Fate of the General

“Their tragedy is that Sinhala chauvinist camp is now divided. Mahinda deliberately pushed general Sarath out of his power center. He was to be appointed as sports secretary; in the mean time Mahinda's pal Wimal was speaking loudly about a conspiracy. Yes of course, it is a conspiracy to isolate general Sarath. Was the plan to make him the escape goat for the HR violations, and save the political leadership?”
______________________

By Dr Vickramabahu Karunaratne

(October 25, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) General Sarath Fonseka has become the most important political topic today. Not that he has done any political intervention; on the contrary he says that he has no intention to come into politics. But some of his statements made during the conduction off the war were definitely political and directly in line with the unitarist Sinhala chauvinist view point. Also he appears to have committed to the view that every thing and any thing should be done to stop the implementation of devolution beyond the 13th amendment.

But he did not support any part y or any particular party leader; and continually denied that he will come into politics in the future. However history is full of examples of military men who were recognized to be powerful soldiers by the establishment of the day, later may be reluctantly, and were drawn into politics. Julius Caesar, Cromwell and Napoleon were few of them. In order to defend the subjugated territories, Caesar intervened to undermine the republic. Both Cromwell and Napoleon in the name of revolution dismissed the parliament to become virtual dictators. But the history has removed such openings for the soldiers to day. It is by the grace of the global capital that any ruler can survive even in a developing country like ours. In the developed west or in any other industrial country the workers movements are powerful enough to demolish any attempt of a modern Hitler or a Bonaparte.

So there is no room for a Sinhala Napoleon. However few months ago Victor Ivan started a heated argument with Viyangoda and me to convince us that Mahinda would be a Sinhala Napoleon. So, it was a very important belief with in the bourgeoisie intellectual circles. But today Mahinda is busy turning every stone around, in order to get rid of sanctions of the global capital. In spite of his noise against the western powers for raising HR issues, he is doing every thing possible to satisfy his global masters. It is clear that the Indian rulers are heavily on his side. They should be, because he conducted their war.

Sonia, the Maha Rani of the Indian imperial setup, mercifully sent a Dravidian delegation from their epicenter of Tamil nationalism to wash Mahinda's dirty linen. Of course the Brahmins of Delhi were always with their loyal Yuvaraj Mahinda. He did what they wanted and now he is doing every thing to bring Indian, American and Chinese investments into the cleared up Lanka. One international money lender has classified Lanka as the best investment joint in the world. Of course; where else you get an over 60 % supported government with a powerful military backing. It is a government which has taken over large part of land and other resources into its hand and prepared to dish out to foreign investors. It is a country where large parts of workers are held in open prison camps while trade unions are controlled by chauvinist and government stooges. In fact Emergency and PTA has made TU legislation none existent.

But their tragedy is that Sinhala chauvinist camp is now divided. Mahinda deliberately pushed general Sarath out of his power center. He was to be appointed as sports secretary; in the mean time Mahinda's pal Wimal was speaking loudly about a conspiracy. Yes of course, it is a conspiracy to isolate general Sarath. Was the plan to make him the escape goat for the HR violations, and save the political leadership? That will satisfy both the Mahinda government and the global powers. Even Maha Rani of Delhi will be happy if she can give some devolution crumbs to the Tamil leaders. On the other hand if General Sarath Fonseka were to contest presidential elections with the support of ardent Sinhala chauvinists, capitalist regime will go into crisis. In the mean time we notice that the soldiers are getting restless. They can see that future is bleak. Already steps are taken to convert them into khaki clad law paid workers, without labour rights. The day that khaki clad workers rise, there want be any place for all these Sinhala Napoleons to hide.

-Sri Lanka Guardian