By Vishwamithra –

“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they will never see’.”  ~ James Kerr, Photographer

Batalanda has been the dominating word in the last two weeks in Sri Lanka. While former President Ranil Wickremesinghe‘s name could not be divorced from the subject, his culpability, his alleged guilt and his alleged vicarious involvement in the cruel acts committed upon the victims who were brought to Batalanda during the ’87-’89 era were apparently mentioned in the now infamous Batalanda Report. However, Ranil Wickremasinghe was never alleged to have personally committed murder, nor any torture during the said period and said macabre acts of  torture and pain brought upon the said victims.

Wickremesinghe | Photo Thisarana Perera

Various individuals have earned their short fifteen-minutes of public appearance on television and other social media platforms, hurling revengeful and ruthless onslaught on the person of Ranil Wickremesinghe, former President, Prime Minister and a powerful Minster in the JRJ, Premadasa and Wijetunga governments.

Politics is an unforgiving profession; it’s a thankless livelihood, yet a noble undertaking if one’s intentions are pure and unclouded. Whoever chooses to engage in the field of politics must be ready for all the roses and cacti that come with it. It is, as they say, what comes ‘with the territory’. What is supposed to have happened nearly forty years ago is revisiting the conscience of the nation and its consequences have unquestionably impacted on the response of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, current President of the country and his government whose major component is the old Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which was the sole and prime villain executing all cruelty and slaughter on some innocent civilians at the time in an unforgivable warfare with the civil life in Sri Lanka. Ironies are many and explanations few.

Yet the JVP of today, as part of the broader coalition of National People’s Power (NPP), has palpably changed. And the people at large believe that. Presidents JR Jayewardene and Premadasa are no more; their legacies are not what they would have enjoyed to have to be written as a epigraph on their monuments. Waters that flowed under the bridges of the eighties and nineties were filthy, dirty and nauseating, to say the least. But today, in the year twenty twenty five (2025), the vistas we behold are beckoning new approaches and new paths. They ask us to forgive but not forget; held accountable yet not punish. How else would the average citizen respond? How would he reconcile between a sociocultural dilemma and his primordial craving for revenge?

Yet, purely from a journalistic viewpoint, one has to tell the truth and the other has to seek the truth and come to terms with it. Ranil Wickremasinghe and his immediate cohorts might have more than a legal problem which will far outweigh the technical courtroom arguments. It’s out in the open arena of public opinion and public reconciliation. Ranil, of course, in his own words has retired from politics while holding on to the leadership of the United National Party (UNP). Therefore, his retirement in itself is a canard that he is trying to spread with the intention of keeping the public aware of his presence. But, for the sake of his fabricated image, Ranil’s political fabric is being exposed through the threads of Batalanda. He may have earned a reprieve thanks mainly to his association with CBK and MR and GR. But there is a new sheriff in town. President AKD is no amateur himself to character assassination. During the last Presidential Election campaign, he was at the receiving end of many a weapon so sharpened and hurled at him by the Wickremesinghes, Rajapaksas and the Premadasas.

In addition, the hardcore JVPers in the NPP coalition must be decidedly angry and vengeful. They would want to extract their own ‘pound of flesh’. The people at large also would demand that Ranil be produced before the rule of law and found guilty. Therein lies the intricate sociopolitical and legal problem. Would AKD and his government be careful and strategically-minded enough to examine this issue from a long-term standpoint and a tempered mind to see through the complexities of the issue of putting Ranil through the unforgiving wheels of legal maneuvers and public ridicule?

The readers would appreciate the writer’s positioning on Ranil Wickremesinghe’s political status and his cruel and insensitive handling of the various issues that confronted the country at each of the stages Ranil was in power. While not retracting one word of that critical appraisal and unforgiving  condemnation, it is my earnest appeal to all those who demand revenge and their ‘pound of flesh’, let go of this maddening exercise; Ranil Wickremasinghe has been taken to accountability by the people; he suffered a humiliating defeat at the Presidential Elections and his party, UNP, was reduced to dust at the Parliamentary Elections. Batalanda will be Ranil’s legacy; it will be hanging around his neck until he meets his last day on earth. He won’t be remembered for his handling of the economy at a very crucial and decisive stage. A government’s energy, money and spirit should not be exhausted on such a mean action like political retribution.

Men of greater strength and greater character must be held accountable for greater matters, greater events and greater stories. Ranil is no great man, he never was and never will be. He has, on uncounted occasions, shown that he does not belong to such an august circle. Then why try to justify your energy and persuasion ability on a fertile journey by its pursuit.

The government has much more serious affairs to tackle and tackle they must. Deepening frustration and a looming despair that is threatening the political landscape might envelope the entire administration. Dearth of clever and experienced men and women in the current bureaucracy Is one massive issue that the intelligentsia is concerned about. Too much responsibility and too much exposure of AKD at every level does not seem to have produced any favorable results; when he is engaged in two or three  two to three hour meetings a day, on a day-to-day level, is not a sign of a well run machine. President of the country cannot be micromanaging the issues. Such hands-on approach may have been beneficial two or three decades ago. But the country, its citizenry and the surrounding geopolitical context demand a fresh route and even a more strategic style.

The Frontline Socialist Party (FSB) might be demanding the NPP to be more vengeful, more ruthless and more unforgiving. This is where President Dissanayake has to show his real decisive leadership qualities. He is no more the leader of the JVP. He is the President of the country who also happens to be the leader of the NPP. It’s always easier said than done. Only AKD will know how to achieve a dynamic equilibrium amongst the parties that make up the National People’s Power (NPP). He also has to strike a balance between the NPP and the electors at large. The authentic leadership qualities of AKD, I’m sure he possesses in ample quantity, must emerge now. Batalanda need not be swept under the proverbial carpet. But it must not be his or his administration’s prime concern now.

On the other hand, the Batalanda saga would claim its own perpetrators without mercy. It will  declare its assertions separately and independent of government’s influence or interference.  Yet to portray to the people that the leader of the country is devoid of political or personal prejudices is crucial and indispensable to a developing democracy such as Sri Lanka.

Examining one’s own choices and making the right ones is not an easy undertaking. Rarely does one earn a privilege to be confronted by such a circumstance. As a leader of any country, one needs to balance amongst many competing options; he or she has to favor his friends while not antagonizing his enemies. Poise, steadfastness, aloofness and equanimity and stoicism are qualities of  great ones. AKD should belong in such revered social groups. Let Batalanda take its own legal course.

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