Basil prances in Bogol’s shoes

"So where was Rohitha Bogollagama (or more appropriately, Bogollayanawa, in keeping with his frequently airborne status) while Basil was doing his job? Oh, he was firmly within Sri Lankan borders because President Mahinda Rajapaksa is finally a little cheesed off at the drain Bogollayanawa has been on the national budget. And uselessly so."

by Namini Wijedasa

(November 02, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) When you go to see, some Indian politicians are not much different from the fickle, inconsistent, vacillating, self-serving bundle you get here. Are they?

After dedicating a couple of weeks to gasping about the pitiful Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka’s Wanni region, Muthuvel Karunanidhi packed up his larynx and slithered away in a quest for more lucrative political issues. Meanwhile, the rest of his DMK bunch withdrew their resignation letters (which were never really resignation letters to begin with) and promptly burnt them to a cinder.

All it took was a visit from Basil Rajapaksa. Basil packed up a black bag with lots and lots of important looking documents, vaulted over the Palk Straits to New Delhi, met important Indian people and read them a paragraph or two from the Mahinda Chintanaya. Apparently, that did the trick.

For 800 tonnes

No more human chains, no more choleric speeches, no more bogus threats and no more bargaining on the Sri Lankan issue. No more flaming statements over the murder of innocent Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka and no more do-or-die demands for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Not even a whimper about air strikes. In short, Karunanidhi sold out the LTTE for 800 tonnes of relief material for “affected civilians in the North”.

Not to worry, though. This sort of thing also happens quite often in Sri Lanka. Politicians sell out, not just organisations, but entire populations here. They launch stupid campaigns and waste valuable time looking for exit strategies. They produce resignation letters that have less impact than toilet paper. In fact, toilet paper is more useful sometimes than the politicians Sri Lanka has produced. Sigh. Sometimes it is hard to figure out who is training whom in South Asia.

Anyhow, what a fuss there had been in Sri Lanka while Karunanidhi was warbling for his supper in Chennai. One might have thought Manmohan Singh’s government was teetering on the edge of Karunanidhi’s black spectacles, ready to fall ingloriously at his stomping feet.

On the contrary, it would seem that the Singh regime was having a bit of a giggle in New Delhi while Karunanidhi was driving himself into a political wilderness.

The JVP worked itself into a dither and wasted a lot of money on posters telling India where to stuff itself. (As if India cared). The JHU thought, bad scene, better not let the JVP get the credit. They started summoning emergency meetings of this and that council and even decided to call an all-party conference to discuss how Sri Lanka would face Indian intervention. The way some people got their knickers in a twist, you would have thought Manmohan Singh was loading parippu into Indian aeroplanes with his own bare hands.

All for nothing

All that flap for nothing. Karunanidhi peacefully stuck his tail between his legs and returned to his kennel. And our Basil came crowing back like he had held off the Armegeddon. So much for coalition politics and crafty political manoeuvring (across two frontiers, no less).

So where was Rohitha Bogollagama (or more appropriately, Bogollayanawa, in keeping with his frequently airborne status) while Basil was doing his job? Oh, he was firmly within Sri Lankan borders because President Mahinda Rajapaksa is finally a little cheesed off at the drain Bogollayanawa has been on the national budget. And uselessly so.

We hear that it is not only newspapers that have been complaining about the frivolous expenditures of Bogollayanawa. Some members of the Sri Lankan diaspora have also whispered in Rajapaksa’s ear about the minister’s many, many, many trips abroad with sons, daughter, wife, intended-son-in-law, cats, dogs, caterpillars, houseflies and neighbourhood monkeys.

Ever since our foreign minister returned from Australia two weeks ago, he has been treading Sri Lankan soil. Must be difficult for the man - TWO WEEKS, after all. No expensive, luxurious, wasteful foreign jaunt for two whole weeks. This must feel like a nasty bout of constipation for Bogollayanawa.

It won’t last long, though. There is a conference in India next week that the president is attending. What’s the bet Bogollayanawa will prance along with his little brood? Ohoma yang, Bogols, ohoma yang. As long as the stupid Sri Lankan public is willing to pay for it... ohoma yang.
- Sri Lanka Guardian