Zorro back to zero

Monday 29th November, 2021

Maithripala Sirisena did not want to remain a Cabinet minister in the UPFA government, which he left in November 2014 mainly because the Rajapaksas were riding roughshod over him. He ran for President and became Zorro, as it were, in Sri Lankan politics by defeating President Mahinda Rajapaksa. But, a little over six years on, he has chosen to stomach many indignities at the hands of the Rajapaksas and remain an ordinary MP in the current SLPP administration. Zorro is back to zero.

Senior Vice President of the SLFP Prof. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa has gone on record as saying the incumbent dispensation has not done anything good for the people, and Budget 2022 is absolutely worthless. He has dubbed the government an edawela-tours administration—an outfit given to living from day to day. This is the general perception anent the government and its poor performance. Prof. Piyadasa has also said the SLPP MPs and ministers who are slandering SLFP leader Sirisena would not have done so without the blessings of the SLPP leaders, who, he says, could easily rein them in if they so desire. He seems to have read the situation accurately. Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has also asked the SLFP to leave the government, according to a report we publish today.

The SLPP’s popularity is on the wane, and the SLFP is trying to make the most of the situation to shore up its image and support base by criticising the government while being a part of it. The SLPP leaders have seen through the SLFP’s strategy, and it is obvious that their minions are carrying out a vilification campaign against the SLFP leader at their behest. The question is why the SLFP continues to be in the SLPP government?

Sirisena never misses an opportunity to boast that he had the executive powers of the presidency pruned down through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, and received international recognition for his contribution to strengthening Sri Lankan democracy. He says he is the only leader in the world to have let go of some executive powers. But he unflinchingly allowed the SLFP to vote for the 20th Amendment, which nullified the much-flaunted 19th Amendment.

The main reason Sirisena publicly adduced in justification of his defection from the UPFA in November 2014 to run for President in January 2015 was his abhorrence of the dictatorial rule of the Rajapaksa family, which, he said, had become a metaphor for corruption as well as abuse of power. Paradoxically, he also claimed that he, as the SLFP General Secretary at the time, advised the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa not to advance the presidential election because conditions on the political front were not favourable to the UPFA at the time. If Rajapaksa had heeded his advice, the UPFA government would have completed its full term, and Sirisena would have remained in it for another year or so despite its ‘corruption and abuse of power’!

When Sirisena was asked in a recent television interview whether he had joined forces with the Rajapaksas again because the factors that had led him to break ranks with them were no longer there, he said the situation remained the same. If so, why did he close ranks with the Rajapaksas? He claimed he did not tell the SLFP what to do, and had allowed the party’s Central Committee (CC) and parliamentary group to make decisions, and they had decided to back the SLPP. This, however, is not true; he does not allow his MPs or the SLFP CC that kind of leeway. After winning the presidency and taking over as the SLFP leader in January 2015, he forced the party to opt for a political cohabitation with the UNP so as to consolidate his position in the new government. The UNP had only 47 seats as opposed to the SLFP-led UPFA’s 142. Having done so, how can he expect the people to buy into his claim that he does not force his decisions on the SLFP?

The SLFP has today become as politically promiscuous as the SLMC and the Ceylon Workers’ Congress; it gets enticed by political kerb crawlers. In 2015, it offered its services to the UNP, and about five years later it opted for living together with the SLPP. It seems to be looking for a new partner? This is the fate that awaits any party whose leaders act out of expediency rather than principle.

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike would turn in his grave if he knew what has befallen his beloved party.