Hard choice between Ranil and Democracy!

The main campaign theme of the United National Party during the current election is 'lack of democracy in the country' and hence they appeal in earnest to the polity to vote UNP to save the country from what they called 'totalitarianism'. Well, in a two party democracy the Opposition, which is the alternative Government, is equally responsible for the maintenance of democracy and it is the strength of the Opposition that determines the level of democracy in the country.

How has the UNP fared recently in this respect? The UNP vote has come down from 49.7 percent in the year 2000 to much less than 40 percent in 2010.

UNP vote

In fact the exact percentage of the UNP vote in 2010 cannot even be ascertained because included in that 40 percent that Fonseka polled are the votes of the JVP, SLMC and the TUF.

Hence on a very generous estimate the UNP vote embedded in that 40 percent could be taken as 34 percent and that is the worst UNP has done in the recent history. Even in 1994 when the UNP was disoriented after the assassination of its leader, the party still managed to poll 36 percent.

The UNP evidently is politically so weak today that for the first time in the history of Sri Lankan politics the party could not even field a candidate for the election that elected the Head of State of the country. Hence if democracy in Sri Lanka is in peril, as the UNP claims, it is the Opposition UNP that has to take the blame for same by progressively making itself weaker over the years with inappropriate policies.

That however, is not all the damage the current UNP leadership has inflicted on Sri Lankan democracy. In its desperation to get the incumbent Government out of power, it first attempted to woo the former Chief Justice into politics and then was finally successful in getting the Chief of Defence Staff to resign and contest the elections.

Ranil Wickremesinghe for all his talk about democracy does not seem to know how important the independence of the judiciary and the military is, to a democratic state.

The UNP may try to justify this by stating that the former heads of those institutions were disillusioned with the Government. But if that is the case then it is the alternative Government, the UNP, that has to face up to the Government and do its part rather than politically instigating the heads of those institutions, which are meant to serve democracy best by their very act of remaining independent of politics.

Defeat the Government

Instead, Ranil Wickremesinghe, by choosing to inveigle the former Chief Justice and the Military Commander to make up for his lacunas in politics, has chosen to politicize those two institutions, pushing democracy into a precarious position in Sri Lanka.

Ranil did not back Fonseka at the last election because Fonseka was the best democrat in this country. In fact it became quite plain in no time that Fonseka was as big an egoist as Prabhakaran was and had he come to power by some chance, this whole country would have gone under the jackboot.

In fact the UNP leader and the Chief Opposition whip Joseph Michael Perera have both gone on record in the Hanzard stating that Fonseka was a 'law on to himself' and that he was responsible for the death and harassment of journalists in the country. Hence Ranil opted to Fonseka not because he wanted to save democracy but because he expected Fonseka to have a better chance in contesting the incumbent President.

Thus what Ranil planned was to defeat the Government in power with no thought of the consequences. Such was Ranil's desire for good governance and democracy in this country!

National security

Ranil Wickremesinghe signed the CFA in 2000 accepting Prabhakaran as the 'Sole representative of the Tamils in Sri Lanka'.

In a democracy there are no 'Sole representatives'. Hitler said he was the 'Sole representative of the German people' and in fact this concept of 'Sole representative' is down right fascism. Ranil probably thought that he was the 'Sole representative of the rest of the people in Sri Lanka' for if not he could not have signed that agreement.

He compromised on the country's national security and the territorial integrity when he signed that agreement for which he had no mandate.

He wasn't even the Defence Minister whose prerogative was 'declaring war and peace'. Such was Ranil's abuse of democracy, when in power!

Ranil idolizes leaders in countries like US and UK. In those countries political parties do not field the same candidate when he loses at an election. But Ranil is such a 'unique democrat' that he retains his party leadership even after having lost at 17 successive elections.

Commissioner of Elections

Cricket is a game said to belong to 'Gentlemen' because the players of the game should have the character to accept the umpire's decision without dissenting. Umpire is considered beyond reproach because the institution of the umpire is a pre requisite to the survival of the game.

The UNP has won many an election under the tenure of the present Commissioner of Elections from the 1980s, but today the UNP is carrying out an international campaign to question the action of the present Elections Commissioner simply because the UNP cannot win elections. Thus the current UNP leadership is so expedient that it has even endangered the very institution that conducts democratic elections in the country.

Ranil came to politics wearing a pair of sun glasses in 1977 and he was appointed a Minister, at the age of 28. In 1982, when that 'Lamp or the Pot' drama was being enacted, JR told his party men that those who lose their constituencies at the referendum would cease to be MPs.

But JR could not carry out his promise because his nephew Ranil, having lost Biyagama, was among the six MPs who lost their constituencies. On the eve of the 2010 Presidential Election, Ranil made a similar announcement that the UNP electoral organisers who lose their constituencies at the election would be sacked. This time Ranil could not carry out his promise because all his electoral organisers except those in Colombo, Dehiwela, Galle and Kandy, lost their constituencies!

Ranil loyalists

The fact that Ranil is a 'misanthrope' is now proved beyond doubt. And today what we have in the name of UNP is not the UNP founded by DS, nurtured by humanist like Dudley and populist like Premadasa, but a club of a few Ranil loyalists who jostle for positions in the party.

It is now made up of International beauty queens and elite 'old school tie' loyalist making money at every election on contributions. Hence the current UNP, being blind to the political realities of the country just continues to exist as 'Ranil and Co'.

Fortunately, the people in this country are intelligent enough to realize this situation and hence the signs are that UNP's share at the forthcoming election would be less than 30 percent of the country's vote.

Therefore, if Ranil continues to lead the party the day the UNP becomes what JR called a 'Three wheeler' party is not far off. That would serve right for Ranil's asinine policies, but would that serve the democracy in Sri Lanka? People however have little choice but to throw Ranil out of politics to save democracy in Sri Lanka!