Sarath and Sarath

K. K. S. PERERA

The JVP’s think tank and its strong grass-root brigade working round-the-clock to make the two Saraths, the first and the second citizens of Mother Lanka, are taking the rural vote base for-a-ride, like a team of montessori teachers reciting nursery rhymes to kindergarten kids. We doubt if these political opportunists knew anything about many close similarities between Sarath and Sarath.

Personal records

If one examines the ‘Horoscopes’ of the two, and compare the ‘poronthams’ based on their career personal records, rather than the planetary positions at birth, the ‘astrologers’ would certainly find that a high percentage of them tallied.

They displayed a very high degree of competency in their respective fields and performed exceptionally well in their carreer (except in the final year by the one proposed for PM’s) and rose up to the highest pedestals, (thanks to two Presidents), before retiring in the same year after being in public service during the same period and for an equal length of time. (Forty years a soldier and forty years a legalist respectively, plus ‘forty days’ in politics, common for both).

Both are egoists, who made high over-estimations of themselves.

One of them believed he won the war single-handedly and expected glorious rewards., while the other made numerous boasting utterances on judgments delivered undermining the authority of the government, to acquire a sense of superiority over the legislator and the executive.

Both these gentlemen displayed their natural instinct for vindictiveness. Interviews of military sources telecast over TV channels during the campaign, provided quite a few instances of such behavior as evidence.

Harsh judgement

The open public warning made at a courts opening, by the other, against a top bureaucrat for delaying perks for judicial officers, and following it up with an unfair and harsh judgement against the said public officer in a separate FR plea, in an entirely a different matter, (which was subsequently reversed by a seven member sitting after his retirement), are ample evidence in support of this claim.

At the tail-end of their careers, they both panicked a little bit not knowing how to plan their retirement, and made erratic and hasty decisions, mainly driven by vengeance and hatred, cutting pathetic figures of themselves.

They did not stop at that and went on to make either baseless or malicious statements and ‘rulings ‘ acting ultra-vires embarrassing their superiors . This they did with the intention of gaining some cheap- popularity, usually sought by political amateurs. Their irresponsible utterances, casting serious allegations against their colleagues and superiors have resulted in international bodies to interfere with the sovereignty of the nation.

Both took up new roles immediately following their retirement, pretending to be messiahs either preaching dhamma (of course reading directly from works of other scholars) at TV channels or addressing media conferences( scripts prepared by others) in a valiant effort to boost up an ‘image’ for themselves.

Most of the above mentioned actions were made at the instigation of some bankrupt politicians, already rejected by the electorate, who had no other option but to look for new avenues or short-cuts to echelons of power. Instead of living a peaceful retirement , they chose to fall into the political mud- hole as novices and have already lost the image and respect the people of this country had for them. The damage they have done to themselves by their own conduct is irreparable.

Good response

The efforts of JVP in promoting one person for the premiership had not met with good response from the leader of the main arm in the opposition combine, who is also a contender for the post, after being convinced that it is almost impossible for him to achieve it by himself, in a contest, and is working in his usual scheming ways for an outside chance.