Respect people’s verdict

President Mahinda Rajapaksa taught a good lesson to Sarath Fonseka and his gang of traitors at Tuesday’s Presidential Election.

Though the Opposition projected that the election would be a close battle between the President and Fonseka, it eventually turned out to be a one horse race as President Rajapaksa recorded a landslide victory.

Be it Sri Lanka or any other part of the globe, it is by no means an easy task for a Head of State, or for that matter any other leader at any level, to retain his or her original popularity. It is extremely difficult for a leader to maintain the original popularity he or she commanded at the time of assuming office.

Nevertheless, President Rajapaksa has not only proved this notion wrong, but also secured a thumping majority of over 1.8 million votes - ten times more than the majority he had received when he was first elected President in November 2005. In other words, his growing popularity has increased by 1,000 percent, a unique record that would be difficult to surpass.

In contrast, Fonseka cut a sorry figure by failing to secure even the total number of votes polled by Ranil Wickremesinghe at the 2005 Presidential Election. Taking the JVP vote base into account, which added to his credit this time around, Fonseka had miserably failed to retain over one million votes of the total votes which the UNP and JVP polled at the 2005 polls. More importantly, President Rajapaksa, even sans the support of the JVP which he had in 2005, polled over six million votes at Tuesday’s election.

It is evident that Fonseka had been under an illusion during his 40-day campaign as the joint Opposition projected a rosy picture to the former Army Commander. Going by the number of people which the JVP apparently transported from one rally to another, Fonseka would have perhaps gone by the numbers present at his meetings to vote for him. However, by Wednesday morning, the patriotic and peace-loving people put paid to Fonseka’s ‘fantasy kingdom’.

In re-electing the President for another term in office with an overwhelming majority, the masses have earnestly re-endorsed the policies of President Rajapaksa. In doing so, they not only gave a fresh mandate to the President to continue his good work, but also vanquished all local and international elements which danced to the melody of certain countries and INGOs in the West. Using power-hungry Opposition politicians in the South, these forces worked unceasingly for a regime change. This was mainly because President Rajapaksa did not bow down to Western pressures.

The President’s clear-cut foreign policy has always given top priority for the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It does not take into consideration the so-called big names in the West. The Government was determined to eradicate terrorism. Most of the bigwigs in the West who preach to us ad nauseum on countering terrorism did not even utter a word in support of Sri Lanka during its darkest hour.

As the Head of State and the Commander-in-Chief, the President vowed to put a permanent end to terrorism which had plagued the country for over three decades. Due to the unflagging inspiration and sagacious political leadership of President Rajapaksa, the valiant Security Forces demolished Tiger power and cleared the entire island from LTTE terror on May 18, 2009.

The election result was a vote of gratitude by over six million people for the leader who saved the nation from peril. Parents who were reluctant to send their children to school due to LTTE bomb explosions, husbands and wives who avoided travelling in one bus, innocent civilians in villages close to LTTE-held areas and millions of people who suffered untold agony due to Tiger terror turned up in large numbers at polling booths to show their gratitude to a leader who sincerely cared for his people, nation and motherland.

There were a number of sinister campaigns, mud-slinging and character assassination of the President and his family members and concocted stories to project large-scale corruption and a well-knit ‘operation’ by Opposition politicians to sully the image of the President.

Bankrupt politicians such as Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mangala Samaraweera, Somawansa Amarasinghe, Rauf Hakeem, Mano Ganeshan and T. Sampanthan made a desperate bid to stop President Rajapaksa being re-elected.

The Opposition politicians and their parties, except for the Somawansa-led JVP, are the same people who, either directly or indirectly, supported the LTTE during the battle against terrorism. They made vociferous statements to support the LTTE and endorse the charges levelled by the West, together, in one voice, they pressurised the Government to halt the humanitarian operations.

It was a foregone conclusion how certain Western countries and INGOs even pumped money to achieve their dream of a regime change in Sri Lanka. Their sole desire was to have a leader who was willing to be a puppet of the West.

They identified Fonseka as the ideal man for the job and lent their fullest support. In his pursuit of power, Fonseka even went to the extent of signing a controversial secret pact with Tiger-proxy TNA to woo Tamil votes.

However, none of these ‘strategies’ worked and the masses did not fall prey to the Opposition trap. People from across the length and breadth of the island rallied in their numbers to strengthen the hands of the President to give a clear mandate to him again to beat all overwhelming odds.

By this, they have taught a valuable lesson to the Opposition and its opportunistic politicians who had day-dreams of capturing power at any cost. This was, no doubt, a wake up call for Fonseka to face the reality and accept the people’s verdict.

The Opposition must respect the people’s verdict - a clear majority of over 1.8 million votes. As a responsible Opposition, Wickremesinghe and his henchmen must realise that they have again been spurned by the masses. They must, even now, sink petty differences and extend their fullest support to President Rajapaksa to lead Sri Lanka towards economic prosperity.