{"id":123248,"date":"2014-04-15T03:30:16","date_gmt":"2014-04-14T22:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=123248"},"modified":"2014-04-23T04:51:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T23:21:00","slug":"if-he-continues-to-be-adamant-he-will-perish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/if-he-continues-to-be-adamant-he-will-perish\/","title":{"rendered":"If He Continues To Be Adamant He Will Perish"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Veluppillai Thangavelu<\/span><\/a> –<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Veluppillai<\/a>

Veluppillai Thangavelu<\/p><\/div>\n

If he continues to be adamant he will perish, even though there be no one to destroy him<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A King,\u00a0with none to censure him, bereft of\u00a0Ministers\u00a0who can rebuke him, will perish even though there be no one to destroy him.\u00a0 This is a quote from Thirukkural\u00a0written in the form of couplets (two line poems)\u00a0is an\u00a0ethical treatise\u00a0espousing\u00a0various aspects of life. It\u00a0is considered as\u00a0the<\/span> magnum opus <\/i>of Tamil literature and culture with the highest and purest expressions of human thought.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thirukkural has three major parts. The first part (38\u00a0 chapters) deals with Aram (Virtue), the moral value of human life. The second part (70 chapters)\u00a0 is on Porul (Wealth), the socio economic values of men in a civilized society. The final\u00a0part\u00a0(25 chapters) is on Kamam or Inbam (Love) is about ethical living in private life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The above\u00a0quote is from Chapter 45 under the heading “Securing friendship of great men.”\u00a0 I was reminded of this quote when I read in the papers that President Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a>\u00a0had\u00a0berated\u00a0\u00a0senior SLFP Irrigation and Water Resources Management\u00a0Minister Sripala de Silva at a\u00a0recent cabinet meeting\u00a0over a statement the latter\u00a0 made\u00a0 to the media. Minister Nimal Sripala de Silva told the media\u00a0that mega development projects would not suffice to win votes. The President expressed his disgust\u00a0over such remarks by a senior member of the Cabinet and a SLFP stalwart. Boiling with anger, he told the Minister that he should not have made such remarks. A crest fallen\u00a0Mr. de Silva did not have the guts to defend his statement, instead sheepishly offered the\u00a0typical excuse that\u00a0his remarks had been misinterpreted. (Daily Mirror – April 05, 2014)<\/p>\n

In a parliamentary system of government the Prime Minister will not dare rebuke a Minister since he\u00a0is only the first among equals in the cabinet. The situation is different under a presidential system. Mahinda Rajapaksa has developed a penchant to criticise\u00a0Ministers in the presence of other Ministers. Justice Minister\u00a0Rauff Hakeem is another\u00a0victim of\u00a0Rajapaksa\u2019s tongue lashing over the presentation of a petition handed over Ms Navaneetham Pillay complaining about the\u00a0demolition of mosques by Sinhala – Buddhist extremists.<\/p>\n

An analysis of the Western and Southern Provincial council results shows even to the un-initiative that the ruling party has lost votes and seats compared to the elections held 5 years ago\u00a0in 2009.\u00a0 The percentage votes have also dropped, but\u00a0an arrogant\u00a0and self-conceited Mahinda Rajapaksa is refusing to read the writing on the wall. Such arrogance will lead to self-destruction, if not self-defeat –\u00a0even though there will be no one to destroy him.<\/p>\n

Read the full article here<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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