Their announcement shocked the already shocked nation which voted President
Mithripala Sirisena to power in an unprecedented peaceful revolution which saved the
country from sliding into dictatorship.
Previous regime was known for lawlessness and crime when people lived in an
atmosphere of fear. They were afraid to express their anger fearing revenge attacks.
Ever rising cost of living and economic hardship were unbearable. Mainstream media
ended up virtually as government bulletins.
Only political parties like Janatha Vikumthi Peramuna and Jathika Hela Urumaya
were in the forefront bravely highlighting injustice, crime, corruption and demanding
regime change.
The overall mood of the people was to free themselves from the oppressive government
to ensure justice and rule of law prevails so that they could live without the fear of
being waylaid, kidnapped and even killed.
It was under such dark political environment came the unexpected presidential
elections and there was jubilation all over when Maithripala Sirisena was elected. The
oppressive atmosphere changed overnight with the restoration of freedom.
Since the unprecedented January 2015 political change, exercising their newly won
freedom, mainstream print and electronic media opened the floodgates of allegations
accusing the former president Rajapaksa, his family and his associates of widespread
corruption, crime and lawlessness the scale of which was never known in the islands
history.
These shocking disclosures include large scale plundering of nations wealth,
lawlessness and injustice, pilfering billions of rupees, unprecedented waste of tax
payers money, mismanagement of almost every institution and organization
incurring billions of loss, racist attacks on minorities especially on Muslims and much
more shocking and shameful revelations.
Since then never a day passes without some disclosure of corruption, crime, plunder
and looting and that too not in thousands, hundred thousands and millions but in
billions of rupees. The more the disclosures the worse the public anger.
The never ending exposures diminish the chance of bringing defeated president
Mahinda Rajapaksa to power though they would deploy every means towards that end.
It was under such circumstance that these four UPFA allies expressed their support to
Mahinda Rajapksa as prime ministerial candidate.
This shows they are living in their own world.
Now the question is how come these so called socialists go against the newly elected
government which is struggling to establish good governance, establish communal
harmony and put the nation in the proper footing and move the country ahead.
Even ordinary people ask whether these four UPFA allies dont read newspapers or
watch television. Some even ask whether they are living in this planet or not.
One should not forget that two of them, Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Dinesh
Gunawardena, belong to parties which produced legendary politicians, known for their
great intellectual caliber, honesty, integrity and their sacrifices in serving the country.
They spent their own wealth to be in politics and fight for the rights of ordinary people.
The country will never be able to forget or erase their great contributions though under
the fast changing political, economic and social environment in the new order not
much attention was paid to them.
Some of them include Communist Party chief Peter Keuneman, Dr S.A
Wickremasinghe, Lanka Sama Samaja Partys Dr N.M.Perera, Colvin R De Silva,
Bernard Zoysa and Mahajana Eksath Permuna leader Philip Goonewardene to name
a few.
I remember the speech made in the parliament by the founder of MEP and then
Industries Minister Philip Gunawardena following the former Soviet invasion of
Czechoslovakia around August 1868. It was such an enlightening one that most of us,
parliamentary correspondents, bought the Hansard copies of that speech which I
preserve to date.
It was his son Dinesh Gunawardena who is keen on bringing former President
Mahinda Rajapaksa to power.
Once a journalist colleague of