Basil’s switcheroo and headless chicken

Monday 18th March, 2024

Founder of the SLPP and former Minister of Finance, Basil Rajapaksa, is doing a Pontius Pilate. Having returned from the US recently, he is now trying to wash his hands of the unforgivable sin of ruining the economy and inflicting untold suffering on the public. He is also playing the victim although he has not publicly subscribed to his sibling, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s claim that the 2022 popular uprising, which led to his ouster, was the result of a conspiracy. He is trying to absolve the Rajapaksas of responsibility for the disastrous consequences of their mishandling of the economy and corrupt practices. He would have the public believe that he and his family members stepped down of their own volition in 2022, and cannot be held responsible for what has happened since then.

There is no way the SLPP can deny responsibility for what it has taken exception to, especially the divestiture of state assets, and unconscionably high taxes. But Basil has said, in a recent Sirasa TV interview, the incumbent dispensation cannot be considered an SLPP government! He says the SLPP district leaders in five provinces—East, North-Western, Uva, North-Central and Central—are not members of the Cabinet, and therefore the government cannot be considered an SLPP administration. But it is the SLPP, which had Ranil Wickremesinghe elected President by Parliament and provides him with a parliamentary majority. Basil, however, praises President Wickremesinghe for having brought order out of chaos; within the first few days of President Wickremesinghe’s induction as President, benefits began to accrue to the public, he says. Self-contradictory as Basil’s claims may be, one thing is clear: he is running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

Basil has not ruled out the possibility of the SLPP opting to ride on President Wickremesinghe’s coattails at the next presidential election. He argues that there are only two political parties with robust organisational structures––the SLPP and the JVP; there are two truly mass-based political parties with adequate popular support—the SLPP and the SJB. The UNP lacks both organisational strength and popular support but has a formidable leader––President Wickremesinghe. A party has to have popular support, organisational strength and an effective leader to win a presidential election, Basil has said. The implication of his contention is that he believes that it may be mutually beneficial to the SLPP and the UNP to close ranks come the next presidential election.

Basil says, in the Sirasa interview, he thinks a general election should be held before the next presidential contest to ensure that the people vote rationally, without overwhelmingly supporting the party of the winner of the presidency. Interestingly, Basil engineered crossovers to raise a two-thirds majority for the SLPP to change the Constitution and make a host of bad laws to further the interests of the Rajapaksa family and its cronies, after the 2020 parliamentary polls, held after Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election as President; he is now concerned about the ill-effects of absolute power given to political parties. This could be considered a case of sour grapes. Basil’s newfound aversion to absolutism indicates that he is not confident of the SLPP winning a general election and therefore does not want the next government to be strong. This fact also becomes evident when he urges other parties to come together to help the country come out of the current crisis.

By saying that a parliamentary election, which the UNP is not ready for, should be held before the next presidential polls, Basil is apparently playing a game of brinkmanship to railroad President Wickremesinghe into doing his bidding. One can only hope that his bluff will be called.

The SLPP is like Miracle Mike, the male chicken that lived for 18 months after being beheaded, in the US, in the late 1940s. The American who owned Mike made the most of the poor animal before it went the way of all flesh. Basil, the American, is apparently doing something similar to the SLPP, which is on its last legs.