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| Sunday, 1 May 2005 |
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Features |  |
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The promise of green demons ahead Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake We've got it straight from the horse's mouth as it were. The horse in this case being none other than the UNP's current garrulous propagandist Rajitha Senaratne, whose words usually reflect the thinking of party leader Ranil.
We have seen the UNP acquire power and hold on to it both for long and short periods, but never saw any signs of possession by the gods, not even by the humblest of deities. They have always come in as demons and remained in power with demonic fervour. Yet, Rajitha Senaratne has reason to give an early green light to members of the JSS or the Green Shirted SS the Storm troopers of the UNP. He says when the UNP next comes to power, heaven help us all if they do, they will initiate their demonic rule by giving "our boys" two days to have as much fun as they wish to. It is only after the boys have had their fun that the country will be handed over to Ranil Wickremesinghe. One cannot see much of a difference in delaying the next reign of Ranil by just two days to give some fun to the boys. Even with power in his hands Ranil too has never prevented the boys from having all the fun they wish to. The fun enjoyed by the UNP's boys when they just managed to scrape through a coalition in December 2001 was no example of any divinity at work. It the worst of demons in all their fury, who went at all those who opposed them, killing people, torching houses, throwing people out of jobs, and grabbing the plums of office in government corporations and other institutions. They went on this melee of politically motivated violence for longer than two months. After his landslide victory in 1977, when J. R. Jayewardene promised to usher in a "Dharmishta Samajaya" or Just Society, we remember what happened when he gave the boys free rein for nearly a month. The Tamils will recall how they were targeted no sooner the UNP won in 1977, with attacks not being confined to them but to all the perceived opponents of the UNP too. The unprecedented post-election violence was such that even the old fox JRJ had to appoint a one man commission, comprising the late D. B. I. P. S. Siriwardena to inquire into thousands of post-election reports of violence, with little benefit forthcoming to those who suffered. Talking of giving two days for the boys to have fun, one is also reminded of July 1983, that Black July when JRJ and Premadasa, with Ranil Wickremesinghe too in the cabinet, not only gave its boys or Storm Troopers of the JSS all the freedom to attack Tamils, but also sent the Police on leave for a whole week while the pogrom against the Tamils was carried out with thorough demonic efficiency. It is therefore not much of a surprise to hear of the UNP's or Ranil's boys being given time for fun when they next win an election. All it shows is that just like the Tiger not changing its stripes; the UNP too has not changed in any way despite repeated defeat. It is a party which has no compunction about using its green gangs of thugs and goondhas to capture and hold on to power. All their talk of democracy and good governance is nothing but sheer bunkum. Rajitha Senaratne has now given the lie to Milinda Moragoda's televised canards about good governance. The UNP is wedded to violence and as Rajitha now admits sups with the demons too. Just as the people have never associated the UNP with the faintest touch of the divine, it has also never been associated with the rights of employees or trade unions. However, Rajitha Senaratne says at the same event at Puttalam, that the golden era of the trade union movement dawned with the Government of JRJ. His one example of this golden glory is the introduction of the Employees' Trust Fund (ETF). He forgets that many years prior, it was the late T. B. Ilangaratne of the SLFP who introduced the much larger Employees' Provident Fund (EPF), to help workers who had no pension rights something to look forward to at retirement. It is not easy for Senaratne or even Ranil to erase those pages of the history of the working class of this country. In any event it is more than funny to hear of the UNP being associated with anything good for the trade unions and workers' rights. Rajitha Senaratne possibly suffers from a convenient political amnesia when he forgets how the UNP, under JRJ, and again with Ranil Wickremesinghe in tow in the cabinet, hunted down the trade unions in 1980 and virtually smashed the entire trade union movement in this country, save organisations such as the CMU and the CWC. Some of the victims of the 1980 attack on the trade unions are still suffering their losses, and several of those strikers for a decent wage, both in the private and state sectors have committed suicide being unable to face the stress and crises they were pushed into. It may be necessary for Rajitha Senaratne and even others in the UNP leadership to talk in this manner, in view of the political plight they are in today, with no slogans to draw the masses towards them. It is only with shibboleths like this that the UNP can expect to keep alive the expectations of its own members. It is quite clear that the UNP's Storm Troopers need a morale boost. What better place to give it than at Puttalam, where the UNP's political operator is none other than Palitha Ranga Bandara, whose record of flirting with the demon and espousing violence is now becoming near legendary. So here come the Green Demons. Be ready to exorcise the next demonic UNPer when you see him or her, or else we will all be made an offering the demons that possess the UNP today. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Speaking at the recent Joint Council meeting of the Jathika Sevaka
Sangamaya (JSS) in the Puttalam District, Senaratne has said that earlier
whenever the UNP came to power it came possessed by the gods. However, when
the UNP next comes to power very soon, as he says it, they will take over
the reins of office possessed by the demons. 
