| by Nilantha Ilangamuwa
( December 30, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) President
Mahinda Rajapaksa is growing increasingly desperate for victory and
probably wondering if he made a huge error in calling for an early
election.
His
strategies are old; he has no new themes rather than launching personal
attacks on his rival. Apart from becoming increasingly desperate he is
also becoming increasingly worried as the opposition is gathering
support from his former allies. He has lost the majority in the
parliament and now the opposition may consider impeaching due to his
distortion of the national anthem.
The bitterest experience in this world is not living under
the tyrant as long as we knows the ruler is a tyrant, but to see those
who are justifying the “banality of evil” and taking part to further
distort the system. Salman Khan and the group are unfortunately engaged
in this political game.
First he went to offer prayers to the lord Venkateswara temple at
Tirumala before launching the “official” election campaign for the
forthcoming presidential election. He probably hoped that Lord
Venkateswara, also known as Śrinivasā, Bālāji, Veṅkaṭā, and
Veṅkaṭācalapati, a form of the Hindu god Vishnu would take away his sins
which include but are not limited to: the killing of innocents to win
the election in his hometown and the plundering the public funds
received for facilitating the victims of Asian tsunami in 2004.
According to the reports in the Indian media the President Rajapaksa
reached the Tirumala temple at 3 a.m. to take part in the ‘Suprabatham’
seva, following which he also joined the first pre-dawn ritual on the
first week of December.
Upon his returned he addressed the couple of rallies while allowing his
goons to launch systematic attacks on the opposition party candidate’s
stages. The news that the public are reluctant to re-elect him for a
third term is gradually dawning on him.
The people are seeing the real face of Mahinda Rajapaksa the person came
to know by the public, the moment he started losing the foundation of
the power structure. The real battle began. Rajapaksa’s body language is
telling the public of the real failure of his administration and the
how he is attempting to justify his misbehaviour. Rajapaksa is in a
dilemma as he is now in doubt of tomorrow’s. And, it must be noted that
it not only Rajapaksa that is worried about his future but also his
freeloading kith and kin.
The crisis, the President Rajapaksa is facing in unimaginable to the
common citizen. His very political base has been split and the strength
of his ‘morality’ has evaporated. Not only the middle class but also
certain numbers of the people in the rural areas were also realised the
President is no longer capable of solving the problems in this country.
The latest act in this drama is the ‘employment’ of a couple of starts
from Bollywood to play their role in his political campaign.
‘Employment’ is used intentionally because they are certainly not doing
it free of charge. And the question must be raised as to why the
President of Sri Lanka is not using Sri Lankan stars in his campaign.
The answer to that question is that, his son, who is playing an
important role in this election, welcomed those “stars” after severely
assaulting a number of local stars who were fighting for justice. The
attack was the video graphed and shared in the media sooner after the
incident occurred.
Are we as Sri Lankans are blind enough to betrayal our basic rights
after seeing a couple of people in person who are otherwise seen only in
movies or commercials?
However, the reports say they were highly paid by the government while
expecting their crucial role of changing the atmospheres among the
general public. What is even unbelievable factor is that, those who have
kind of intelligentsia to turn as commodities in the most unethical
political drama in the recent history of Sri Lanka.
It is Salman Khan who writes nice sentences about Jihadis and the forms
of ideological based violence. He has constancy expressed his desire for
justice and works against poverty. He is more than an actor. But this
same person arrived here to justify a tyrannical regime to earn a couple
of million out of the taxes shouldered by the poor man in the country.
However, it is hard to say that these stars will be able to change the
general aspirations against the President and his family rule. But the
government is happy to waste public money which has to be paid by
ordinary citizens.
The bitterest experience in this world is not living under the tyrant as
long as we knows the ruler is a tyrant, but to see those who are
justifying the “banality of evil” and taking part to further distort the
system. Salman Khan and the group are unfortunately engaged in this
political game. As Hannah Arendt, once pointed, “Under conditions of
tyranny it is far easier to act than to think.”
The man who born and raised in the world ‘largest democracy’ of the
world is sadly standing up to strengthen the most distorted democracy in
the region is an ignominious. It is nothing but the tragic use of the
art. Is this just because of the money?
A: Our
campaign is different. We are carrying out a very successful
door-to-door program at the village level. We distribute leaflets and
educate people. Although people don’t see us on a platform with other
political parties we too are actively involved in the campaign.
A: The
President has openly said that come what may, he will remain the
President on 9 December. This is a psychological gimmick. One way he is
trying to discourage supporters of the other candidate. Then he is also
trying to tell the people that he will not give up his position even if
the other party wins. This is why I say it is a psychological trick. But
there is no truth in what they say. If he loses he has to go home. It
is clear that the people are no longer with President Rajapaksa. The
people need change and they are rallying around Maithripala Sirisena.
agreement exposed by Tissa Attanayake and the latest foreign cash conspiracy?
A
team of IT experts from India is engaged in the task of looking at the
possibility of changing the result of the presidential election. They
are stationed at Head End at Lesley Ranagala Mawatha in Borella.
