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Watch that bandwagon, Sir

No doubt that the UPFA romped home with a victory of landslide proportions at the so called small-poll for local government bodies. Winning on the momentum created by the Presidential election should be called the ''saataka effect''the equivalent of riding on the coattails of a President's victory, except that this President wears no coattails.

But those who see it know it for what it is. It's a wave for the UPFA, and people who are tuned into the frequency of that wave would know the cheering for a victory of this proportions could be deafening.

There is nothing inherently wrong in a massive resonant cheer. But it's the sycophancy that could arise from a commanding situation that is not the healthiest prospect for any leadership that regularly watches its political report card.

Mandates that start with a bang could fritter away, and therefore should be treated as headaches. Do not forget the kind of hubris that accompanied President Chandrika Kumaratunge's 1994 Presidential victory, at which she won all but one electorate.

She was appropriately overwhelmed by the victory, and promptly said that the people have reposed faith in her by 'incrementally raising her majority at each successive electoral outing.' What she should have said should have probably been on the lines of what one President not of this country said at the conclusion of a successful Presidential bid.

At his inaugural address he deadpanned "ladies and gentlemen your problems are over and mine have just begun"" To be so underwhelmed by a great victory is not just philosophically correct its also good politics.

It's to parlay to the electorate that won you a great victory, the sense that you have understood the nature of democratic franchise. It's entirely another matter worth remembering that the Buddha cautioned '' success and failure treat both impostors alike.'' But take for example that first aspect of handsome electoral victories.

They could lead to overheated expectations, and unhealthy attacks of complacency spurred on by sycophancy from the bottom rung in any leader's administrative hierarchy.

Nobody toadies up like they toady up to a leader who starts as if he is invincible in the electorate. All manner of political thrill seekers, gold-diggers and cheerleaders get on the bandwagon for what they expect will be the ride of their lives.

The net effect of having this baggage is that the leader is usually unable to see beyond this milling crowd. Cheers morph into whispers of unending approval, and leaders begin to rely on conduits that give them only the good news and some lying statistics.

Also, one should begin to watch the media - - especially the state owned variety, which might be induced to go absolutely bananas crying hosannas.

In all, its a cocktail of hubris that can sweep any leader off his feet and land him in the territory dedicated to the never-never land of detached and eccentric Princes and Princesses.

We almost had one of those after 1994. After that avalanche that gave Kumaratunge every seat other than Minneriya, she seemed to lose her handle on the leadership because there were too many minions and hacks telling her every hour on the hour that she was nothing but the greatest.

President Rajapakse cannot lose his way in that way because if he does, it would prove that the example of the previous incumbent was lost on him. His tactic should therefore be perhaps to start each day as if he had barely won, which is a difficult ask for a President who is being told that he is now the unconquerable quantity.

But he should watch party hacks as if they were his enemies, even though he should never treat them as his enemies. He could improve on that by watching his enemies as if they were his friends, because they are bound to keep him on his toes, while also keeping him firmly anchored to the reality of verdicts given by temperamental electorates.

All of which is not to say that we do not congratulate him on this rather painless victory. It should buoy his sprit, and its predictable that some of the loudest cheers at this point in time will be from his detractors who would take the path of least resistance and say 'we told you so, you were going to win.'' That would be exactly what they didn't tell him, but the nature of any contrary opinion is even stranger sometimes than the nature of electorates.

In sum, things could be deceptive, when a winner situates himself in the glare of headlights emanating from twin successes. The first distortion of reality is to begin to think that the victory is the performance, when it's on the contrary but the first bell that says the performance should begin.

Don't mind the audience that cheers when the action begins.

The one to watch would be the audience at curtain call. All the sycophants would have dropped off like plumped-out leeches by then.

They would have either gorged themselves too much at the party, or simply had their fill and thought its time to gravitate towards the next candidate whom they think they could sucker. The meaningful thing to do would be to watch sycophants but the even more meaningful thing to do would be to not have them at all on your tow-truck.

Ask only for the pure water of constructive criticism, and perhaps thou shall be delivered from the perils of premature retirement - - (and even more importantly, from the incessant operatic sounds of comics straining to make themselves heard over the shrill and ingraining voices of one another.)

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