May Day Is D-Day For The SLFP

By Hilmy Ahamed –May 1, 2016

Hilmy Ahamed

President Maithripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s gamble to show their strengths in Galle and Kirulapone would be the final nail in the coffin of the “united” Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa would see an avalanche, charging him of destroying the SLFP. It’s yet to be seen how the die-hard SLFPer’s respond. There is no doubt, the split SLFP will need to go in to a long period of hibernation and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the present day crafty political fox would have been signing all the way to Campbell park. It was just a few years ago that critics labeled Ranil Wickremesinghe as a non-entity? His ability to weather the political storm confirms his maturity as a leader and there is no doubt that under his leadership, Sri Lanka has the best chance of getting out of the debt crisis, political instability, corruption and nepotism.

The welcome concept of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in uniting the SLFP and the United National Party (UNP) to address the core development and financial crisis facing Sri Lanka through a coalition that could come to consensus, putting country first before petty political differences is unprecedented. Regretfully, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s shameful foray into electoral politics posed the biggest threat to this noble cause. To save Yahapalanaya, the former undesirables were recruited in to government. The corrupt, leftist and the small Sinhala chauvinistic parties that would have been wiped off from parliamentary in future elections have done well to hoodwink Mahinda Rajapaksa to believe that he still has a role to play in the future of the nation as a leader. (A close friend of mine, aptly responded to this theory “hasn’t Mahinda and Co. made enough to “Rest In Peace”, haven’t they destroy enough of the democratic norms that we were so proud of in the South Asian region”?) Whatever the answer is, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s refusal to bow down gracefully after the rejection of his leadership by the majority of the voters at the presidential elections in 2015 probably will go down in history as the biggest betrayal of Sri Lanka’s progress. President Sirisena, who still enjoys absolute executive powers, declared through the media his intention to act tough after May Day. Will this take the route of vengeance or just proper governance?

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