Ranil – the dog in the manger shedding crocodile tears

“Neither of them can rescue Wickremesinghe. His anti-national, anti-war politics will drag him deeper into the mess that he has created for himself. Killinochchi will resonate in the coming provincial council elections. The Sri Lankan Security Forces that defeated Prabhakaran in Killinochchi will also defeat Wickremesinghe in Wyamba and the Central Provinces.”

by H. L. D. Mahindapala

(January 03, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) What is pretty obvious to all with the fall of Killinochchi is that Velupillai Prabhakaran is now one of the most endangered species on his way to extinction. But what is not so obvious to some is that Ranil Wickremesinghe too is heading in that direction. He has yet to realize that one defeat to Prabhakaran multiplies and become a double defeat to him. This is due mainly to his fatal attraction to sleep with the enemy -- Prabhakaran. He tried to save Prabhakaran through his ill-fated CFA and failed. And now he is trying to save him by bad-mouthing the forces and refusing to give them their due honour in the moment of their greatest glory.

Immediately after the historic victory of the Sri Lankan forces Wickremesinghe rushed to the Daily Mirror and demanded that the petrol prices be reduced. Obviously, he was attempting to steal the thunder from the Mahinda Rajapakse. It is this kind of cheap politics to grab the headlines that makes him the mean-spirited political joker blaming sour grapes. Does he think that this a political masterstroke that will mesmerize the people to follow him? Does he think that people of Sri Lanka eat poonac like him?

Wickremesinghe has never been able to size up the situation facing him and to respond appropriately. He doesn’t have the grace on this momentous occasion to acknowledge the great victory and congratulate the Security Forces that marched into Killinochchi. Instead he is reported in the Daily Mirror as saying that petrol prices must be brought down for the people to enjoy the victory. Perhaps, the people would have enjoyed it better if Wickremesinghe was brought down like the way the statue of Saddam Hussein was brought down after the American forces entered Baghdad!

He has this unerring knack of batting on the wrong foot and being caught behind the wicket. His inane politicking has not brought him any rewards in the past. Shouldn’t he at least open his eyes now and realize that his politics of hate is not going to take him anywhere. Only a bankrupt dunderhead like him would try to divert attention from the glorious march of history into his petty politics which are irrelevant to the nation at this time.

If his anti-national politics was relevant he would have won every election that he lost in the past. His sly tactic of wanting to be with Prabhakaran to win the Tamil votes and also to be with the nationalist to win the votes of the majority has failed time and again. When the time came for him to collect every vote going even Prabhakaran let him down by denying him the votes he needed to be president. Wickremesinghe, the perennial loser, has an ingrained tendency to join losers like Prabhakaran and now Mangala Samaraweera.

Neither of them can rescue Wickremesinghe. His anti-national, anti-war politics will drag him deeper into the mess that he has created for himself. Killinochchi will resonate in the coming provincial council elections. The Sri Lankan Security Forces that defeated Prabhakaran in Killinochchi will also defeat Wickremesinghe in Wyamba and the Central Provinces.

His political antics will cut no ice with the voters who know what is in store for them with Wickremesinghe. He has nothing to offer the people except doom and gloom. Mahinda Rajapakse, on the contrary, is saying like Obama: “Yes, we can!” Politics of hope pull voters particularly in times of despair.

Wickremesinghe’s role should have been to following the example of Clement Attlee in the regime of Churchill who was leading the World War II against the fascist Hitler who seemed invincible at first until he was defeated roundly by the democratic forces. Attlee broke ranks only after the war was won – and he won the election. If Attlee played the role of anti-national, anti-war role Wickremesinghe he would have been booted out by the British voters.

Wckremesinghe first made the fatal mistake of going after Bush, Blair, Solheim and Prabhakaran thinking that they could bring him the votes that could make him the president. Now he is taking the anti-war line thinking that it will bring him votes. Only a man who is off his rocker would follow such a suicidal policy. But even in following this line he doesn’t have the guts to make his stance clear. He thinks that he is smart and people will not see through him when he sheds buckets of tears for soldiers without helicopters (a brazen lie, as exposed by the Army Commander) and simultaneously hangs on slyly to the sarong of Mangala Samaraweera, who is going all out to attack the Security Forces from every platform.

As seen on the You Tube he was least convincing when he shed crocodile tears for the soldiers wounded in the battlefield. It is, indeed, hilarious when he complains that the soldiers are dying because there are no helicopters to transport the wounded to hospitals. Why has he suddenly woken up to the need for more helicopters when he did not buy a single helicopter to save the lives of the soldiers when he was Prime Minister? On the contrary, as pointed out by the Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, he gave the freedom for the Tigers to rearm themselves and hit back at the nation.

When he was Prime Minister even newspapers inclined to be on his side documented that he gave the Tigers duty free imports of sophisticated communications technology, parts of air planes, and, above all, handed over the north and east to Prabhakaran. The soldiers need not have died all the way to Killinochchi now if he did not hand over territory under his illegal Ceasefire Agreement which was never approved by parliament, president, or people.

Looking back it is fair to conclude that our soldiers have not been fighting Prabhakaran. They have been sacrificing their lives to save the nation from the follies of Wickremesinghe. He is the idiot who put the nation in this plight. Our soldiers are paying with their lives to regain every inch he gave away to Prabhakaran on a platter. Paul Harris, the correspondent of the Janes’ Weekly, labeled it as the “Greatest Giveaway in History” and Wickremesinghe threw him out of the country for telling the truth. So what right has he to falsely accuse the government of not providing helicopters now?

