Remarketing rejects

Wednesday 29th January, 2025

The SLPP is girding up its loins for the upcoming local government (LG) polls. Its National Organiser Namal Rajapaksa yesterday launched the SLPP LG Councillors’ Forum, in Colombo, and among those present on the occasion were those who made an immense contribution to the SLPP’s downfall.

The fact that the Opposition has prevailed over the ruling NPP in cooperative society elections during the past several weeks, signalling a shift in public sentiments, seems to have boosted the morale of the SLPP. The SJB and the UNP are also upbeat about their performance in the cooperative society elections, the results of which are popularly believed to indicate which way political winds blow at the grassroots level. The NPP has sought to put a bold face on the situation, but it is holding rallies with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in attendance, in the areas where it has suffered setbacks in the cooperative society elections, according to the Opposition.

Psephologists may be wary of extrapolating the cooperative society election results to other polls, but the NPP’s poor performance in the grassroots-level contests indicates growing public disillusionment with the incumbent government. The NPP leaders are doing more of what they did during their opposition days in a bid to retain popular support, instead of exercising state power they are wielding to deliver on their promises. They are bellowing rhetoric and making more promises.

Paddy farmers are up in arms, unable to sell their produce at reasonable prices. People have to wait in long queues to obtain passports and some varieties of rice. The Opposition is in overdrive to capitalise on public resentment towards the government and recover lost ground.

However, the mere sight of a bunch of unpopular, if not notorious, characters in the garb of ex-local council members has the potential to put off voters. Therefore, the biggest challenge before the SLPP is to repackage and remarket such unsavoury individuals in the upcoming LG polls. Namal himself opted out of the last general election and returned to Parliament via the National List, and it will be a Herculean task for him to enable the SLPP to improve its electoral performance in the foreseeable future.

One may recall that the former LG members of the SLPP were also responsible for the downfall of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government. They assaulted a group of peaceful anti-government protesters at Galle Face Green in May 2022. Their savage attack on the protesters who were insulting and trying to oust President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was akin to the fatal blow the proverbial pet monkey delivered to his royal master in his sleep with his own sword, in an attempt to kill a mosquito.

Aragalaya had run out of steam, and protesters were fatigued when the SLPP goons went on the rampage, triggering a spate of retaliatory attacks, which left scores of houses belonging to SLPP politicians gutted and led to the resignation of Prime Minister Rajapaksa immediately afterwards. The Galle Face attack paved the way for the JVP-led NPP’s meteoric rise in national politics.

Accusing President Dissanayake of having had Mahinda Rajapaksa’s official residence overvalued for political reasons, a former SLPP MP said yesterday that their houses burnt down in 2022 should have been estimated in a similar manner. They are lucky that they were not asked to disclose how funds had been raised for the construction of those palatial houses when compensation was paid.

It is only wishful thinking that the SLPP will be able to turn itself around by nominating its former local councillors who were involved in the Galle Face attack and other such activities, to contest the upcoming LG polls. People cannot be expected to re-elect those characters simply because they are resentful and have given a knock to the NPP in the co-operative society elections, sending a warning about their dissatisfaction.