needs to be identified in full and its rejection too must be full and absolute. If it sounds like one practiced and preached by Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, so be it. Unlike other religions, Buddhism has taught us the very nature of impermanence and the need to identify the four noble truths: Suffering (Dukkha), Cause of suffering (Samudaya), cessation of suffering (Nirodha) and the path to cessation of suffering (Magga).

Those politicians who time and time again ask their constituents to practice Buddhism have no clue about these noble teachings, if they do possess such knowledge of Buddha’s teachings, they are deliberately disregarding the teachings and use their own quasi-religious slogans to deceive their electorates. Therefore, AKD & Company has a monumental task at hand. Not to teach Buddhism and its universally acceptable and profound principles of the religion, but to show a path more compliant to fair and balance living and co-living amongst varied communities.

The clash between Power and Service will pick up its threads until end of time. Instituting non-subjective infrastructure in order to facilitate coexistence between this sociopolitical dichotomy should be discussed, conclusions arrived at and begin to build such sustainable structures. Détente between power and service is craven, not by those who are living today and enjoying every bit of heavenly comforts it en-wraps the holder with, but by the never-ending cascade of sociopolitical circumstances.

But history stands against such a mutually acceptable marriage between power and service. In all our history, only two or three leaders of men have succeeded in installing thriving coexistence between the two. The only one Emperor King comes easily to mind: Emperor Asoka. But his legacy too may have come to naught, had the historians chosen to record only the facts and figures of his brutal killings in the Kalinga war. But his spiritual transformation to the teachings of Buddha had obviously outweighed the brutalities caused to many an enemy of his.

People love their Kings and Queens but that love and devotion is consequent upon terror and fear that the subject people enclose within their hearts and minds. Our own Parakramabahu the sixth (xi) may be mentioned in this exalted fraternity ( a mere two or three). Why not AKD & Company strive to achieve such lofty echelons?

*The writer can be reached at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com