The decline of the GOP

The Government naturally may be exulting on the unprecedented electoral victories it has notched up under President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The overwhelming endorsement received in the South was only to be expected after the runaway victories that began with the Eastern Provincial poll. What is more, if all these victories were to be reflected in a General Election the Government would have achieved the two-thirds majority and more in Parliament.

The present trend suggests that this would indeed be a reality in the upcoming national elections. It is clear to all that the Government is today virtually unchallenged. The closest comparison in terms of popularity is that enjoyed by the MEP in the heady days of 1956.

But even then the party could not muster such overwhelming majorities. In that sense the recent victories could be termed unprecedented. All this indicate that the UPFA is set for a long innings - no small thanks to an emasculated opposition which is today groping in the dark. Today, it is plain that there is no worthwhile challenge to the Government from the main opposition UNP.

The grand old party has suffered yet another debacle to follow in the string of electoral reversals it has suffered in recent times. True, the liberation of the country from terrorism after a bitter 30-year-old war by a Government would have given any opposition nightmares. But, it should be accepted that the UNP too had contributed to its own plight in no small measure.

Chief of this being its anti-national conduct that has alienated vast swathes of its support base among the majority community. Its leaders are fond of harping on the theory that the party always rose from the ashes and cites the rise of the party after the 1956 rout. But that was a time when the UNP was possessed imaginative leadership who won the trust and confidence of the masses.

The main feature that separates the present UNP from the past is that the past leaders of the party were attuned to sentiments of the electorate and where the party was possed of a patriotic national outlook.

Though branded as a capitalist party, its former leaders moved with the masses and felt the heart beat of common man. That is why even though defeated at the hustings, the party was not humiliated as is the case today and had what it takes to make a comeback. UNP leaders of yore always put the interests of the country forward and never acted in a way that was inimical to the country when out of power. That is why whatever its ideology and party philosophy, it invariably won the confidence of the masses.

This is in contrast to the Jekyll and Hyde act of the present leadership who while making pious pronouncements here, denigrate the country abroad in an attempt to deny it international aid and humiliate it in other ways. All acts of the present leadership is designed at taking a short cut to power irrespective of the harm and damage caused to the country. This the large mass of the people have understood and given the party a fitting reply at consecutive elections.

For, as we have mentioned all lines of party politics have become blurred today with the people rallying under a single patriotic banner. Therefore, all those who are working against the interest of the country are looked upon as traitors who have no love for the Motherland. This sentiment the UNP leadership has managed to attract towards itself and the party by its conduct and it has only itself to blame for its electoral misfortunes.

What the party needs today is a radical transformation that would help shed its image as a party working in cahoots with foreign elements out to cause harm to the country. It should strive to convince the masses that it is truly a national patriotic party with love for the country. It should go back to its roots and cultivate its rural base that was its main strength in the past.

True, it is uphill task at the present juncture with the Government on a roll. But, it behoves on the main Opposition political party in the country to acquit itself with the realities and perform the responsibilities it is entrusted with of functioning as a democratic opposition without carrying out insidious campaigns against the Government.

It is unthinkable that a party which ruled the country for several decades is only a pale shadow of its glory days, today, with no prospects of a return to power in the foreseeable future.

Even a change in leadership may not be sufficient to effect a turnaround. It may be a long wait therefore for the genuine supporters of the party who are steeped in the original ideals of the grand old party. All due to the blundering follies and lack of foresight of the present leadership.