Croton eating humans
03 February 2017'Mutton eating crotons' was, sometimes, an unfair phrase used to describe a certain section of the community in the island, especially in the 1970s, for their alleged illiteracy of the Queen's English.
The noun 'mutton,' perhaps, exaggeratedly, imputed that that particular community, did not know the difference between the live animal, the goat, and its meat on the table, identified as mutton.
When goats used to eat the 'fence' which sometimes comprised croton plants, those days, it was said, that a member of the affected household of that community used to warn the others of this 'disaster', by mouthing the phrase, '...mutton eating crotons'
On a serious note, yesterday's state owned 'Daily News' (CDN) carried an article not of 'Mutton eating crotons', but of allegedly 'Croton eating humans' and being poisoned as a result.
Croton leaves may be the staple diet of 'mutton,' but certainly not of Sri Lankans, whose staple diet is rice. And for Sri Lankans to be eating crotons and not rice, and falling ill as a result, signifies two things, either they were mad and/or they were indigent, with the latter, thereby substituting croton leaves for rice and serious and dangerous consequences overtaking them as a result.
The article, however, doesn't aver to the mental state of the victims, though, all indications are, that they were sane, but, perhaps, ignorant of the dangers of eating croton leaves, an action that they however took, as all indications seemingly point out to,due to abject poverty.
Poverty, more often than not, is the root cause of bloody revolutions, beginning with the French Revolution of 1789 and like a thread running through, encompassing the 1917 Russian Revolution, the culmination of the Chinese Revolution that brought Mao to power in 1949, Khomeini in Iran in 1979 (a child of USA's and UK's blunderbussing in their greed for Iranian oil that installed the dictatorial Shah in power in 1953) and more recently, the current conflagrations in certain parts of the Middle-East, with reverberations felt in the rest of the world, in particular the West.
Sri Lanka also had its share of bloody revolutions due to poverty and soaring unemployment, two from the South and one from the North, that has pushed back its economy to not where it should be, in the context that in the immediate aftermath of World War II, the island was one of the top most economies in Asia. But it failed to reach its zenith, due to a multitude of reasons such as the inaccessibility of the rich markets in the West by enjoying concessionary trade arrangements, like that which was enjoyed by Japan, and also democracy, which led to populist policies to win elections, but, at a cost to the economy.
On the subject of 'Croton eating humans in Sri Lanka' as reported by yesterday's edition of the CDN, that also brings to mind of a similar incident that took place in the island some 40 plus years ago during the Sirima Bandaranaike's SLFP led UF regime, wherein at least one autopsy conducted, i.e. that of a Tamil woman from the plantation sector, what the doctors found in her stomach was not poison, but grass.
Now, grass is the staple food of livestock such as cattle and not that of humans. What led this woman to eat grass, similar to those who ate croton leaves in the island a few days ago was poverty. This was because she could not afford to buy rice or bread to satiate her hunger. Therefore, she opted to eat grass, which was free, similar to those who ate croton leaves because that too was free, but with dangerous consequences.
Bandaranaike got her just desserts at the 1977 general elections, where her rival party, the UNP, got a record, five sixths majority in that election. Sri Lanka's next national elections are due in another three years time, that is, the parliamentary election and the presidential election, i.e. if the latter is held under the nineteenth amendment (19A) which was passed, post the 2015 presidential election. Or, otherwise, at the latest, by 2016, on the basis that the 2015 presidential election, prior to the passing of 19A, ipso facto held under the pre 19A regime,under which regime, the presidential term may last for a maximum period of six yeaRs
If the present government doesn't tackle the problem of poverty like Bandaranaike, they too may suffer a similar fate, if not earlier, either by democratic, or, in the worst case scenario, by illegitimate and undemocratic means, despite the fact that the island's three previous bloody revolutions, ended in failures. Even if such a thing does take place and that too ends in a failure, the consequences, however would be bloody for the country; nothing to crow about.
