This is unprecedented in the world history. crowds at carlton

President sirisena: blue or green?

We are now nearly five months away from the presidential election held on 8 January. Nevertheless, there are still big crowds at Carlton, the private residence of the defeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa. This is unprecedented in the world history. No defeated world leader has enjoyed so much affection of the people as enjoyed by President Rajapaksa. Let us examine the reasons for this extraordinary situation.

Ceylontoday, 2015-05-24 02:00:00

Read 683 Times

President sirisena: blue or green?

By Udaya Gammanpila

We are now nearly five months away from the presidential election held on 8 January. Nevertheless, there are still big crowds at Carlton, the private residence of the defeated President Mahinda Rajapaksa. This is unprecedented in the world history. No defeated world leader has enjoyed so much affection of the people as enjoyed by President Rajapaksa. Let us examine the reasons for this extraordinary situation.

When Rajapaksa obtained 5.8 million votes, Sirisena was able to obtain 6.2 million votes at the last presidential election. Obviously, Sirisena was elected as the President which was quite normal. Sirisena's next action is, of course, absolutely abnormal. He decided to become the leader of 5.8 million people who rejected him at the presidential election leaving 6.2 million people who chose him as the leader. He became the Leader of the SLFP by securing the majority of the SLFP's central committee. He then became the ex-officio leader of the UPFA.

Opting for becoming the leader of the enemy camp is unusual not only for Sri Lanka, but also for the entire world. Could you imagine Prime Minister Modi relinquishing Indian premiership to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan? What Sirisena did exactly matches it. Because of this unusual move, the 5.8 million people became political refugees. The very same person who was rejected by them at the recent presidential election has now become their own leader. How do they feel about it? This is a situation similar to bringing a stepmother home by the father after chasing away the mother despite the protest of the children. They have rejected the stepmother in public. They genuinely suspect that the stepmother would love her own kids more than them. Hence, the SLFPers are not ready to accept Sirisena as their leader despite his possession of powerful presidency.
Unusual decision
The kids visit the mother very often to complain about cruelty of the stepmother and to plead her to come back. Similarly, thousands of people daily visit Rajapaksa to pleading him to come back to politics. The unusual Rajapaksa wave is a result of the unusual decision taken by Sirisena to become the leader of 5.8 million people who opposed and rejected him at the last presidential election. President Sirisena's behaviour after becoming the Leader of the UPFA has justified the UPFA activists' suspicion about him.

President Sirisena became the Leader of the UPFA not because of his love for the UPFA, but because he was under obligation to protect the minority government of the UNP. He promised to appoint the leader of the UNP as the Prime Minister, in return for the UNP's support at the last presidential election. As he promised, within five minutes from assuming the office, President Sirisena appointed the UNP Leader as the Prime Minister. However, it is not an office that can be offered through a presidential election manifesto. After a parliamentary election, the president appoints the person who commands the confidence of the majority of the parliament as the Prime Minister. If a mandate can be obtained to appoint the Prime Minister through a presidential election manifesto, the UPFA would have mentioned in the election manifesto for the presidential election in 2010 that Ajantha Liyanage of the UPFA would be appointed as the mayor of Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) after the victory. The UPFA would have easily secured the mayoral post of the CMC in this manner although they have been failing to win the CMC at a local poll for the past 50 years.

Although the UNP leader became the PM in a surreptitious manner, he needs the loyalty of the majority of parliamentarians for his survival.The UPFA had a comfortable majority in the parliament even at that time with 132 parliamentarians. President Sirisena wanted to make it a party tamed and loyal to Prime Minister Wickremasinghe in order to secure his Premiership. Hence, he became the leader of the SLFP and thereafter the UPFA. The real reason for President Sirisena to become the leader of the UPFA has made the UPFA supporters suspicious and unhappy.

Unifying the party
He demonstrated again that he was still with the UNP when there was a discussion to unify the factions of the SLFP. President Rajapaksa's decision to meet President Sirisena at the cost of his dignity demonstrated his sincerity in unifying the party. Sirisena was his rival who defeated him at the presidential election. He was a cabinet minister when Rajapaksa was the President of the nation. When Rajapaksa was the chairman of the SLFP, Sirisena was his secretary. He forgot all these and decided to meet Sirisena despite the protest of his political colleagues in the name of unity of the party.

Rajapaksa was very careful in choosing his delegation. He did not pick anybody who had been hostile to Sirisena. His team comprised Prof. G L Peiris, Dullas Alahapperuma and Bandula Gunawardena who had not uttered a single word against Sirisena. However, Sirsena lauged at Rajapaksa's sacrifice in two ways. Firstly, he did not bring top brass of the party such as the national organizer, general secretary and chief opposition whip to devalue the importance of the discussion. Instead, he brought people like Rajitha Senearatne, M. K. D. S. Gunawardena and Duminda Disanayake who have been very hostile towards Rajapaksa for the past six months. They are not only junior members of the SLFP, but also campaigned to defeat the SLFP at the last presidential election. This behaviour of President Sirisena clearly displayed his lack of interest in party unity which is a pre-requisite for defeating the UNP at the parliamentary election.

President Sirisena's loyalty towards the UNP was displayed again when he decided to bring the local councils under officers' rule. He decided not to extend the term of local councils although there was legal provision for extension of nine months. Local councillors are the election machinery of any political party. They organize the party activities at grassroots level. They motivate people to vote at the election. When the local councils were dissolved, the majority were under the SLFP control. If the parliamentary election is held having active local councils, the SLFP campaign will be strengthened by the local councillors, a condition which is not favourable for the UNP. That is why President Sirisena decided to dissolve the councils.
Local councils
President Sirisena advised to dissolve the local councils when all SLFP leaders including Nimal Siripala, the leader of the Opposition urged him not to do so. The entire SLFP leadership's collective voice failed to overcome the UNP's influence over the leader of the SLFP.

Some defend President Sirisena arguing that he created a levelled field for a fair competition by dissolving the local councils. If he decided to hold elections soon after the dissolution, it would be a fair decision. However, bringing people representative institutes under officers' rule is against people's sovereignty and democracy.
Nobody can blame President Sirisena for his loyalty towards the UNP. He will be the President of Sri Lanka for the next five years thanks to the UNP. The SLFPers attempted their best to defeat him. In the light of above, President Sirisena is under obligation to the UNP. He can pay his debt only helping the UNP to form a government for five years. Hence, the blame should go to the SLFPers who conspired and offered the leadership of the SLFP to the president elected by the UNP.