Darley Road drama

Wednesday 5th June, 2024

The SLFP shows signs of being on the fast track to oblivion. The Battle of the Blues, as it were, has got down and dirty, with the Sirisena and Chandrika factions tightening their grip on each other’s jugular. They have left the blue party red in tooth and claw. One might argue that what is unfolding at Darley Road has the trappings of a third-rate soap opera with a kudzu or ridiculously complicated plot owing to numerous appointments to top posts, endless protests, slanging matches, countless court cases and interim injunctions. Wheels within wheels, one might say. The ongoing struggle for the custody of the SLFP reminds us of Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle.

While on the subject of the Brechtian theatre, President Ranil Wickremesinghe once claimed that he found himself in the same predicament as Grusha, the intrepid servant, who crosses a precariously hanging rope bridge carrying a child, in the Caucasian Chalk Circle. Various views have been expressed about the real beneficiary of Wickremesinghe’s daring mission, but what is of relevance and import, in our book, is that the Sirisena faction of the SLFP has accused Wickremesinghe of having a hand in the unfolding Darley Road drama. It claims that its rival faction is trying to grab the party leadership and hitch their wagon to the UNP in time for the upcoming presidential election.

Those who belong to the warring factions of the SLFP would have the public believe that they are fighting hard to save their party. But, in our view, the need is in fact for the party to be saved from both sides that are driven by self-interest and expediency more than anything else. If they had an iota of love for their party, they would make peace and unite forthwith because the next presidential election is only a few months away. Instead, they are engaged in a see-saw legal battle, which is like a game of Snakes and Ladders, and on watching its twists and turns, one feels like repeating Mr. Bumble’s famous words in Oliver Twist—’the law is an ass’.

An interim order issued by the Colombo District Court against Minister of Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was extended on Monday, preventing him from functioning as the SLFP Chairman. Former President Maithripala Sirisena, a seasoned political escapologist, has wriggled out of the politico-legal mess of his own making at the expense of Minister Rajapakshe, who has been left pulling political chestnuts out of the fire.

The blame for the SLFP’s debilitation should be apportioned to Sirisena, his associates, and their rival faction led by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. They have severally undertaken the seemingly Sisyphean task of rebuilding the SLFP, which they jointly ruined in 2015 by causing a crippling split. If Sirisena had properly led the SLFP instead of trying to build another political dynasty or allowed someone capable of turning it around to take over its leadership, it would have been able to attract the disillusioned SLPP MPs and supporters and recover lost ground. His rivals who are out for his blood are also not equal to the daunting task of revitalising the SLFP.

The SLFP and its offshoot, the SLPP, have become politically bankrupt thanks to their leaders while the UNP is showing signs of slow recovery and its breakaway group, the SJB, is said to be within the hailing distance of state power.

The drama at Darley Road has reached the chalk circle test, with Citizen Perea playing Azdak, the scrivener-turned unorthodox judge. There is no Grusha in this scene; a dramatic plot twist has happened, and instead of Grusha there is an impersonator who is as ruthless, vain and uncaring as Natella. Both these characters, blinded by greed and rage, refuse to give in, and the SLFP runs the risk of being torn asunder. Thus, the Darley Road drama will have a tragic ending unlike the original, genre-defying Brechtian play, where the compassionate foster mother lets go of the child lest he should suffer injury.