President Rajapaksa, a leader for all seasons

by Amarasinghe Kudagalara

The friend-in-need to the illiterate villager, care-giver, social activist, reformist lawyer, politician and ‘King among the kings and Peasant among the peasants’ are the attributes of the multi-dimensional personality of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Amidst a host of engagements, President Rajapaksa entertained aadivasi chief Rathugala Sudala Vannilettho at Temple Trees and gave a patient hearing to the grievances of his community. To the surprise of those present, the President accepted the bottle of bee-honey, their customary gift and tasted it. Such was his humility.

Electricity at a cost of Rs. 850 million for 1,150 families in 25 villages was provided and the aadivasi chief was given free supply on the directive of President Rajapaksa.

When the President paid a visit to a gypsy craal, the gypsies paid him the highest tribute by displaying venomous serpents. For him, differences of caste, creed, class or other social stigma did not matter. It was man-to-man brotherhood that interested him.

Threats

When the country, especially the South was engulfed in darkness during the 88-99 insurgency, Hambantota became another Visala Maha Nuwara overwhelmed with the Three Great Fears (Thun Biya). Half-burnt bodies on tyre-pyres were strewn all over the district.

One day when the insurgency was at its peak, Lawyer Mahinda Rajapaksa ignoring the threats of death or notorious 'summary executions', toured interior villages where most people sought refuge in the jungle. His mission was to provide consolation and hope to the fear-stricken villagers.

People who turned up heaved a sigh of relief, "Oh, Ape Mahinda Mahattaya has come”.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has breakfast with Aadivasi chief Vannilaetho at Temple Trees.

Bombs were thrown at his Carlton residence and he was fired upon twice or thrice for empathising with the helpless villagers and providing succour to the victims of the mindless insurgency.

'Oh, Ape Mahinda Mahatayane' - the villagers found instant solace in him. Once when an unruly mob fired shots at his car, he dared to get down and talk to the assailants without any fear.

When a local political activist launched a fast unto death on a 80 ft. high Poson pandal at Middeniya, all attempts to persuade him to give up the fast failed. Mahinda Mahattaya reached him within minutes and prevailed upon him to give up his fast.

Skill

Mahinda Mahattaya's quotes are worth recalling. The day he was appointed Minister of Labour, he said, “I am the Minister of Labour and not of Capital”. Trade unionists, labour leaders and workers were jubilant over his appointment.

As a swashbuckling young politician, he blazed a trail of dare-devil experiments such as street-fighting, Pada Yatra, Human Chains, Jana Gosha and other demonstrations in the larger interests of the working class.

Workers trampled under the jackboot of employers heaved a sigh of relief when he was appointed Minister of Labour.

He was a first-class tactician who had the special skill of coaxing strikers to give up their threats. When over 4,000 strikers of a leading private company bulldozed their way into the Labour Secretariat and a well-known woman strike-leader who hailed from Beliatte clambered to the 10th floor and threatened to commit suicide, Labour Minister Rajapaksa went up to her and persuaded her to abandon the threat with his inspiring words: Nangiye, pissu nokara othanin bahinna.Long life for you, President Rajapaksa.

The writer is the Founder President of the Sinhala–Tamil Writers Association.

Translated By K.D.M. Kittampahuwa