When did Wickremesinghe ever care for our soldiers, sailors and airmen? When he was Prime Minister he set the world record for pulling up his Navy Commander for defending the territorial integrity by attacking Tiger boats. When our soldiers captured Toppigala he and his henchman, Lakshman (Ka)Kiriella, taunted them saying that they had captured a bit of worthless jungle and rock. (Ka)Kiriella challenged the forces to go to Killinochchi, if they can, propagating the myth that the forces will never beat the invincible Prabhakaran in his impenetrable fortress in Killinochchi. UNP insiders also know that in his global missions he had been slyly attacking the forces for violations of human rights. Now Wickremesinghe is backpedaling saying that he never criticized the Forces and is demanding to know the names of his MPs who did so. What hypocrisy! What lies!

He even got down Maj-Gen. Janaka Perera to do the dirty work for him. He was going to use his popularity and authority as an ex-army officer to criticize and condemn the forces operating under Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka. Maj-Gen. Perera was under heavy pressure, before he was assassinated by the Tigers, (only they have the technology of suicide bombers) to go on the offensive against the Army Commander who was his second-in-command in the Jaffna operations. But after the Tigers got Maj-Gen Perera UNP insiders whispered that Wickremesinghe was greatly relieved because the popularity of Janaka Perera was a serious threat to Wickremesinghe’s shaky future.



After the failure of his other alliances he has chosen Mangala Samaraweera, as his closest bedfellow. Samaraweera is trying to turn the tidal wave of popularity of Mahinda Rajapakse that comes with military victories by complaining that too many soldiers are dying. He is the kind of joker who says that he can make omelets without breaking eggs. Not having any other constructive program he accuses the Army Commander and the Defence Secretary of “not having an understanding of strategy to conduct the war.” If they had no comprehension of “strategy to conduct war” how did they get to Killinochchi in pitch battles conducted, according to Tamil sources, by Prabhakaran himself? Their record speaks volumes more than the fabrications of Samaraweera. Besides, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse and Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka are battle hardened soldiers who did not come of the closet cupboards designed for effeminate mamma’s boys.

Samaraweera must stick to what he knows best – dress designing for small boys. In his desperate bid to convince himself that he is a big political force he is lying through his teeth. The BBC quoted him as saying that “while in the Kumaratunga cabinet he never opposed the ceasefire agreement between the LTTE and Ranil Wickramasinha administration but only questioned certain aspects of the agreement.” Then why did he agree to the sacking of Wickremesinghe by his President, Chandrika Kumaratunga for betraying the nation? Kumar Rupesinghe, the NGO peace merchant, has condemned Samaraweera in a recent article as the man who was the most aggressive war-monger in Chandrika’s Cabinet.

BBC also reported him as saying “that although the Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga administration was forced in to war (it) never pushed Tamil civilians towards the Tamil Tigers.” Obviously, there wasn’t a single intelligent journalist in the BBC to ask him when he made this statement (1) why is the majority of Tamils living with the Sri Lankan government and (2) whether it is the Sri Lankan government that pushed the Tamils towards the Tigers or whether it is the Tigers who are holding them hostage?

Attacking the war effort is not going to yield any political benefits to the Wickremesinghe-Samaraweera duo. The next to fall is Elephant pass. Mullativu is not far away, according to military analysts. Tiger tactic will be to retaliate with suicide bombers. But that will add to their image of being ruthless terrorists committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. It will also strengthen the move of Mahinda Rajapakse to disarm them if they want to be admitted as political negotiators for any future deal. Whether Wickremesinghe will go that far to insist on disarming the Tigers is doubtful even though he says it is necessary to press for a military solution to tame the Tigers.

Of course, Wickremesinghe-Samaraweera will harp on a political solution. Wickremesinghe, however, is the last person who is qualified to talk on a political solution. When President Chandrika Kumaratunga drew up a blueprint with Neelan Tiruchelvam for a political solution Wickremesinghe burnt the copies in Parliament. Then he went out on a limb to produce the CFA. Prabhakaran, in a way paid him back, by shooting it down in tatters. In short, Wickremesinghe has been playing the opportunistic role of a dog in the manger. He can neither produce a solution nor can will he allow others to produce a solution.

He is waiting for Mahinda Rajapakse to produce his formula for him to join hands with Prabhakaran, NGOs and the other misguided missiles in the Leader group of newspapers to sabotage it. He will pretend that he has the solution which means giving more than what Mahinda Rajapakse is willing to give. He will make trips to India and Western capitals to convince them that he has the solution which can resolve the Sri Lankan conflict provided there is a regime change. But he knows that he can’t go back to the CFA which is what the Tigers will insist. He has said he won’t. He has said that federalism is also not for him though he is still for his “asymmetrical devolution of power” in his usual vague sort of way. With an eye to please India he will also opt to merge the north and the east citing the 13th Amendment. He says that the Tigers must be defeated militarily. But will he agree to disarm them before they come to negotiations?

So he seems to be all over the place playing politics not to solve the Sri Lankan conflict but to get himself into Mahinda Rajapakse’s seat. All in all, his solution will be to give more than what Mahinda Rajapakse is prepared to give? That will drag the nation to square one. The best option for the nation at this critical stage is for him to join Mahinda Rajapakse. After resolving the vexed issue of finding accommodation for peaceful co-existence he can go back to his own brand of politics. If he doesn’t, everyone will have to pay for his sins all over again.

There has to be a new paradigm no doubt for peaceful co-existence. But not the kind that Wickremesinghe wants. Our forces didn’t sacrifice their lives and our people didn’t sacrifice their life style for Wickremesinghe to give away once again what was won with blood, sweat and tears. The chances are that Wickremesinghe will return to his dog in the manger policy. This will make him the biggest curse of the nation beating even Prabhakaran. - Sri Lanka Guardian