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Whisper confidentially in a person's ear."I am letting you know something I had from the horse's mouth". That's the style. The name of the game is canard campaign.

One of the UNP's old modes of subterfuge. It was practised to perfection by some inane citizens who thought that the UNP was the sacrosanct political gift to Sri Lankans.

But as usual the people became wiser. In the 1960s there was a shameless smear campaign against the UNP's number one target, T.B.Illangaratne. The canard campaign started with an ethnic or racist connotations.

As Illangaratne was one of the closest associates of the late Premier S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike canard campaigners first said that Illangaratne was a Tamil. Not that it mattered a wee bit to a liberal democrat like Bandaranaike whether his cabinet colleague was Tamil, Muslim or Sinhala. But the canard makers had a purpose.

Cardinal principles

One of the cardinal principles of the canard campaign was to attack the strongest and the most dedicated person on the other side of the political dichotomy. Illangaratne more than any other member of the SLFP was a peace maker and a loyalist who was responsible for coalescing the SLFP with the LSSP and the CP when the need to form a strong progressive government had arisen. Illangaratne was also a minister who had stood by Premier Bandaranaike when his right wing cabinet ministers had betrayed him.

With no political charge to be levelled against Illangaratne, the canard campaign became very alive.

The UNP campaigners whispered in the ears of the gullible and the uninitiated the intentionally cooked up story that since Ilangai or Ilankai is a Tamil word for Sri Lanka, Illangaratne's name came from his Tamil ancestry. But what the canard makers did not know or pretended not to know was that Illanga or Illangam is a Sinhala term for unarmed combat and those who were professional wrestlers or unarmed combatants were given names like that.

Smearing character

Illangaratne was Trade Minister in the SLFP and United Front governments of Mrs. Bandaranaike and the UNP canard makers next turned to smear his character by saying the he had made millions in kickbacks as the Trade Minister. He, they said owned hotels in Switzerland and had secret Swiss Bank accounts. The canard went to the extent of saying that Illangaratne's photograph was hung in the Swiss hotel he owned and visitors to the hotel were shown this photograph by the management who said Illangaratne, a Sri Lankan prince owned that hotel !

Yet many years back Illangaratne in retirement lived on his pension, in an average middle class home earning some extra rupees from writing his popular novels as a well known Sinhala writer. When he died after an illness those who went to attend his funeral saw the weatherbeaten old furniture which had seen years of use. The normal signs of lack of wealth and the small car which had been collecting dust in the garage were the mute witnesses to his honesty. But there was no signs of Swiss bank accounts or ostentatious style of living in that home which had sheltered one of the most honest cabinet ministers this country had ever seen. Smear campaigners could not seal their shameless lie on the coffin of this poor man who had acted with due pride according to his conscience.

Whisper in the ear

During this election campaign also the whisper in the ear is still practised. Recently a woman official of a Lion's Club in the Gampaha District had visited many people of her home town and had been telling these people that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was building a palatial residence in Paris. The building is done by Sri Lankan masons who had been sent to France for the purpose. Some people who do not know President Kumaratunga's family may believe the canard. But the UNP stalwarts have the ears of the gullible who may believe this.

There are many others who pretend they know what is happening behind the scene but the old canard making craft sometimes could damage the most honest person. It is obvious that the UNP has more skeletons in its cupboard than any other political party. If a proper investigation is made how once very poor tenement dwellers or those who lived in slums became millionaires in a matter of a few decades without having any family business or income generating wealth the finger could be easily pointed to some of its big wigs including UNP leaders.

How such wealth came into their hands should be investigated even in the future. At the last press briefing given by President Kumaratunga she said that the most corrupt of her government had joined the UNP but there may be others too. She pledged that she would take action against anyone in her government however high their position. It would be a good thing for the country if a permanent commission to investigate the politicians be appointed so that dishonest persons are weeded out of public life.

JSS hit list

Whisper campaigns apart the UNP leadership has not shed its fiendish past even today. What is understood from reliable Sirikotha, UNP headquarters, sources is that lists of persons who are actively supporting the PA or the JVP have been prepared by the Jatika Sevaka Sangamaya (JSS) activists in places of work and at grassroots level by the UNP electoral organizers on instructions from JSS bosses. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had made a statement from the UNP campaign platform that no political opponents would be harassed in the event the UNP comes to power. But students of politics and political analysts know that the UNP cannot change, not under the present leadership because the leading members of the UNP have not still shed their old clothing nor discarded their old ways.

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