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| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
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Features |  |
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The right column Of donkeys and politicians Let us talk today of donkeys and politicians. You may ask why I couple donkeys with politicians. You may wonder whether it is because of similarities or in spite of dissimilarities that I couple them. To tell you the truth they have both similarities and dissimilarities. A donkey is a much-maligned animal. I wonder whether comparing them to politicians could be taken as another assassination of its character. Politicians, of course cannot take offense for they are usually addressed as donkeys even in hallowed precincts of people's chambers. Often it is politicians who compare their rivals to donkeys. In doing so they must know that if one depicts a single soul of their species as a donkey it applies to that entire species including the accuser. If my memory does not fail me as it happens sometimes I remember a legal luminary turned revolutionary politico of the Bolshevik-Leninist type calling independent representatives of the people three-headed donkeys. If the learned politico had thought otherwise Sri Lanka would have been blessed with a progressive regime in 1947 and we would have been spared of many man-made calamities. As later-day historians recorded events the remark aptly fitted the accuser more than the accused. It is unfair to call anyone three-headed donkeys. Donkeys do not belong to the category of multi-headed dragons. If I am mistaken listen to the poet: " When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born. With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil's walking parody On all four-footed things." - G.K. Chesterton: The Donkey A donkey is a much more sacred animal. Even the Prince of Peace reached Jerusalem riding a donkey. Legend says people assembled on his way and paid homage to him as he rode on. The homage was to him as the Son of God and not to the donkey. People sometimes assemble on way when politicians come for ceremonies. But little do the politicians know that the homage is paid to People's Power vested in them and not to their physical self whatever their pedigree. It was the Golden Jubilee of the Bandung Conference that made the Sceptic dwell upon the affinities of politicians and donkeys. The Bandung Conference was essentially a gathering of newly independent nations of Asia and Africa. It was there that these emerging nations raised their voice and articulated their desire to chart an independent course. Prime Minister John Kotelawala who represented our country, however, played the spoilsport. He openly advocated the line of US imperialism and clashed with titans like Nehru, Chou En Lai and Sukarno. That was why the local Left christened him "Bandung donkey". In my opinion it was unfair to isolate him as the only donkey in our foreign policy matters. There were and there are many more. Of them, later. - the Sceptic. |
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