By Vishwamithra –

“A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.” ~ Ravindranath Tagore

The old Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was notorious for its exhibitionistic approach to politics in general and to electioneering in particular. In fact, it was not only the JVP, most of the mainstream political parties depended heavily on these mass rallies to which they transported men and women in massive numbers to their political rallies, firstly to satisfy themselves that a huge crowd attended their rallies to listen to their voices (not speeches) and secondly to challenge their opponents that they still could draw massive crowds to a given rally in a given electorate. This is basically an exhibitionistic element in all their campaigning process. Who gets hoodwinked and who does not is a very distressing component in this savage enterprise.

But today we are dealing with a totally new reality, a completely new context. The social media has shrunk the electorate into a tiny screen on your Smartphone. Transmission of information and dissemination of propaganda and counter-propaganda has become instant; virtually within minutes of the occurrence of an event, its spread within millions who hold in their palms a cellular phone is confirmed and even spreading a counter piece to that particular piece of propaganda; this reality has been astounding and the transmission is even more. IT technology has made mainstream media anachronistic; not only the IT-savvy younger generation, even those who are in the evening phase of life depend on this function of the modern-day wonder for their information and knowledge. Research of a subject, its counter theories, its relevance to the current circumstances and its use and abuse become unbelievably simple, effortless and blistering.

This is the background against which political campaigns of today are being launched, sustained and concluded. The digital technocracy has penetrated into the election world and one cannot help but embrace it and use it to one’s own advantage. Those who do not avail themselves of this twenty first century wonder would eventually be left in the lurch, sulking away with not even any residue left to lick. Yet what the digital revolution can do and the depths it could penetrate into are limited and undeniably tangible.

In election campaigning, a clever manager would always depend on a solid approach that would be as flawless as possible provided he or she has a sufficient number of competent and committed staff personnel and the technical wherewithal to execute such an un-flawed exercise. This is where the current National People’s Power (NPP) should pay its undiluted attention to- the Ground Game.

Has each and every household in a given Grama Niladhari division been paid a visit to by its activists and if so how many times? No number of visits are too many. They must do it despite the number is bordering on an utter nuisance to the householder. Usually door-to-door visits by the supporters of a particular party whose candidate/s are representing the country or that particular electorate is often left for the last moment. Given the pace at which time passes during a whirlwind election campaign, that last moment would have passed when the actual time comes. Fore-planning is always the right strategy in any human endeavor, so is it in electioneering. All other aspects of the campaign, such as mass rallies, posters, road shows, leaflets and even pocket meetings are second to house-to-house campaign.

The gist of this exercise is that a representative/s of a particular party need to address as small a crowd as possible in an intimate setting. This setting is facilitated firstly by small pocket meetings held in a homestead of a householder with no more than 100 to 200 persons attending and secondly by  door-knocking, a strenuous house-to-house campaign with material that consists of clearly and wisely crafted election-related literature. That piece of literature must be left at the household so visited.

Information emerging to date is that the NPP is focusing on this aspect of electioneering with adequately staffed experts and general staff. The whole idea is to make the group or number of people that need to be either converted or reassured to vote for the particular party as small as possible. It becomes unbelievably easy if such a number is within a realistic level. It is always easier to speak and convince ten persons than a hundred or a thousand. It’s one hundred percent a management exercise. Politicians don’t realize this for they could always be carried away by tens of thousands of men and women attending their mass rallies.

When studying the current crop of politicians and their parties, the United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) and Pohottuwa (SLPP), one finds that the so-called traditional mainstream political parties have had enormous experience in this game. Since 1947-Elections in which the UNP emerged as the party that enjoyed a plurality amongst the voters, the left wing parties and right-of-center parties have used these elections as an unequally powerful vehicle for state-power. In every one of those elections held since, the country voted. They alternated one clan of corrupt and incompetent politicians with another; both segments represented the same class of men; they chose to exploit the most democratic means to select their rulers while those who voted opted to repose trust and faith in their party or men and women.

It has been the lamentable story of our people. They have been deceived by politicians, driven to cruel extremities by some fundamentalist Buddhist monks and then being at the end of the brutalities of contra religious fundamentalists of Islam and Hinduism; they have been exploited by an irresponsible and avaricious private sector businessmen; then at the same time these same people of the remotest rural hamlets and suburban slums and shanty-filled population centers are transported to the so-called people’s rallies by their own electorate representatives. Generation after generation ever since 1947, voted for a set of charlatans whose only obsession was staying in power and making money for themselves. The country’s citizenry became willing victims of a vicious cycle of deceit.

Corruption had become a vehicle of sustenance for the politicians and oiling that savage instrument was made easy by a consenting electorate. Debasing and desecrating a 2500 year old culture occurred without the knowledge of both parties, politician the aggressor and voter the victim. The politician transacted many lucrative deals during the day and attended cocktail parties and lavish dinner functions in star-class restaurants and hotels. There wasn’t a single man or woman, or one couldn’t find a solitary brave man amongst the ordinary folks to put a halt to the turning of this vicious circle. It has been turning on its own inner strength whose initium couldn’t be traced to any single politician or government.

Nevertheless, one cannot exonerate oneself by declaring ignorance of facts. Such appeal would fall flat on grounds in the midst of an educated and technically alert generation at whose fingertips are the tools of modern-day inventions. Personal computers  PCs), Smartphones and other platforms that have been created thanks to the advancement in the IT field have made every deed and thought of the previous generation outdated and redundant.

Scattering a bundle of prefabricated falsehoods and nonsensical arguments through the state-owned media instruments such as television and radio and mainstream newspapers are not the sources the current generation is pursing in order to enrich themselves with real facts and real episodes in Parliament or in other enclaves of power and prestige. Employment of crafty IT-savvy technically advanced younger men and women is expensive. Nor is it easy to attract such talent towards the government that shows every sign of decay and deceit. The private sector and self-employed individuals would volunteer to provoke and pursue more compassionate leaders and politicians.

At a macro level the NPP has been successful in throwing out to the open their top leadership; NPP’s top leadership has had its faulty steps every now and then but the trend seems to have stopped. A more disciplined and self-imposed control has had its desired salutary effects. Uncontrolled vociferousness, as was displayed by Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka in 2009 is ample testimony to what should not be uttered during an election campaign. When the people have fine-tuned their auditory sensitivities, when they have enhanced their intensity on their own volition, during an election campaign, one must be more careful about what one does not give expression to than what one must.

Such self-imposed discipline is applicable not only to what is said on grand platforms, it is even more germane in small pocket meetings and house-to-house campaign. Sajith Premadasa is more interested in expressing his inner vulnerabilities and frustrations in his platform speeches. Lack of empathy and total void of knowledge of the electorate’s demands and cravings is more than vividly shown in Sajith’s speeches. Whereas Ranil Wickremasinghe has never been known as even a mediocre speaker, his utterances are most listened to by the media hawks as any declaration by the incumbent President is more than an ordinary statement by an ordinary politician. In order to gauge Ranil’s mind, one must always listen to what is latent in his apparently cryptic speeches.   

Anura Kumara Dissanayake is a different entity. What oozes out is a cascade of empathy, a flow of honesty and humility all wrapped in a cloak of unquestionable simplicity. Is he ready for the ground game? Has he prepared his soldiers for an excruciatingly painful 24-hour job of hunting for votes and ensuring that those potential votes are cast on the election day. If he can ensure that, then he will emerge the day after election as a simple yet proud leader who has mastered not the craft of electioneering but convincing an electorate beyond all doubts and suspicion. What follows is yet another matter altogether.

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