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| Sunday, 20 November 2005 |
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The Human Rights champion by Ranga Jayasuriya
Mahinda Rajapakse moved freely with ordinary masses, a characteristic that was consistent in his political career. Such a relationship was proved to be rewarding as he, contesting a closely fought election bagged rural electorates one after another paving his way for the Presidency. Having entered Parliament in 1970, the youngest MP in the then Parliament, Rajapakse played many a role in and out of the House in a political journey running over thirty years. Rajapakse was the trade unionist who stood for the rights of 1980 July strikers. He was the Labour Minister who famously told that he was "the vanguard of labour rights, not of the business capital". It was Rajapakse the Labour Minister who tried his utmost to introduce a Workers Charter, but sadly failed. Some say his attachment with the working class, cost him his portfolio. He was moved from the Labour Ministry and made Fisheries Minister. Rajapakse was the torchbearer, who awakened the then Opposition SLFP from its long slumber in early 90's organising the Pada Yatra from Kataragama to Colombo. It didn't take much time for the reinvigoration of the SLFP to culminate in the General Election and Presidential Election victories bringing Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge to the Presidency and the People's Alliance to government. Perhaps the most notable was Rajapakse the human rights activist, the unofficial ombudsman of the South at the hight of the state terrorism in the South in 1988-89. Then an Opposition MP, Rajapakse was the only source of hope for parents whose offsprings were abducted by the state military and government orchestrated death squads. He collected data about state orchestrated disappearances of youth and lobbied locally and internationally, bringing pressure on the then UNP government to bring an end to the slaughter. In a newspaper interview two weeks ago, when asked whether his election to the Presidency would mean resumption of war, Rajapakse reminiscing his role in late 80's quipped, "I am a man of human rights, not a man of war". Rajapakse was the Director of the Human Rights and Legal Aid Centre and the Secretary of the Human Rights and Fundamental Rights Committees of MPs. He is also the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Committee of the Palestine Solidarity Movement. Born into a prominent political family in the deep down south on November 18, 1945, Rajapakse remained true to his heritage in Ruhunu Giravapattuwa and indeed was proud of it; he presented himself as a man of the village. And the vast rural electorate, which accounts for 75 percent of popular votes, voted him to the country's topmost political position. Interesting enough, Rajapakse was elected President on his 60th birthday. Rajapakse is a lawyer by profession, having studied at Richmond, Nalanda and Thurstan Colleges. He holds a Diploma from the prestigious Prague Trade Union School. Mahinda is married to Shiranthinee Wickremesinghe and a proud father of three sons. Having entered the House of Representatives in 1970, he represented the same seat which his father D.A.Rajapakse represented from 1947-60. When the SLFP was facing a series of humiliating defeats since 1977 at every election, Mahinda was able to awaken sleeping SLPFers, organising Pada Yatra from Kataragama to Colombo, Jana Gosha, etc against the then UNP Government. Rajapakse was the Minister of Labour and Fisheries in President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's Cabinet from 1994 to 2001. A Trade Unionist he is, Rajapakse was forging ahead with the formulation of the Workers' Charter when he was removed from his portfolio. He was in Geneva attending the International Labour Organisation Conference in his capacity as the Labour Minister, when he was informed of his removal from his portfolio, understandably due to a strong lobbying against him by the business community. He was appointed the Minister of Fisheries. The People's Alliance Government never implemented his proposed labour reforms. As Minister of Fisheries, he started housing projects for fishing families who were living in huts for generations. He also set up model villages for fishermen. Rajapakse became the Opposition Leader when the People's Alliance was defeated in the General Election 2001. He was appointed Prime Minister after the SLFP-JVP coalition swept to power in the Parliamentary Polls in 2004. Rajapakse was sworn in as the Prime Minister on April 6, 2004. The Central Committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party nominated Rajapakse as the Presidential Candidate and Anura Bandaranaike as the Prime Ministerial candidate. Pragmatist he is, Rajapakse soon secured the broadest electoral alliance in the recent Sri Lankan political history, having brought under his banner the JVP, JHU, traditional marxists of the Communist Party and LSSP, Liberal Party, minority parties like the National Unity Alliance and EPDP and fire brand leftists of the calibre of Vasudeva Nanayakara. Rajapakse said 28 political parties and groups had put their weight behind him. He presented himself as the common candidate of the unified south. His message was that he is the Southern political leader who could forge a consensus in the South. His rapport with the ordinary masses stood to his gain. Rajapakse won the Election, having secured 4,887,152 votes, that is 180,786 votes more than his main rival Ranil Wickremesinghe. His election to the country's paramount political position points to the
shift of power within the SLFP and the country. |
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