Friday 30th August, 2024

A food taster who received a knuckle sandwich from a cook, during a political argument, in a hotel kitchen, was recently hospitalised with a dental avulsion, according to a news item in a Sinhala daily. The pugnacious cook found himself in the soup; he was arrested and produced before the Colombo Magistrate, who released him on bail. The spark of the brawl was a disagreement between the duo over whom to vote for at the forthcoming presidential election. This particular incident can be thought to represent in microcosm the situation in society at large; divisive politics has eaten into the vitals of society and torn almost all social institutions asunder, with brothers assaulting brothers, and friends knifing friends.

There is nothing stupider than to make enemies for the sake of political parties or leaders. In January 2015, a UNP supporter who intrepidly stood up to a gang of UPFA thugs who demolished a stage being put up for a meeting to be addressed by the then presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena, backed by the UNP, was shot dead in Kahawatte. The then State Minister Premalal Jayasekera aka Choka Malli, who was campaigning for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was arrested and prosecuted after the 2015 regime change.

Three years later, Sirisena closed ranks with Rajapaksa and tried to topple the UNP-led government. Jayasekea was sentenced to death, but he successfully appealed against his conviction under the current dispensation. The UNP, however, does not consider him innocent. In a dramatic turn of events which would have jolted the Kahawatte victim out of his grave, UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was elected President by the rejected (SLPP consisting of former UPFA politicians), appointed Choka Malli a state minister! Unfortunately, the moral of the story has gone unlearnt, and people continue to engage in heated arguments and even exchange blows over politics.

Look at the frontrunners in the current presidential race. They are living in clover thanks to their involvement in politics. Even the one who pretended to practise austerity in keeping with his Marxist ideology has graduated from a double cab to a luxury SUV, sports expensive designer wear and flies business class. Why should the ordinary people engage in fisticuffs or gunfights and risk life and limb to make politicians’ lives even more luxurious?

The food taster distressed over his missing tooth, the cook troubled by the prospect of having to face judicial punishment, and other such ardent followers of politicians and political parties ought to realise that their leaders have no permanent enemies. Their political battles are like scripted fake wrestling matches full of dramatic stunts. Most of the dissident MPs who are now supporting President Wickremesinghe used to bay for his blood while they were licking the Rajapaksas’ sandals or sereppu.

Prominent among them are Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Mahindananda Aluthgamage and Rohitha Abeygunawardena. Today, they are singing hosannas for Ranil, who, they insist, is the best leader the country has ever produced. Ranil, who obtained a popular mandate in 2015 to throw such characters behind bars for corruption and abuse of power, is enjoying their exalted company!

Actor-turned-politician Ranjan Ramanayake once said a mouthful about politicians who were at daggers drawn in Parliament—mun okkoma yaluwo malli (all these guys are friends, bro). So, why should others enter into arguments or trade blows over political issues?

Whoever wins the coveted presidency next month will ensure that the interests of the political class and the moneybags who bankroll election campaigns take precedence over those of the hapless people who vote for foxes while struggling to keep the wolf from the door. No political party or leader is worth losing teeth, much less lives, for.