Mahinda Rajapakse - Common man's President
Premil RATNAYAKE
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President Rajapaksa shares a light moment with children.
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His charisma is prodigious; the
individuality inspires the multitude and what characterizes President
Mahinda Rajapakse is his down-to-earth pragmatism and his easy style of
identifying himself with the common man especially in the rural village.
So the sobriquet " the common man's President." His love for the
commoner is equally reciprocated - people love him because they see
their image reflected in him in great measure. It is more than a blind
adoration - it is an affection born out of realism. The realism of the
great masses that brushes everything aside to hail him as an undisputed
emancipator of the Sri Lanka people who delivered them from the vicious
clutches of terrorism. No leader before him was able to match such a
claim.
The war was dragging on and the country was in despair until Mahinda
Rajapakse made his charismatic appearance. The verdict of the people is
loud and clear - "Whatever the polemics may be, he won the war and
liberated us. This alone is enough to worship him."
Since entering politics and parliament in 1970 as a political rookie
there was the long and lonely wait. It would have demoralized any man
with less character. Mahinda Rajapakse infused as he was with intrepid
southern blood bore the long wait with fortitude. He had a tough streak
- in the by-election of Mulkirigala in 1976 in which his uncle Lakshman
Rajapakse was contesting. He told us fearlessly that he could take any
man for a duel. He was a very young doughty fighter.
Like J.R.Jayewardene he had to wait in the wings until his time came.
JRJ had to wait for fifty years. Mahinda Rajapakse did not have to wait
that long. Meanwhile he learnt the vicissitudes of political life and
its intrigues especially under Chandrika Kumaratunga when he was her
Prime Minister.
It was tough going for the young politician but he weathered all much
to the chagrin and amazement of the first woman president.
That tenure under Kumaratunga must have served Mahinda Rajapakse as a
night-school tutelage; it taught him to endure and also acquire
political cunning.
His great impetus was the triumph over Tiger terrorism - it propelled
him to be resolute unequivocally to clean the debris left by the mad
mayhem and begin the making of a new nation anew. It was a stupendous
challenge that no other leader had ever been called to meet. With
extraordinary courage he embarked on his ambitious program to re-build
the nation while nursing and healing the wounds that scarred it.
Challenge
The challenge was formidable
for he was also assailed by brickbats, veiled threats, personal
attacks and sinister innuendo. But Mahinda Rajapakse remained
unperturbed. It is not difficult to face criticism when one
knows and is convinced that what he is doing is the correct
thing and what must be done for the greater good of the people
of the country. |
The challenge was formidable for he was also assailed by brickbats,
veiled threats, personal attacks and sinister innuendo. But Mahinda
Rajapakse remained unperturbed. It is not difficult to face criticism
when one knows and is convinced that what he is doing is the correct
thing and what must be done for the greater good of the people of the
country. A great leader does not sway by mob rhetoric and does not veer
away from a chosen path that is designed to lead the people to a new,
promised land. But of course to travel such a course needs guts, a
plenty of it. And Mahinda Rajapakse has them in good measure He is also
lucky to have a family political background with which the people are
familiar with and also approve.
Winning a war is basically a military exercise, but rehabilitation of
people who suffered and tending the heroes who made the victory possible
is quite another mundane affair. To combine these two effectively and
meaningfully requires not only great resolve but shrewd intelligence.
Mahinda Rajapakse has unflinchingly taken over the job.
He has been placed in an unenviable position. He has to face not only
diluted and often malicious criticism at home, but also internationally
in various spheres calculatd to bring his government into disrepute over
fictitious allegations authored by vested interests irked by his lonely
battle that tamed the terrorists.
It is as if these foreign agents of disruption are angered by the
unprecedented success of Mahina Rajapakse's fight against terrorism. It
is also paradoxical - on one hand they express utter condemnation of
terrorism and want it wiped out, but on the other resent Sri Lanka's
historic victory over terrorist forces. Are these foreign lackeys naïve
or are they behind some sinister plot to undermine the Sri Lanka
government as a whole and Mahinda Rajapakse personally in this serious
matter.
Fortunately sanity has prevailed in the majority of foreign countries
who have backed and continue to back the regime of Mahinda Rajapakse.
While foreign nations have grown in their tremendous support for Sri
Lanka, tragically there are local elements who seem at variance with the
policy of the government.
Mahinda Rajapakse does not represent the elite and the rich of Sri
Lanka. He has reached the zenith of politics working his way up from
grass root level. His commonness is not tolerated in those elitist
circles. They lament that one of their members was not in the seat of
the Presidency and did not defeat the terrorists.
The defeat was unexpected and still seems like a wild dream. How did
this country bumpkin achieve such a victory ? The Tigers may have been
fooled or they were just an ordinary bunch of unprofessional soldiers!
No credit to the valiant men who fought the ruthless war in which many
of them laid down their lives. It was perhaps a freak these great sons
of Lanka scoffed.
Nobody here or abroad thought that Sri Lanka or Mahinda Rajapakse
would accomplish such a great feat.We remember how J.R.Jayewardene
philosophized over the terrorist problem. He was cynically terse and
laconic : "It will end some day !" Such was the thinking at the time not
only in the mind of a former President but also the great majority of
people in Sri Lanka. Then it happened.
A man with the courage of his convictions became the President and
the war was won. If there was no Mahinda Rajapakse perhaps we would not
have won the war. There would have been only futile talks in the Wanni
brokered by the Norwegians or by some other western nation. Finally the
common man's President won the game. His critics must now eat their
words. |