The subject of Ranil is relevant and important for the moment as his name has been put forward as a potential presidential candidate. If anyone proposes his name for the post, he/she would not intend to stabilise the social, political, and economic crises of the country.
by Helasingha Bandara
At the outset, please let me offer this article as a bouquet of yellow lilies and red roses to Achala Seneviratne, the people’s friend and the most courageous and sharp-witted daughter of Mother Lanka!
The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of a press conference held by Achala representing people’s lawyers. The entire country including shammers, scammers, lickers, and suckers should pay attention to what she told the country. The speech is the best I have heard in recent times, for its contents, thoughtfulness, intuitiveness, poignancy, and sincerity. She raised her voice against a person who even did not have a mandate to enter the parliament. It was none other than Ranil, the unethical, shameless, and calculating schemer.
Achala pointed out that Ranil cannot claim that he has taken the power into his hands to protect the constitution. All his life he has been involved in unconstitutional political games. The importance of the debate about Ranil’s suitability to run the country is ever so high as Ranil and his promoters have intensified the deception campaign with all their strength. Over the past few decades, Ranil has held all high-profile political positions but has achieved nothing tangible to raise the quality of life of ordinary people. Some people are still willing to defend Ranil.No descriptions are needed to expose those people because everyone knows why they are agitated. Even after a mass struggle that sent Rajapaksa brothers home, Ranil’s insensitivity and stupidity have not allowed him to see through reality.He does not even try to hide his ill intentions. The token gestures such as the removal of “his excellency the president” title, banning of the presidential flag and even the signal to free Ranjan Ramanayake are parts of his deception strategy. He is right in his belief that such tricks can deceive people of Sri Lanka. The mistake is not to realise that such numbers are diminishing by the day.
The subject of Ranil is relevant and important for the moment as his name has been put forward as a potential presidential candidate. If anyone proposes his name for the post, he/she would not intend to stabilise the social, political, and economic crises of the country. If the Pohottuwa elects him as the president that will be the beginning of larger-scale unrest as he is despised by the majority of the population whose outcry was for him to go. If anyone thinks that he can drown the voice of the people with the help of the military as they did in late 80’s, it is only a myth. The situation which prevailed 35 years ago is no longer applicable and the tactics used to control public unrest are outdated. Mass murder is no longer possible.
The plea of all forward-thinking people to the MPs of all parties is not to drag this country anymore towards anarchy. To prevent all forms of opposition from emerging and to establish a stable interim government, current MPs should change their mindsets and work to achieve that. Although we all wish it, under the current system and the constitution, the hope may remain only a hope.
Then she said that a constitution to be protected at any cost, it must be a constitution that protects people and their rights. The current constitution of Sri Lanka does not protect people, nor does it protect their rights. Instead, it protects the politicians who lie to people, deceive people, and steal their wealth at will. Had the constitution has the necessary qualities, the country could not have been in this state today. Over 74 years it served politicians to grow their personal wealth, protected their personal agendas, and has been amended at will for their own ends. Is the Law Society asking people to protect such an ignoble parchment?
Did people chase away Mahinda while upholding this constitution? Did they force Basil to vacate post in accordance with the constitution? Did they chase Gota away constitutionally? Did they occupy the Presidential Palace, AraliyaGahaMandiraya, and the Presidential Secretariat while thinking of the constitution, she further challenged? Had they been thinking about not violating the constitution while fighting to get rid of the Rajapakshas, they would have not achieved any of the above for this country and its people. The youth were not conscious of a constitution because it was not worth about being conscious of. There was no mention of a constitution until the Law Society threatened to withdraw their support at a critical point. Until the Law Society tried a blackmailing tactic, the path of the youth struggle that was nearing its final target, had been legitimised.
It must be appreciated that the contribution and protection provided by the Law Society played a huge part of the success of this revolution. Similarly, one wrong step of such an enormous contributor is enough to cause an irreparable damage to the struggle. We plead that the Law Society reconsider their stance and support the youth until a non-violent, but positive conclusion of the revolution is reached.
People suffered from unspeakable hardships and shed sweat and blood for a system change. Can such a system change be possible under the current constitution? Under the current constitution, another crony of the Rajapaksas will be the president. It will most likely be Ranil for whose neck the entire country is clamouring for. This constitution is being used to bring back the biggest enemy of the people onto the big chair. Was it the ultimate goal of the revolution? If Ranil cannot be stopped, people should throw out the current constitution despite intimidation and implied threats of the massacre from Ranil and introduce a people’s constitution. Then appoint a temporary President and a team to rule until they hold elections. Alternatively, they should force an immediate election.
It is important that Rajapaksa family notice how people abandoned them when they lost power. Some of the very same people, clad in white, now follow Ranil wherever he goes. Those are the shamers, scammers, lickers and suckers I mentioned in the first paragraph. Those are the type of people who have brought misery upon this country being overly selfish and being ignorant of the fact that personal wealth does not help when the country becomes a hell hole. Those who live in the developed world believe that the curse that is shrouding the masses of Sri Lanka is brought upon them partly by a section of their own society. People like Achala are a great gift from God to this unfortunate country as they try to neutralise the effects caused by the betrayals of the greedy.
When I heard Achala speaking, an old poem that I wrote about my own three sons came to mind
Meveniputhunvedumathwasanawan (May we be blessed to give birth to such sons )
Meveniputhunhedumathwasanawan (May we be blessed to raise such sons )
Meveniputhundekumathwasanawan(May we be blessed to have the sight of such sons )
Mathubhawayedithlebumatawasanawan ( May we be blessed to get such sons in our next life too)
I would like to dedicate this poem to Achala’s parents for giving such a graceful child to the world.
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