Rupee Crisis: Mahinda Cries, “Ehi Passiko” 

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

Shyamon Jayasinghe

“Stamp your foot and tell Mr Rupee: “No. You shall not go down!” Or, Like Jesus Christ addressing Lazarus, the dead man: ‘Rise and come forth.”

Ehi Passiko

“Ehi Passiko,” is a methodological statement in expressed in Pali and attributed to the Buddha. The sage asserted that his Dhamma must be experienced to to be proven. “Come and experience”(ehi passiko)! Former Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa has said the same about his solution to the currency crisis. Hand over back to me and you will experience the solution like seeing something currently unseeable, in broad daylight.

Seen the Video?

I am thoroughly amused watching a video doing the rounds on Facebook. It is issued with a caption in small lettering: “Sinha Lokaye Sinhaya” (The Lion in the World of Lions). The lion is none other than former tough man Mahinda Rajapaksa. He is fortified by a ring of advisors that includes the former Central Bank Chief, Nivard Cabraal. It is a media  conference in Colombo over the subject of the falling rupee. This is where MR, with his customary bluster, announced: “Give the government to us and you will see the solution.”The video doesn’t give the speech but it does show a hilariously classic cameo of the proceedings where  a media guy asks him if he could specify a broad  time- frame for solving the crisis as promised. 

The oral response and the body language of our dear old leader, Mahinda, shows up his vacuous mind when it comes to even basic economics and finance. When the question was posed, Mahinda’s face went into a pale blank. He showed he was clearly out of depth. Turning his back to his former loyal Nivard Cabraal, Mahinda didn’t even seem to have grasped Cabral’s laboured prompt. A long delay for comprehension would have left the audience gasping for breadth, laughing. Hence, Mahinda blurted out an irrelevant response: “All this rise is due to the present situation,” said he.

Mind you, I am not exaggerating, this is a performance of the former President who, embarrassingly, also held the portfolio of finance over his ten year rule as supremo of Sri Lanka. If Mahinda didn’t know the answer to the question raised he obviously wasn’t serious when he said he would fix the problem if only he was returned his power. Did Mahinda think that this is like fixing a leaking tap or, at higher lever, fixing the indiscipline in our universities. Give a firm decision! Stamp your foot and tell Mr Rupee: “No. You shall not go down!” Or, like Jesus Christ addressing Lazarus, the dead man, “Rise!”

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