Mahinda’s labour

Wednesday 19th October, 2022

Most political leaders in this country tend to live in the past. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is one of them. He seems to be labouring under the delusion that his theatrics can still yield enough votes for the SLPP to win elections. He has undertaken to revitalise the battered SLPP almost single-handed and enable it to recover lost ground fast. (He has also bragged that he is physically fit enough to run faster than the youth who make ageist remarks about him!) His courage seems to be outrunning his judgment.

What the SLPP’s overdependence on Mahinda signifies is that the ruling party is without any other leader capable of at least making an effort to turn it around. A similar situation arose following the 2015 regime change; Mahinda had to lead the rebel faction of the SLFP, pave the way for the formation of the SLPP and steer the newly-formed party to victory. He was hugely popular at the time despite his defeat and equal to the task he undertook to accomplish. But today the situation has changed. The SLPP has become a metaphor for corruption as well as incompetence; it has bankrupted the country, inflicted untold suffering on the public, and ruined its chances of winning an election in the foreseeable future.

On watching Mahinda making a determined bid to shore up his image and straighten up the SLPP, we are reminded of Clint Eastwood and the neo-western, Cry Macho, which the former rodeo star directed and acted in, at the age of 91; the flick received a mixed response and underperformed at the box office. What kind of response Mahinda’s political show will receive from the irate people who are fed up with the incumbent regime is not difficult to guess.

Speaking at a recent SLPP meeting at Nawalapitiya, Mahinda claimed that the SLPP was not scared of elections, and could win any electoral contest despite some setbacks it had suffered. He has demanded that elections be held. (Some people tuck up their sarongs, make a lot of noise and even dare ghosts to come out and face them when they happen to go past cemeteries alone at night; in so doing, they only betray their fear of apparitions!) If Mahinda is telling the truth, will he explain why the SLPP had the local government polls postponed? President Ranil Wickremesinghe also stands accused of trying to delay the local government elections further on the pretext of introducing electoral reforms. He has said he will be compelled to consult the people on electoral reforms at a referendum if the political parties represented in Parliament do not reach a consensus thereon and ensure the ratification thereof in six months. Electoral reforms are a long-drawn-out process, which can be used to postpone elections indefinitely.

Now that Mahinda has declared that the SLPP is capable of winning elections, let the government be urged to hold the local government polls without further delay and prove his claim. In fact, he does not have to go around the country saying so; he can tell the government to hold the local government elections if he is so confident. True, the country will have to maintain as many as 8,000 local councillors for another five years if the mini polls are held before electoral reforms are introduced to halve that number among other things, but that issue can be taken care of later, and the people must be given an opportunity to exercise their franchise and give vent to their pent-up anger in a democratic manner lest they should be left without any alternative but to take to the streets again.

Meanwhile, a man is said to be known by the company he keeps. Mahinda launched what is made out to be the SLPP’s election campaign from Kalutara, and the organiser of the event was Rohitha Abeygunawardena. Then, he attended the second meeting at Nawalapitiya; it was organised by Mahindananda Aluthgamage. That he needs no enemies goes without saying. Given public antipathy towards those whom he has chosen to surround himself with, it will be a miracle if he succeeds in achieving his goal of helping the SLPP win elections.