By Vishwamithra –

“There are two types of poor people, those who are poor together and those who are poor alone. The first are the true poor, the others are rich people out of luck.” ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

It is absolutely meaningless to even discuss the credentials, validity and legitimacy of the gang that surrounds President Ranil Wickremesinghe today. His entourage consists of some of the most notorious political rogues and fraudsters that Sri Lanka has produced over the last couple decades. As a result of this short-lived honeymoon that Ranil is enjoying with these political crooks, the people would eventually choose to look the other way when Ranil Wickremesinghe as an Independent candidate for the Presidential Elections in September 2024 makes an attempt to release his Manifesto to the people. When one loses one’s credibility, he or she loses everything. And Ranil, either as President or a candidate at the forthcoming Presidential elections, has lost all his marbles.

For Ranil, tempting those who are with the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) to jump across to his coalition is more important than any wisely crafted campaign program. Having been nurtured by the United National Party (UNP), especially under the tutelage of JR Jayewardene, the quintessential organizer/politician, Ranil Wickremesinghe doesn’t seem to have learnt the nuts and bolts of electioneering. Heavily influenced by a notion of deal-making, Ranil’s politics has been bordering along a transactional endeavor. Alluring opposition parliamentarians towards his side, he has never succeeded as a master of the convincing art of politics. He has not dawned upon him that those who have left their previous masters, the Rajapaksas, do not carry any voters with them other than the stinking baggage of corruption and downright dishonesty. Instead of carrying Ranil to the throne, they shall bury Ranil with unbearable weight of their own immediate past.

On the other hand, Sajith Premadasa‘s plight seems to be, more a product  of his own narcissistic grandeur. Unlike Ranil, Sajith is quite a good speaker, both in vernacular and English. Although Sajith seems to go overboard on the language, when he uses the English language, it seems to be for the sole purpose of creating an impression on the listeners. He seems to have fallen in love with himself and especially when making a speech in English his usage of the language makes the listeners cringe; the embarrassment it causes to himself, although he doesn’t realize, is immense.

But one cannot underestimate Sajith’s ability to express his ideas and ideals in Sinhala; particularly in the Chamber of Parliament, he holds himself quite admirably. Yet  on the public platform he tends to go totally overboard. His fatal flaw in believing that his father was a persona par-excellence and that his father’s solutions to the problems three decades ago are still valid and relevant is delusional. He doesn’t seem to realize that when his father was assassinated the common men and women ran to the streets and started lighting crackers. The same common man on whose behalf Senior Premadasa spent his words and language turned against him, reminding one of the brutal reality of irony of public service not meant well. The people may have realized that Senior Premadasa’ motive was heavily laden with egoistic ambition and merciless retribution to his enemies.

Senior Premadasa was never accepted by the Colombo-elite of the time. Instead of totally disregarding the notion that the Colombo-elite itself was a self-absorbed, idiosyncratic bunch of lotus eaters, he chose to avenge that behavior of the Colombo-based pukka sahibs with enormous amount of envy and hatred. Furthermore, Senior Premadasa’s attempt at rewriting his own pedigree and personal history did not sell well. He did not understand the humility and that strong characteristic of being humble and big; on the contrary, everything he did made him look cocky and small.

Senior Premadasa was a marvelous mob orator in Sinhala. The only match he had at the time was Rohana Wijeweera. Both, in a very ironical sense departed the world in the most heinous fashion. No person deserves to bid adieu to the world in that unkind manner; but fate performs its unkind drama in the most unkind fashion.

Sajith should, if he is serious about attracting the rural youth to his candidacy, refrain from bringing his father’s name and his uncouth era of governance to his public statements and speeches. Why does Sajith not understand that basic premise of persuasion. Politics is an enterprise that teaches the player how to win friends, both publicly as well as privately. Sajith seems to be failing on both of these fronts.

The electorate, in the midst of the current electioneering mood, is confronted by a very valid and justifiable choice. Both Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sajith Premadasa seem to be fighting for the second place. Many a pollster is engaged in predicting who is ahead and who is behind. No person in Sri Lanka would know for sure who would win at the end. Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) and the Mālimāva (Compass) are ahead. But it is not a given. With about three weeks to go, Sri Lankan voters are notorious for surprising the electorate by turning out early and choosing to take the candidates and their parties aback at the end of the day. Who will be at the receiving end is totally up to the voter. On the election day, the voter full well knows that he is the king. At the tip of his fingers rests the fate of many candidates. That fingertip is all powerful. Many of those so-called crafty politicians have been found dead, metaphorically, at the end of this fingertip.

The tussle between Ranil and Sajith is sharpening day by day. Fence-jumping is the order of the day. After Thalatha’s abdication and brutal exposure of her leader Sajith, the rumor-mill is pregnant with many more rumors. They say that many more are to do the crossings; many more are supposed to leave Sajith and the SJB generating more doubt and suspicion about the leadership quality of Sajith. It is not a very flattering gesture from his fellow party-men. Not that these would-be crossover guys trust Ranil Wickremesinghe more; but they simply trust Sajith less.

Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) is not a new party with a new base and a new set pf policies and principles. It is the United National Party (UNP) in a different garb. Ranil, of course, has been a thorough failure as a political party leader. His performance in successive elections has been dismal, resulting in the rank and file searching new leadership. They first tried it with Karu Jayasuriya (KJ) but Sajith was in too much of a hurry to let KJ spoil his chances at a quick entry into the Presidential enclaves. While Ranil was busy destroying his own party, getting it reduced to zero MPs in parliament, the grassroots of the UNP stuck onto the SJB.

The NPP and AKD have released their ‘Social Contract’ with the people. A three hundred plus page document detailing their policies and principles may have answered many questions raised by many skeptics. Yet it is not a perfect catalog of theory and practice. But on its face value and in the midst of its linguistic appeal, it promises to be promising. Ranil and SJB are yet to release theirs to challenge this electioneering element by the NPP and when we see it, it might be too late. There are but a very few who have already not made up their minds. There is hardly any time either for Ranil or Sajith to make a headway on this. Those who would wait till the eleventh hour would most likely go for Ranil. Once again, not that they love Ranil more but that they trust Sajith less!

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