A disunited govt. calls for unity

Wednesday 25th August, 2021

Never a dull day in this pandemic-hit land thanks to the SLPP politicians leading a cat-and-dog life. They regularly wash a lot of dirty linen in public much to the amusement of the public, in these troubled times. The latest stream of invectives from the SLPP leadership has come in response to a discordant note struck by some coalition partners over the pandemic control measures.

The government refused to close the country in spite of an exponential increase in the daily count of infections and the death rate, for a few weeks. It came under pressure from various quarters to impose lockdowns, but it dug in its heels. In the meantime, some SLPP constituents wrote a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, requesting him to close the country in view of the worsening health crisis. The government made a U-turn, and the President announced a lockdown on Friday. The letter in question may not have influenced this volte-face, but it embarrassed the government immensely. Hence the consternation of the SLPP higher-ups, who have struck back.

SLPP General Secretary and MP Sagara Kariyawasam, on Monday, tore into the signatories to the aforesaid letter. He, however, stopped short of naming names unlike on previous occasions. Claiming that the dissenters’ position on lockdowns had been the same as that of the Cabinet until Wednesday, he accused them of having tried to score brownie points with the public at the expense of the SLPP. This is not the first time he has taken on Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila and others. Earlier, he even asked them to leave the government if they could not play by its rules. As it is popularly said, the wound is but skinned over and rankles still at the bottom.

Social media claims abound that dissenters have got under President Rajapaksa’s skin and received an earful each, and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has intervened to reconcile the warring factions. We are not in a position to verify these claims independently. Social media usually make mountains out of molehills and the government does it the other way around, but the fact remains that the SLPP is facing a serious internal problem which, unless managed without further delay, may lead to a crisis; the burning resentment of some of its constituents is welling up and may burst forth. This is a worrisome proposition for the government troubled by multiples crises, and another one to contend with on the political front must be the last thing it wants at this juncture.

Coalition politics are never easy to manage, for they represent a mélange of ideologies and a host of competing interests, and their constituents inhabit disparate worlds of thought. Preserving the unity of political alliances is a delicate process which requires an enormous amount of patience and tact. It is a task for seasoned political leaders. We have seen, over the decades, several coalitions emerge, stagger and collapse owing to the hubris of their main constituents. What befell the SLFP-led United Front government in the mid-1970s is a case in point. The powerful UPFA, it bears recall, also fell apart in 2014, with some of its partners voting with their feet, having fallen out with some SLFP leaders of the day. Perhaps, Prime Minister Rajapaksa, who seems to have learnt from his mistakes, is the best person to negotiate with the dissenters who have locked horns with the SLPP honchos.

It is laughable that the SLPP and its constituents are engaged in a free-for-all, as it were, while the government leaders are urging the people to unite for the sake of the country and make a concerted effort to beat the virus. What moral right do the SLPP grandees have to inveigh against the Opposition for what they call a complete lack of cooperation to tackle the health crisis while their coalition allies are fighting among themselves? Shouldn’t they put their own house in order and lead by example?