By Vishwamithra –

“The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Political opposition to any sitting government is a natural sociopolitical phenomenon. In the past seventy seven years in Sri Lanka such opposition parties have made many coalitions, getting together for a very narrow purpose of defeating the sitting government at the next election, have been formed and some have failed while on many occasions they have come through.

Mere opposition to the policies and principles implemented by any government is valid and more than legitimate. However, such opposition, if based on a doctrinaire approach backed by counter proposals instead of mere election slogans which are more than attractive to a susceptible electorate, could be classified as solid and sound in their thinking and potential action. Ceylon has had such solid and sound political coalitions of opposition and their performance at the following elections have proved them to be so.

For instance, the coalition of opposition that SWRD Bandaranaike formed after he left the United National Party (UNP) led by Sir John Kotelawala was the first such coalition that was established by him led his new coalition of parties to a magnificent victory at the 1956 General Elections. Bandaranaike did not fight the then ruling party on economic grounds. His appeal was based on a sociocultural premise and he was very ably backed by the Maha Sanga. The binary choice, elite vs non-elite, which was presented to the voters in ’56 was not only simple; it had its long lasting effects, more destructive rather than constructive.

The cultural revolution led by the Maha Sanga and Bandaranaike effectively changed the then status quo and the thinking of many generations. The elite-led Ceylonese ruling cabal was not really displaced and a new ‘common man’-led governing circle assumed power. A mere substitution, a government led by the Senanayakes and Kotelawalas was replaced by another elite-led low country aristocrat – Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike. SWRD may have had a dream of establishing a ‘common man’-led governing apparatus; his genuine intention may have been to provide the proverbial ‘place in the sun’  to the forgotten ‘common man’. Yet his government led by a Cabinet of Ministers whose ideological  affiliations were varied and far from being of accommodative of the other party for the sake of the ‘common man’. Although they publicly vowed to protect and defend the ‘common man’ against the capitalist class led by the then UNP leadership, in action, they fell far short of the intentions behind the slogans.

Coalitions led by charismatic leaders in the opposition did succeed in the elections; but their performance after assuming power was totally a different game. Political power, once assumed, played a diabolical role in shaping and defining the succeeding party. That is a universal fact. More philosophically minded leaders may have had dream-like situations that would have warranted an ideologically-led approach to the resolutions of our problems, be they economic or of governance. But a fundamental failure on the part of all those well-minded men and women met their boundaries when they assumed power. That again is not limited to a geographically defined sphere of the globe.

A very few of our past leaders, maybe just a couple, could be classified in such a rare handful. Yet, Bandaranaike’s opposition-coalition on the eve of the ’56 General Elections, merely because it achieved its immediate purpose of being elected to power in the succeeding elections, could fall into the category of a ‘successful’ one.

Until the year 1970, this phenomenon of ‘ coalition of the opposition’ had to wait to reap its success. Until then, even thereafter, the UNP was always standing as one single party for elections. They may have formed coalition governments after being elected, but its basic premise had always been a stand-alone party, whether in elections or thereafter.

The joint opposition led by SWRD’s widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike was remarkably successful in garnering the support of those who were opposed to the then UNP led by Dudley Senanayake. However, success or lack thereof of the then opposition voted into power with a two thirds majority,  such as Sirimavo’s coalition, was even vehemently supported by the then Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, JVP. However, their government ended up in chaos and political and economic hardship to the greater majority of the families of the common man. Sirimavo was so successful in persuading die-hard leftists like NM Perera and Peter Keuneman to join her coalition to fight against their common enemy the UNP.

Nevertheless, these respective coalitions of opposition against sitting governments on both occasions, one in 1956 and the other in 1970, were made up of political parties that were formed and established under varied political doctrines whose only common purpose was to defeat of the UNP-led government. Once elected and finding themselves in seats of power, it became extraordinarily difficult for the government as a collective body to arrive at consensual agreements. For instance in the ’56 government when Phillip Gunawardena introduced Paddy Lands Act, the main opposition came from within the government itself; that opposition was led by one of Bandaranaike’s Cabinet Ministers and after a short time Phillip left the Bandaranaike’s common man’s government.

Same was true within the Sirimavo’s government when NM Perera and Felix Dias Bandaranaike, Prime Minister’s chief political advisor, clashed openly within the walls of Parliament. It was after the left-leaning parties led by N M and Colvin left the government benches that the then Leader of the Opposition, JR Jayewardene decided to work with the left-wing of the country, not to form a government but to fight the failing Sirimavo-Felix combo at the coming General Elections. Yet J R did not form any coalition of the Opposition. The UNP fought the elections of 1977 alone. But the left-wing political parties such as Lanka Sama Samaja Party and Mahajana Eksath Peramuna too contested the same seats that the UNP did, not as an opposition force to win but as a sabotaging group that ate into the Center-Left voting bloc that elected Sirimavo/NM coalition in 1970.

The results were unprecedented. The United National Party (UNP) won five sixths majority in parliament seats. Nonetheless, the current context is totally different. National People’s Power (NPP) is in power. For the first time in our parliamentary history, a left-wing party has been elected to power. The NPP is not really a new party; it is only one phase of the evolutionary process of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which, not once but twice, attempted to topple two sitting governments through violent revolutions. On both occasions, it was proven, bloodshed could not overthrow democratically elected governments. The people were not there where the then JVP wanted them to be: violent and blood-thirsty.

The JVP changed; but the rest of our political tapestry remained the same, dishonest, corrupt and clueless about the country’s needs and her real sociopolitical status. The NPP, JVP’s next phase in her political growth, did change. The people understood the contours of this new paradigm. And they seemed to have trusted the unthinkable and incredible development of a political party whose leader was equally extraordinary in every facet of political evolution.

Against such a remarkable story of political maturation, how can the opposition to the NPP be equally successful in curtailing their accomplishments? Would the voters believe such an opposition that is essentially made up of some parties that suffered a humiliating defeat? Yet, history has told us not to foreclose arguments against voters’ will.

It is in this confusing context that we have to evaluate the status of the current coalition of Opposition that is purported to be consisting, among others, of United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Freedom Party SLFP), Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP). A notable absentee is the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB), the strongest opposition party in Parliament. The Coalition of Opposition has four (4) MPs in total: SLPP (3) plus UNP (1). What a disgrace! Even if the SJB joins this ‘Grand Coalition, the total number of MPs would be forty four (44), as against 159 of the NPP.

The coalition is formed under the banner ‘Maha Jana Handa’ (Voice of the People). What is most noteworthy is the emptiness at the top. No leader, no galvanizing man or woman and no inspiring orator. In a vast and barren landscape of politics, this Coalition is attempting to sow the seeds of jealousy, hatred and utter dishonesty. If Ranil is made the leader of the Coalition, SJB leader Sajith won’t be anywhere near the coalition. If Sajith becomes the members’ choice for leadership, Ranil would do everything possible under the sun to sabotage the process from beginning to end. There are no JR Jayewardenes, no Gamini Dissanayakes and no Lalith Athulathmudalis. Anyway the UNP is more than dead; the SLFP is beyond the grave and the SLPP is beyond redemption. In such a forlorn terrain, the coalition of opposition has become a solitary voice speaking out for its lost privileges.

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