{"id":205049,"date":"2019-09-26T15:49:14","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T10:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=205049"},"modified":"2019-09-30T12:05:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T06:35:31","slug":"suicidal-for-sajith-to-accept-ranils-outrageous-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/suicidal-for-sajith-to-accept-ranils-outrageous-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Suicidal For Sajith To Accept Ranil\u2019s Outrageous Conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0<\/b>Amrit Muttukumaru<\/a> –<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Amrit Muttukumaru<\/p><\/div>\n

It will be politically suicidal for Sajith Premadasa to accept the outrageous \u201cconditions\u201d set by UNP \u201cseniors\u201d to obtain nomination as UNP\u2019s official Presidential candidate. If not for the serious implications to the country, they are laughable<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u2018conditions\u2019 purportedly set are that Sajith must give the undertaking in\u201d writing\u201d:<\/b><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0 <\/span>Ranil Wickremesinghe will \u201cremain the UNP Leader and the Prime Minister\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

2) \u201ccommitment<\/i>\u201d to \u201cabolish executive presidency\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

3) To work on a \u201cpower devolution package\u201d<\/i> to \u201cresolve the Tamil national question\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

It is widely believed that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has held on as UNP leader for the better part of 25 years virtually by force<\/b> by the brute power given to the leader by the UNP constitution. It is also believed that Ranil for the first time has served almost for the full term as Prime Minister thanks to the 19th<\/sup> Amendment which was controversially conceived and questionably made law under his watch.<\/p>\n

The UNP under Ranil\u2019s leadership has lost a record number of nation-wide elections. He is most likely the most unpopular Prime Minister this country has ever had. It is widely perceived that the UNP over his long period of \u2018leadership\u2019 has lost thousands of party faithful. His support base today is thought to be mainly confined apart from a dwindling number of dyed in the wool UNPers to his cronies in the UNP hierarchy, party hangers-on and NGOs for the most part funded by western political interests \u2013 all of them in some measure or other benefiting from the patronage he is able to dispense from the high political office he holds.<\/p>\n

RW to \u201cremain the UNP Leader and the Prime Minister\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Is it not hypocritical<\/b> for those who screamed from the roof tops when democracy was assailed due to the \u2018constitutional coup\u2019 in October last year to now demand that Sajith give a written undertaking that Ranil will \u201cremain the UNP Leader and the Prime Minister\u201d<\/i>? Are these not the prerogative of democratic processes of the UNP (in regard to UNP leadership) and the Sri Lanka Constitution and Parliament (in regard to who is Prime Minister)? Was it also not undemocratic and unconstitutional for Ranil to have accepted <\/b>the post of PM in January 2015 when the UNP was in the minority in parliament?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201ccommitment\u201d to \u201cabolish executive presidency\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Was not a \u2018commitment\u2019 made to the people in the run-up to the January 2015 Presidential election to \u201cabolish executive presidency\u201d<\/i>? Have not the entire Yahapalana government<\/b> comprising of President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and others including Sajith Premadasa reneged with impunity for more than four and a\u00a0half years this solemn undertaking? Why have the UNP \u201cseniors\u201d <\/i>suddenly woken up to this unless there is another agenda?<\/p>\n

The same hypocrisy<\/b> largely applies to the demand made to Sajith to work on a \u201cpower devolution package\u201d<\/i> <\/b>to \u201cresolve the Tamil national question\u201d<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/p>\n

There is unsavory speculation as to why Ranil Wickremesinghe and Parliament\u2019s Speaker Karu Jayasuriya who do not have a \u2018snowball’s chance in hell\u2019\u00a0(particularly Ranil) in defeating Gotabaya Rajapaksa are toying with the idea of being the UNP\u2019s Presidential candidate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sajith<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Sajith Premadasa is the only presidential candidate at present who could pose a real threat<\/b> to the frontrunner \u2013 former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n

There is the real possibility that the greatly reduced UNP electoral base and those who have abandoned the party due to the lackluster\u00a0\u2018leadership\u2019 of Ranil will get \u2018fired up\u2019<\/b> by a Sajith presidential candidature and those abandoning the party returning to the fold.<\/p>\n

The more UNP leader Ranil behaves in a manner inimical<\/b> to rational thinking to sidetrack <\/b>Sajith, the more the likelihood that Sajith will get traction in the country on a \u2018sympathetic\u2019 wave even \u2018outside\u2019 the UNP fraternity. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if Sajith does not address minority concerns, the chances are that those who will vote from this category will support him instead of Gotabaya. The catholic vote base in the context of the Easter Sunday carnage is up for grabs. The ground reality is that of the 30% non-Sinhala Buddhist category, 7% are Christian of which 6% are Roman Catholics.<\/p>\n

The jury\u00a0is\u00a0out on whether the much vaunted \u2018model village\u2019 housing schemes promoted by Sajith Premadasa are sustainable and whether they create a \u2018dependency\u2019 culture?\u00a0 <\/span>Although the \u2018sins of the fathers\u2019 should not be \u2018visited upon the sons\u2019, controversies which include extra judicial\u00a0killings such as that of Richard de Zoysa under the Ranasinghe Premadasa presidency should remind his son if elected of the immense power and responsibilities of the Executive President even in the Post-19th<\/sup> Amendment scenario.<\/p>\n

Perfect foil to Gotabaya<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Sajith Premadasa is the perfect foil to Gotabaya Rajapaksa. If Sajith is able to overcome the impediments of not being the UNP nominee by building on and communicating<\/b> his strengths <\/b>which include (i) Perception that he has a far greater pro-poor image<\/b> (ii) Perception that on the yardstick of the country\u2019s widespread political corruption and abuse of power he stands relatively tall (iii) Perception that he does not personally have a violence prone background (iv) his people friendly image devoid of arrogance in spite of being the son of a President (v) electoral \u2018fatigue\u2019 of the Rajapaksa \u2018brand\u2019 particularly since MR is ineligible to contest.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Sajith could throw it all away by docilely<\/b> accepting the outrageous \u2018conditions\u2019. This is politically suicidal for him.\u00a0 <\/span>If he does this he will play right into the hands of his opposition. It will confirm that he is a man without a backbone and character who could be manipulated in the future even by media moguls<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the context of Ranil\u2019s \u2018stock\u2019 in the country and among the UNP faithful currently perceived to be at an all time low, the ugly attempt to sidetrack Sajith through outrageous \u2018conditions\u2019, gives Sajith the opportunity to contest from an \u2018alternate\u2019 entity<\/b> while still retaining<\/b> the core of the UNP party hierarchy and voter base. If he wins, he will most likely have the \u2018clout\u2019 to get back to the UNP and give Ranil a well earned rest from politics!<\/p>\n

The bottom line for the country is that irrespective of who becomes Executive President, unless there is a highly unlikely miracle, the prognosis<\/b> for the country is dire<\/b> both socially and economically. None of the candidates – Gotabaya, Sajith or other known aspirants have presented a credible plan of action which even if presented would be implemented.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, although it is obvious to everyone that a sine qua non for any progress is (i) all citizens being treated equally<\/b> (ii) the rule of law<\/b> having no exceptions<\/b>, none of the aspirants will \u2018bite the bullet\u2019 even on these basic parameters. To what extent is the \u2018rule of law\u2019 being applied even to Presidential candidates?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What confidence<\/b> can one have on the observance of the rule of law<\/b> when high ranking law officers of the state reportedly behave in a manner that beggars belief?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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