Every Sinhala Buddhist and probably many
others would have heard of the dialogue between Arhant Mahinda Thera and the
king Devanampiya Tissa (not theesham as some Tamil racists used to call him) around
the famous mango tree at Mihintalawa.
Pointing out at the Mango tree the Arhant Thera has asked the king “Oh King what is this tree?”.
The King replied “Ven. Thera this is a mango tree” . The Arhant Thera then
asked “are there mango trees other than this mango tree?” The answer was obvious and the King said “yes
there are so many other mango trees”. Then the Arhant Thera asked “are there
mango trees other than those other mango trees?” The king replied “Yes it is
this mango tree”.
There is not only more than one mango
tree in the world but we can always refer to one particular mango tree as the
mango tree other than other mango trees. If Arhant Mahinda were to visit Sri
Lanka and ask Ranil Wickremesinghe
referring to Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera who this Thera is Ranil W would
have replied “he is the common candidate”. Then the Thera would have asked
Ranil W whether there are other common candidates Ranil W would have said there are many other common
candidates including Sarath Fonseka and non playing common candidate Anura
Dissanayake who dances according to his (Ranil’s) tune.
Then the Arhant Mahinda Thera would have
asked are there common candidates other than those other common candidates.
Ranil W would not have hesitated to say “why not it is me” . However, unlike in
the Mihintalawa dialogue Ranil W was not the original common candidate but the
story has changed in the course of more than two thousand three hundred years,
during which so much water has flown under the stone bridge over Malwatu Oya.
However, Sobhitha Thera the original
common candidate is not prepared to give up. He is dreaming of a pivithuru heta
(A clean tomorrow) with a new constitution good governance etc., supposedly
drafted by Sarath Silva. The Thera has recently attended a meeting where
another Thera who could aspire to be a common candidate has come out with
certain suggestions to Mahinda R with of
course a threat. It has become the practice of common candidates and aspiring
common candidates to come out with suggestions to Mahinda R as there is no
point in telling the people that they would implement them once they come to
power. It is a foregone conclusion that Mahinda R will contest the Presidential
elections in 2015, and poll about 55% of the valid vote. The “nonagatha” period
that the UNP is waiting would never arrive as it did not arrive last time when
the UNP leaders were in a hotel with Sarath Fonseka waiting for the “nonagatha”
between the first count and the second preferential count. If the “nongatha”
period dawned in 2010 there would have been a blood bath for many and Sarath
Fonseka would have become the President of the country with the blessings of
the westerners, though not with that of Ranil W. In 2015 too there would not be
a “nonagatha” period and the UNP leaders are advised not to book hotel rooms in
advance preparing for “a revolution”.
We all love a “pivithuru hetak” but will
it be more pivithuru than today. From the demands of the “pivithuru hetak” it
is clear that it is not so. It appears that there are some members of pivithuru
hetak who do not endorse the demands made to Mahinda R. For example what the
common candidates do not seem to understand is that executive presidency is not
an issue among the common man. It is an
issue of the common candidate but not of the common man.
The common man unlike the common
candidate is more concerned with the terrorist movement backed by the
westerners. They know of Tamil racism and they are not against each other
whether they are Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim. They are not against Yal devi going
to Jaffna unlike the TNA leaders who are Tamil racists . The TNA is worse than
the worst opposition party in the sense that they would not collaborate with
the government even if the government does something good for the common man
irrespective of whether it is Sinhala or Tamil. Yal Devi is running to Jaffna
with the help of Indians though it may have come in the form of a loan. It is
true that the Sri Lankan engineers would have built the railway to Jaffna at a
lesser cost but the political and social implications of the Indian help is
much more than the monetary value of the loan.
The fact that the Indian high
commissioner was present at Jaffna going by Yal devi while the TNA MPs were
boycotting the Yal Devi should be highlighted in the coming weeks whether one
thinks it is pivithuru or not. The pivithuru hetak is not dawn b y common
candidates but by common people on either side of Elephant Pass. When Yal Devi
passes Elephant Pass that pivithuru hetak is getting closer and closer.
However, it appears that the common
candidates and leaders of pivithuru hetak do not understand the way the common
man thinks. It is clear that the common man in Jaffna as the common man in
Hambantota is with the President.
However the Jaffna man is still not prepared to vote for Mahinda R as they are
still under Money Order economy. Those days the public servant who arrived in
Colombo from Jaffna used to send money home through money orders and the
economy was run by the Colombo establishment. Now it is run by the dispersed
Tamils in the western countries and the west manipulates the Jaffna vote
through dispersed Tamils.
The government has to think very
carefully on this economic nexus as it is a threat to the sovereignty of the
people. It is the sovereignty of the common man that is affected though
unfortunately through the common man himself. The vote manipulated by the
dispersed Tamils is not going to be important in the Presidential elections in
2015, but since the sovereignty could be manipulated through the Money Order
economy the government should take all necessary steps to make the Jaffna
common man independent of the London common man. It is in this connection the
Jaffna farmer and the Jaffna fisherman have to be looked after at the same time
establishing new industries in the Jaffna district. The Siddha medicine is
another area that has to be developed against the western medicine and the
traditional (paramparika) medicine has to be given every encouragement to
develop on its own.
The pivithuru hetak organisation under
the auspices of some of the common candidates have spelled out that they would
defeat Mahinda R if certain demands are not met before the elections for the
Presidency. Now one of the demands is connected with abolishing the executive
presidency and I remember the JHU expressing the view that the executive
presidency helped Mahinda R to defeat Tamil terrorism. As the President himself
has said the executive presidency could be abolished if the Tamil leaders
including the TNA drop the separatist demand. They are still with the infamous
Vadukoddai resolution and unless the TNA drops the Vadukkodai resolution there
would not be a pivithuru hetak in any sense of the word.
When pivithuru hetak leaders claim that
Mahinda R should be defeated they implicitly say that a person who will help to
keep Tamil racism should be voted in. It is strange that they talk of defeating but not of electing. They should
not be allowed to go away with empty statements such as people will be the
winner. They should specify the common candidate whom they support, of the
plethora of common candidates.
Nalin De Silva
17-10-2014