‘Social service no guarantee to secure power’

Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe speaking at the launch of UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake’s biography that politics establishes the link with the people. Some people think that development itself is the instrument to secure power and if it is so, the UNP with the mega development programs to its credit would not have been defeated.

Social service is good but it is no guarantee to secure power. There is a school of thought that the mass media is the window to politics.

This too cannot establish the link between the politician and the people.

The mass media is no means to success in politics and the media-made politicians are as brittle as pappadam.

“As politicians and political parties we have a responsibility towards the country and its people. The mass media which is not bound by such ties either criticise or commend us. Therefore, if the mass media assumes the role of politicians and political parties, it then runs counter to democratic principles. Lord Baybrooke, a British business tycoon who bought the Daily Express, used his newspaper to remove Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin. Later it came a cropper. Baldwin said, the “Power devoid of responsibility was the licence for prostitution. This is really true. We should be cautious not to betray political parties to the mass media.

“I had learnt a good lesson as a Deputy Minister. Ranasinghe Premadasa was Junior Minister to Minister M. Tiruchelvam and when I asked how Premadasa performed his duties, the Minister said he posed no problem but acted in good faith towards me. Therefore, a deputy portfolio is no yardstick to measure the integrity of a person. One should be endowed with good qualities. Patience is a sine qua non to form a government or engage in Opposition politics, he said.