Sirisena’s revolt

Thursday 18th November, 2021

SLPP MP and former President Maithripala Sirisena has told Parliament that the yahapalana government, which he once led, was more sinned against than sinning, and it is wrong to blame that administration for everything that has gone wrong. What is ailing the country, in his opinion, could be traced back to the opening up of the economy in 1977. He has said so in response to an oft-repeated claim by some SLPP MPs that the yahapalana government ruined the country.

What takes the cake is that Sirisena has reminded the cantankerous SLPP MPs critical of him that the leader of the yahapalana government [meaning himself] is now in the SLPP administration! He once said, during the SLFP-UNP honeymoon, that he had played elle at ‘Polonnaruwa Royal’ and become the President, and Ranil Wickremesinghe, who played cricket at ‘Colombo Royal’ had become the Prime Minister. But he has proved that he is capable of bowling toe-crushing yorkers, as it were.

Sirisena, however, true to form, left many things unsaid in his speech. He won the presidency, in 2015, vowing to bring the Rajapaksas to justice for what he called their many ‘crimes’, and usher in good governance. He said they were the worst leaders the country had ever seen, and he had left their government as his conscience did not allow him to remain in it any longer. He even claimed that the young members of the Rajapaksa family had frequent whirlybird rides to Nuwara-Eliya, at the expense of the public, to ride a ‘golden horse’, which had been imported from Buckingham Palace, of all places. (That horse was never found, and Sirisena can now ask the ruling family where the fabulous animal is being kept.) But a little over three years into his presidency, he smoked the peace pipe with the Rajapaksas, whom he had striven to destroy politically, albeit in vain, and appointed his bete noire, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister, after sacking the UNF government. He failed to oust Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe due to a judicial intervention, but he succeeded in riding on the Rajapaksas’ coattails or saatakas and surviving the 2020 general election.

It is widely thought that the yahapalana administration was a disaster, but the Rajapaksa government would have been a much bigger disaster if it had been re-elected in 2015. But for its defeat, the Colombo and Kandy cities would have been turned into Formula One circuits; the country would have been burdened with more Ozymandian projects; many more corrupt deals would have been cut, and the country’s debt crisis would have worsened. Going by the manner in which the current ruling party politicians are making up for lost time, what would have befallen the country if there had not been a five-year hiatus in the Rajapaksa rule is not difficult to imagine.

Sirisena has said the yahapalana government was not infallible, but made no mention of its failure to prevent the Easter Sunday carnage in spite of receiving repeated warnings from a foreign intelligence outfit that terror strikes were imminent. He has also not said how lucky he is to be a member of the incumbent government. If he had not thrown in his lot with the Rajapaksas, he would have faced legal action over the Easter Sunday attacks and been in the exalted company of former IGP Pujith Juyasundera and ex-Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando.

It is a supreme irony that Sirisena is now in the same government as Premalal Jayasekera, who has been sentenced to death over the murder of one of his supporters in January 2015. The victim was shot dead while he, together with others, was making preparations for a rally in support of Sirisena in the presidential race. What would Sirisena say to the family of the victim? He betrayed millions of such people who reposed trust in him and supported him, risking their lives.

At least now, the ordinary Sri Lankans ought to realise that it is nothing but stupid to risk life and limb to help crafty politicians, and, above all, dirty politics is not worth dying for. Sirisena owes an apology to the people he took for a ride.