A call for unity

The view expressed by JVP Parliamentarian K.D. Lal Kantha at the lying in State of the remains of Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle at the Parliament complex yesterday once again drives home the point that without totally annihilating the LTTE there will be no let up in its diabolical campaign of eliminating Southern Politicians.

Speaking to a TV channel the MP called for the need of joint action by all democratic political parties putting aside all parochial differences to ensure this serial killing of prominent political figures is brought to an end once and for all.

He recalled the string of assassination carried out by the LTTE including those of Tamil politicians noting that the only way to halt this trend was routing out the Tigers and the forces who support it.

He also noted that there was a pattern in the LTTE’s act to target those politicians with competence and those commanding a huge following and public acceptance. He also did not discount the possibility of international forces in the diabolical plan.

He said it was time for the President, Ministers and Opposition political parties to join forces and ensure no more assassination of this kind take place in the future. The only remedy he said is wiping out the LTTE in its totality.

The Government we are sure would redouble its effort to see that the Tigers are brought to their knees in the North as in the East.

As the MP stated a concerted effort is required with the participation of patriotic forces to put a halt to this spiral of killings. We have been losing too many of our prominent political figures for all parties to call out in one voice and say enough is enough.

An exemplary politician

The death of Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle in an LTTE suicide bomb attack removes from the local political scene one of the pillars of the masses and a symbol of multi-ethnic cohabitation.

A colourful personality and one of the best orators among the present crop of politicians both in Government and Opposition his demise may also take much of the lustre and bite in the Parliament debates where he was undoubtedly the dominant figure.

Though caustic in attack he was nevertheless a friend of the Opposition and performed his role as the Chief Government Whip with great aplomb and dispatch.

The late Fernandopulle perhaps will best be remembered as a unique politician who broke free of all ethnic hang ups and inferiority complexes to champion the cause of the larger masses who looked to him for salvation.

Blessed with uncanny oratorical powers he could whip up a frenzy among his constituents in the vast Roman Catholic belt in the North Western coast and equally slip into the ethos and the idiom of the predominant Buddhist community during a visit to the deep South.

He stood out as an ideal example of ethnic assimilation and communal integration that the country so desperately needs at this juncture. His rise to prominence in the country’s political firmament only goes on to prove that any member of the minority community could aspire to high office through sheer determination and perseverance.

His demise also leaves a huge void in the frontline Government ranks which it will be hard pressed to fill at least in the near future. He carried himself with poise and aplomb when defending the Government in Parliament and had few peers in the mastery of the vernacular, both Sinhala and Tamil, which he used like a rapier to cut down a member of the Opposition.

In full flow he was unstoppable and though not exactly endearing himself to the language purists was a master at filibuster that helped greatly relieve a particularly tedious session of the House. Jeyaraj represented a genre of politician who would emerge only once in a lifetime. There was an aura about him that attracted members of the majority community into his orbit with ease.

Parliament and TV stations will be all the more poorer by his absence and as the Chief Government Whip his lyrical speeches and witty parry and thrust which enlivened sessions in the House will be missed by his colleagues and visitors to the Public Gallery.

Though not laced with quotes from the English classics his speeches nevertheless had a hypnotic quality that sent Parliament into gales of laughter. Jeyaraj on the floor was certainly a sight to behold.

He possessed the knack of silencing an adversary with a sweeping remark which reduced the latter into submission. No doubt Parliament will not be the same the again without this stormy petrel of Sri Lankan politics.