By Vishwamithra –

“Moral maxims are surprisingly useful on occasions when we can invent little else to justify our actions.” ~ Alexander Pushkin

It is that time of the year: Holiday season. Even though more than seventy percent (70%) of our population is living outside the urban and semi-urban areas, the influence of the Western culture, wrapped around Christmas, on the psyche of our people is immense. Its impact on the daily lives of the majority could weigh down the already burdened shoulders of the rural folk and the ultimate effect, albeit its essential temporary nature, of these superficial festive elements of the Western culture has crept into the thick and hard fabric of our rustic veneer.

Nonetheless, in Colombo and other big cities, what the late Reggie Michael called the ‘fortnight of farce’ has taken hold of the super rich class and its obscene display is heading for a climax on the 31^st night in which one drunken man kisses another drunken woman with no shame or discipline. All the  thunder and lightning of a chaotic economy are for the poor only. The super rich and rich men and women are too busy shopping for newer and more exotic clothes, designed by Christian Dior or Ralph Lauren while the classes that hardly have anything to be proud about wait at home preparing their meager meals day in and day out.

The gulf between the haves and have-nots is widening beyond calculation. The economic collapse that occurred in the early part of the year has had its most egregious effects on the middle class and the other lower classes. Lines for petrol and diesel are yesterday’s stories. The rich the super-rich are spending insanely, especially during this farcical period of the year; their restaurant bills have become unbelievable amounts for dinners, which is more than sufficient to feed a poor family of four for an entire month. But such statistical facts are read and dissected and accepted or rejected by the rich or super-rich only. The validity of such statistical data does not even reach the ears or minds of those classes of people whose priorities are entwined in a daily life of abysmal trading of two meals per day to a one meal a day. 

On the other hand, politicians whose responsibility it is to ensure, especially in the context of a centrally-controlled economy which Sri Lanka still is, evenhanded distribution of the country’s resources, are gallivanting the globe amongst resort paradises with their mistresses, boyfriends  and girlfriends, Their daily intake of exotic drinks and even more esoteric and vulgar pastimes cost more than one could even calculate in hundreds and thousands of US dollars. 

A country that has been let down by its leaders and followers alike is bleeding and even the fourth estate which is supposed to tell the truth at all times and at whatever the costs, are conspicuously silent. A cursed nation is looking unto herself and feeling self-pity without which it is humanly impossible to spend the hours and minutes of the day.

What has happened to the ‘Pearl of the Indian Ocean’? This question is being asked more times a day than one could count. The Aragalaya has become yesterday’s myth. The mythical elements that were associated with the Aragalaya are not even topical points one would entertain in their daily conversations today. While many political and economic pundits articulate the varied and diverse ingredients of such an unprecedented crisis, no person so educated has dared launch a satisfactory or plainly acceptable resolution of the crisis.

A people whose hopes and aspirations have been dashed at the altar of political expediency have dried out their tears. Transformation from sheer lethargy and obedience to order with energy, fury and discipline which were in display during the Aragalaya days has come to a dead-halt. The installation of Ranil Wickremesinghe in the Presidential throne seemed, at the beginning at least,  promising and timely. Yet it did not take even one week for the truth to seep down the collective breathing passage of a people. Much anticipated talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bespoke a breath of fresh air. Ultimately it’s proving to be just air with no matter!

A system change that was much spoken about and promulgated as the only solution to a nagging and dangerous national ailment died an unborn baby, for no budding revolutionary or reformer could offer what would follow the system change. They did not realize nor were they learned and scholarly enough to plan, strategize and deliver the final outcome. Transformations or revolutions are not born in vacuums. Nor are they flimsy dreams of one-time activists. History teaches us this cruel lesson that whatever that is difficult to accomplish does not come about in one single activity nor in a single process. Educated and wise men have tried their hands, spent countless nights under a candlelight or electric lamp, studying, analyzing, comparing one system with another and then deducting on a viable approach to a given destination of a feasible solution.

Transformations or revolutions of national scale are a product of such painstaking execution of well thought-out plans and strategies. Aragalaya had no future because it lacked a fundamental element that such an Aragalaya needed the most- a charismatic leader. When the objective conditions are present and demanding a change, what should be utmost in the minds of those who demand a change is not just a figurehead, but a clear-thinking and shrewd leader of men; that is the subjective condition that has always been present in all such revolutionary changes that have occurred in the past. Our history books are attesting to that fact and realism.

I have written about this common phenomenon that runs through the fabric of change in society ever so seldom in our development as an evolving organism. That golden thread ever so often or ever so seldom has captured the imagination of a great majority of mankind. Yet such great leaders have visited us so rarely; appearance of such an illuminating minds in flesh and blood has awakened the mind of man and served to provide us with a signal of optimism and affirmation of faith in the eternal spirit of man, as Jawaharlal Nehru so penned in his ‘The Discovery of India’, a way before India attained Swaraj status.

India is one of those countries that has sprung out such great leaders. Yet it is highly absurd and politically incorrect to weaponize an utterly equalizing phenomenon such as ‘great leadership’ and ascribe greatness to a country or a nation via its leaders. Humankind, wherever it is, could develop by awakening of mind and following through a given plethora of circumstances. 

In such a crystal-clear context of historical realities and prevailing demands, it is not too light nor superfluous for us to engage in a free dialogue of ideas and ideals in order to find a lasting solution or even a process of solution-seeking for Sri Lanka as it’s faced with an unprecedented crisis, both economic and sociopolitical. That is precisely why Ranil Wickremesinghe matters. 

By delivering a most confusing speeches ever delivered within the wells of Parliament, President Wickremasinghe not only managed to confuse the listeners, he also managed to prove beyond any shadow of doubt that he is certainly not qualified to preside over the crisis Sri Lanka is confronted with today. In the same breath he uttered self-contradictory sentences which a linguistic expert would find it extremely hard to understand leave alone analyze. While spelling out some salient difficulties of our economic path, he said that he has no plan to manage its recovery. In the same sentence he uttered that he has to begin anew (I’m paraphrasing) as there is no economy left to resurrect. 

But he certainly seems to have plans to down-tread the rising voices of the ordinary masses.  They say that ‘gods make them mad before they destroy them’. It’s obvious truth is telling us a total new story of an un-elected President finding it extremely hard to put some thought into some understandable language and utter them in the highest legislative body in the country. While paying no attention to the rising cost of living and ever increasing weight of national debt, this man is going out of the way to appease his Pohottuwa guardians by acceding to every request of these political charlatans by extending numerous comforts and concessions. A man whose empathetic feel does not rise above his waistline  is attempting to navigate a ship in a stormy sea without a compass.

From afar one could see that Ranil’s greatest enemy is within himself. Having failed to be elected by the people innumerable times, Ranil Wickremesinghe is trying to avenge himself by afflicting the greatest pain and damage to that very national constituent that did not show faith in him. Arrogance is the showpiece of such warped men and women. Ranil Wickremesinghe belongs to that variety of men and women.

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