Profile of a young political ideologist

I am not too sure whether the term ‘satpurusha’ could be exactly translated into English to convey the highest meaning embedded in the Oriental verbal sense of the word. But it would be suitable to understand the word as conveying the meaning as ‘great’ or ‘noble person’ who looks more selfless and altruistic in his attitudes towards others.

Chamminda Welagedara, who is by profession a banker, has earned reputation for his constant writing output, especially the narrative genre of novels and short stories. To his credit he is a recipient of many literary awards and shortlisted for some of the recognized literary awards. But it is sad to see that none of his works have emerged as translations into English or Tamil for the purpose of gauging where he stands at the moment.

Noble politics

His latest creative work, a Sinhala novel titled as Satpurusha, revolves around the lifestyle of a young lawyer named Wickrama Randeniya who is closer and linked to politics. But he does not want to contest a seat and enter the parliament and be an active professional politician of the country. Instead, he stands as one of the political thinkers in an ideal state of mind discussing some of the salient issues pertaining to the political problems that arise from time to time. In certain ways he looks a stranger and an idealist in the field of the common place politician.

Though in this climate of opinion, he is also an active member of a left wing political party where he excels as one of the brilliant ‘think tanks’ to the amazement of other members. His attitude towards the problems is discussed at length to the extent that a reader may think that the novel is full of discussions making the narrative look more a political novel than a common creative work of human interest. As the writer has pointed out in his preface about his creative process the writing of this work had been a pressing need for him.

As such one cannot make any complaints about it. In the first chapter Chamminda Welagedara in a synoptic view depicts the standpoint of his protagonist Wickrama who is a young lawyer who is sought after by many clients and also given to the task of seeing things as humane and not money making behind the human struggles and games of legal practice. Although he is admired by some peers the others have a certain degree of disagreement with him over some matters of his own group.

It is suggested that they can afford to gain a lot by his association, but they have failed in the mission. As he becomes widely known both in the party and among the well wishers, there comes an invitation for him to contest at the election in the seat of Rattota, where he hails from, to enter the parliament and become a full time professional politician.

Social revolution

This is grossly rejected by Wickrama to the surprise of others, and he takes the stern standpoint of his own will becoming more and more a political thinker than a professional politician. To the surprise of others, Wickrama believes in a social revolution sans the parliamentary representation which becomes a constant battle in his career. He also raises issues such as development, a hacked subject taught at all levels of studies, where the individual and the economic issues should be understood in the correct perspectives and not the laid down conventional ideologies which bring about a disharmony on the society and ill will among people at large.

Wickrama is shown as married to an upper middle class woman named Harshi who too shares some of his views and does not attempt to bring him down from her husband’s pedestal. As time passes the reader is taken round some of the active participatory activities and works of Wikrama which includes voluntary work such as mending a road or helping to alleviate the poverty conditions for which political manipulations seep in.

But Wickrama is shown as quite tactful and evades issues through his kindness and thinking in a positive manner showing how it is needed and how the narrow lines of political demarcations could cause trouble to any group of human standpoint. Thus he works collectively to the dismay of some and for the happiness of others. Even the opposing forces are shown tying hands with the groups that work for the benefit of the masses with Wickrama.

The writer shows how some practising politicians become enemies of Wickrama while showing a double face to the public, hood winking at all levels of communal activities. In certain ways they are afraid of the thinking power of Wikrama and his social stature, the nature of his winning masses to his side. This reaches a climax when the protagonist Wickrama is shown as addressing an international seminar on development in Russia. This event is reported widely to the extent that the belief that he will turn out to be a politician becomes more visible.

Return to politics

His opponents are of the view that on his return to the country he would take up to politics and oust them from their standpoints of earning more easy money via other means making use of politics as a sure measure of living. This notion on the part of some of his enemies reaches the climax. As such they plan to kill him on his return to the country when the masses who admire him organize a ceremony to welcome him at the air port. But this plan of action becomes a futile attempt which apparently becomes a missed target though he is shown as wounded. In the rush he is admitted to the nearest hospital.

This area in the novel is quite readable and written in a technique which uses the misfired plan as a strategy at various levels of social living. This hints that the sniper movement of the hired killing is not confined to this experience alone. This is the high point in the work which denotes and hints s that the greatness of a man cannot be defeated by trivial plans of killing.

Chamminda Welagedara shows signs of his keen sense of the need for the advent of a better individual in the field of politics. He traces the upper middle class ways of politics should be gradually waned off and a new period instead is anticipated by the masses. I felt that the chapters are overdrawn and a series of redundancies occur which could have been eliminated. The dialogues are mostly created out of bilingual verbose situations, which also could have been minimized for better reading.

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