Monday 30th September, 2024

Death of anyone diminishes us, we say with apologies to the verse virtuoso, John Donne, but the demise of good people diminishes us even more. It was with shock and sorrow that we received the news about the untimely death of veteran political leader, Kumara Welgama, on Saturday.

Welgama lived up to his first name, enjoying as he did his life to the fullest—at his own expense, unlike many other politicians—but without losing the common touch. Positions sat lightly on him, and he treated the rich and the poor alike. He was everyone’s friend.

Welgama harboured no grudge against anyone and carried no baggage, political or otherwise. However, never did he hesitate to take on the high and mighty with might and main and bring them down a peg or two. An otherwise dull Parliament would become lively suddenly when he was on his feet. One wonders whether there is anyone else who is capable of turning the searchlight inwards and laughing at himself or herself the way Welgama did. He owned up to his mistakes and even wrongs unhesitatingly. He was very open about what he did.

Welgama remained a rebel to the last. He feared none. And, none feared him, for he was so gentle and affable. He was fearlessly truthful and would tell even the Heads of State some home truths. He was the first to declare that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was a total misfit and the latter’s rule was doomed to fail.

In fact, he insisted that Gotabaya must not be allowed to run for President in the first place. He warned that it would be a fatal mistake for the people to elect Gotabaya as President. Unfortunately, his warning went unheeded and his predictions came true; the country was plunged into chaos.

Welgama voted with his feet whenever he could not agree with his party leaders, and proved that the people were with him by contesting general elections; he remained undefeated. At the time of his death, he was the leader of the New Lanka Freedom Party, which he formed after being disillusioned with the parties he had been in since 1982, when he entered active politics as the SLFP organiser for Agalawatte. He cut his teeth on politics under the tutelage of legendary Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

Sadly, Welgama, who fought fearlessly against dark forces in politics, became a victim of mob violence, which nearly snuffed out his life during the May 2022 retaliatory attacks following an assault by SLPP goons on Aragalaya protesters earlier in the day. A group of attackers set upon him in a Colombo suburb, while he was returning home; they menacingly chanted that he was one of the 225 MPs, who, they claimed, did not deserve to live.

Welgama would have been burnt alive in his own vehicle unless an intrepid youth pulled him out in the nick of time. However, that savage attack had a lasting impact on his health, which continued to deteriorate. Little did those attackers care that he was a bitter critic of the Rajapaksa regime and had been the first to ask ‘Gota to go home’.

Welgama made a memorable speech in Parliament, after returning from hospital, where he had received ICU treatment. Of his attackers who were mostly youth, he said, “I have lived long enough, but they have many more years ahead of them.” There was nary a tinge of anger or animosity in his voice. He said he did not want any action taken against them.

Some sinister forces seeking a shortcut to power took over Aragalaya, which began as a genuine protest by ordinary people venting their pent-up anger against the failed Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration, which, having promised prosperity, made their lives unbearably miserable. They unleashed mindless violence in the name of retaliation. First, they pursued, surrounded and killed SLPP MP Amarakeerthi Athukorale, one of the most harmless politicians this country has ever seen. They unleashed mobs on their political enemies.

They let the genie out of the bottle by triggering a tsunami of anti-politics against the mainstream politics and the practitioners thereof, whom they tarred with the same brush as crooks and thugs. Let them be told that they run the risk of being hoist with their own petard.

Welgama has departed, leaving a huge void in politics, which only another man of the people will be able to fill. But such leaders are hard to come by.