Daily News Editorial

MR to the defence of Wiggy

06 October 20016

Cracks seems to be appearing in the Joint Opposition, with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is spearheading UPFA breakaway faction, at variance with stalwarts of the JO on the true intentions of Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran to stage his protest agitation in the North, under the banner Eluga Tamil (Rise ye Tamils).

It is not clear if the change in stance of Rajapaksa had anything to do with his close friendship with JO firebrand Vasudeva Nanayakkara who, in any event, is related to Wigneswaran. Also, the Mahinda-Vasu association goes back a long way, not only because they first entered parliament together in 1970, but also because they were the proverbial Siamese twins, making regular pilgrimages to Geneva, calling on the UN to impose economic sanctions against Sri Lanka due to the government's human rights violations. For the Rajapaksa-Vasu duo this was hardly a traitorous act since what they were espousing was the rights of the Sinhala majority youth in the South who were targeted by the government of the day.

Be that as it may, speaking to a group of journalists from the North, on Monday, Rajapaksa said he did not believe that Wigneswaran was a racist and what the Northern Province Chief Minister was highlighting was the problems confronted by the youth, due to the government's inability to meet their pressing demands. Wigneswaran after all is a politician and has to play a political role, the former President said.

It is gratifying indeed to note that Rajapaksa, for once, has not been ready to stick a communal label to a protest staged in the North. This is at variance with the earlier positions taken by the former President. One recalls MR's attempt to refer to the violent agitations in the aftermath of the rape and murder of a 18-year-old schoolgirl in the North as a revival of the LTTE .The same reasons were attributed by Rajapaksa when some old arms caches were recovered by the military in the North. The release of military held land in the North to their original owners was also portrayed as a caving into separatist demands, which was not without its communal tinge.

Even in the case of the Wigneswararn demonstration, Rajapaksa initially gave it a communal twist by saying that they of the Sinhala race cannot be driven to the wall, when challenged thus, but would hit back with a vengeance. This sudden turnaround therefore is to be appreciated, for whatever reason, for it will now throw cold water on the JO's Wigneswaran bashing campaign. It no doubt is going to take the bottom off the anti-Wigneswaran platform, built by the likes of Weerawansa and Gammanpila, who, from the day of the protest have been shouting from the roof tops of a birth of another Prabhakaran in the North. This is despite the repeated insistence by the Chief Minister that he had been misquoted by the media in the South, a fact alluded to even by the Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella when the conduct of Wigneswarwan was raised in parliament by JO stalwart Dinesh Gunawardena.

Why pray, is the Joint Opposition so concerned about a demonstration in the North raising the spectre of the LTTE once more when the proud boast of their leader has been that the LTTE is done and dusted? Now, with MR himself saying that this was a protest to highlight the day-to-day problems faced by the people of the North it is hoped that all fears of a resurgence of the LTTE entertained by the JO would be laid to rest. In any event, the public in the South now have a guarantee that the bogeys raised by the rank and file of the Joint Opposition is only in their imagination. Now that MR has cleared the air in this regard why should the JO, or anyone for that matter, object to political leaders in the North staging protests to highlight the grievances of their people.

Today, television is full of protests in the estates, led by political leaders representing the government no less, demanding a Rs. 1,000 daily wage. Hardly a day passes without some Colombo street is obstructed by one demonstration or another making similar demands. Why not then bring the North too into the mainstream, to hear what THEIR people have to say? By treating the demonstrations taking place in the North as something different to the commonplace ones seen in the South isn't the JO tacitly conceding that part of the country is a separate entity.

This column had said this before. Politicians, both in the North and South will use popular slogans to keep their flock within their fold. If such slogans are tinged with communalism, both sides are guilty of it. Mahinda Rajapaksa is guilty of this more than any other political leader in the South. He has not been averse to playing the Sinhala nationalist card, to cater to his Southern constituency. If Wigneswaran's comments appear to sound racist, one cannot hold it against him. He is catering to a different constituency. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.