It is said that the President listened to “Gnanakka”, Nalin, Jayasumana, Ven. Ratana and some politicised medical doctors in banning fertilisers, sidelining the very experienced scientists of the Dept. of Agriculture.
by Chandre Dharmawardana
Public protests that have erupted as a reaction to the economic and financial free fall of the country have now entered a dangerous phase with one person being shot dead in Rambukkana. If a protest goes on long enough, the odds are that someone will get killed and looters will arrive soon enough. All sorts of forces will begin to fish in troubled waters.
The government should have known that the West will invest to make regime change, given what happened elsewhere and in 2015. So, a good Army commander, even in retirement, should have anticipated that there will be those who will attempt to undermine him.
However, no outside agents are necessary when the Army man shoots himself on both feet. In the case of Sri Lanka, these two feet are energy supply and food supply. The energy supply depended crucially on the ability to buy fuel, using foreign exchange.
Gutting the Food supply
It is said that the President listened to “Gnanakka”, Nalin, Jayasumana, Ven. Ratana and some politicised medical doctors in banning fertilisers, sidelining the very experienced scientists of the Dept. of Agriculture. Gotabaya was going far beyond the ban on glyphosate, previously engineered by Ven. Ratana who was a part of the Yahapalanaya government.
As public servants, the scientists of the Agriculture Department couldn’t say much without getting sacked – those who dared got sacked. Chamal Rajapaksa (a supporter of traditional “govikama”), many leading monks, as well as a number of fringe scientists had supported going back to “traditional agriculture” and low-yielding “traditional” varieties of rice seeds. They opposed modern high-yielding hybrids or the use of agrochemicals. So, if the President erred, he had company.
As the scientists of the research Institutes like Maha Illuppallama, TRI, RRI, etc., are gagged, some of us wrote articles and even told the powers that be privately to not to shoot themselves in the foot, but to no avail. Scientists who spoke out were said to be in the pay of big agrochemical companies. Planter’s associations with decades of experience pleaded with the authorities, but to no avail.
Financial collapse
As for the financial collapse, already in 2010 (and before), Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange expenses and foreign debts exceeded foreign income. So, even without big calculations and economic projections you could see that the country will become bankrupt soon. What was going to happen soon became very soon with the coming of the pandemic.
But the pandemic took over two years to have its full impact and so an intelligent government could have taken steps to avoid the heavy impact, especially when the foreign credit agencies began to downgrade Sri Lanka’s credit worthiness.
However, leave aside financial prudence, even when faced with a deadly virus, Ministers and the Speaker of the Parliament sought the protection of occult powers and some went onto launching clay pots carrying charms in rivers.
When Gotabaya took over he did not state that the Treasury was empty and put in hard restructuring; instead he lowered taxes, gave new cars to MPs, and spent freely. There were budgets under MR and then Basil R. Their budgets should have recognized that Lanka’s foreign income was smaller than her foreign expenditure and spelt out remedial measures.
They did not want to admit that; instead a rapid path to prosperity (“Saubhagya”) was promised.
Like irresponsible teenagers given a credit card, the government began with a spending spree. They lowered taxes, began building new highways, cancelled already tendered power projects and other contracts, and opened new contracts using their own henchmen who could get new commissions. The country paid damages for breached contracts.
Conspiracy theories
Where did the breakaway in parliamentary power begin? It began with Weerawansa, Vasudeva, Gammanpila and others leaving the government and agitating against the power contract signed at midnight with a US company.
So, the rebels are not recognised as “puppets of the US”. While it is clear that the JVP had a significant hand in organizing protests in foreign capitals, and in synchronizing the slogan “Gota go home”, its role in local protests is much less certain.
The Western foes (“friends” to some) or any other foes or “friends” in the North or in the East will exploit the situation to the maximum; they will infiltrate the on-going protests and begin to fund them. But they cannot be named the agents who triggered it, even though such conspiracy theories would be very plausible to many people.
The first Rajapaksa government fell to regime change in 2015. If the second Rajapaksa govt. under Gotabaya, fell into the same trap then that is incompetence comparable to the Yahapalanaya louts who were fore-warned of the Easter attack but took no precautionary steps.
The “Sinhala Buddhists” (and many Sinhala Catholics disenchanted by the Easter bombing under Yahapalanaya) reposed their faith in Gotabaya. He has let them down badly, and allowed the enemies of the “Sinhala Buddhists” (be they the “ritual” types or the “meditation” types) to make a mockery of the best aspects of what individuals like Anagarika Dharmapala, Baron Jayatilleke or EW Adhikaram, Malalasekera and others argued for, since a century ago.
In any case some may say that the Gota government was closer to US control than even the Yahapalanaya. So, why would the West need to turn this government out, especially now that it has gone to Washington for an IMF bailout?
Gotabaya brought about the crisis himself, with the help of people like Venerable Ratana (who was the government’s authority on Agriculture), and the government strategists on finance.
During the war Gotabaya listened to his generals unlike Chandrika or Ranil, who was more interested in winning the Nobel peace prize. During his stint in urban planning Gotabaya listened to the architects. But perhaps as he aged, and with more power in his hands he became more superstitious and more irrational?
After he became President it is said that he listened to Gnanakka and others, just as Ranil and others would rush to the Tirupathi Kovil in India. It is said that when things began to go bad, Gnanakka asked the government to have a Sandalwood forest in front of the Parliament and said then all the “avaduru” (bad portends) would go away.
Apparently, the government followed Gnanakka’s instructions to appease the Gods. Clearly, the Gods want more!
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