Gandhigiri
(or is it Buddhagiri) seems to be at work in Sri Lanka in real life!
Move over Rajapaksa, it’s Sirisena who calls the shots now. That is the message President Maithripala Sirisena has sent to Sri Lanka people and political constituency by ensuring the 19th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution was passed in Parliament as promised in the run up to the election.
Three
things stand out in his success. He had to outmanoeuvre strong opposition from
Rajapaksa-loyalists who at one stage numbered 110 in the 250-member parliament.
They belonged to Sirisena's own Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and its tiny
coalition partners whose support he would need in the forthcoming parliamentary
elections to ensure he is not subsumed by the traditional rivals-turned
partners – the United
National Party (UNP).
It is
a tribute to his political ability that after lengthy parleys with the
Loyalists except for 15 diehard supporters of Rajapaksa others voted for the
Amendment when it came up. This would indicate his strengths within the SLFP
that were not visible to the public when he served as the senior minister under
President Rajapaksa. The former President ensured the limelight was always on
himself and none else. Sirisena's success now should open up the eyes of
doomsday men among the public.
The
19A in its final form does not abolish executive presidency as contemplated by
the partners of national alliance which fielded Sirisena to take on Rajapaksa
in the presidential elections. But even then the idea lacked clarity. By the
time political consensus emerged in parliament, partners of the ruling
Sirisena-UNP alliance seemed to have agreed upon taking a middle path:
retaining the executive presidency with lesser power and greater accountability
to parliament while increasing the powers of the prime minister and parliament.
Sirisena
and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe showed a lot of flexibility and pragmatism in
the approach of to ensure the 19A enjoyed maximum support in Parliament.
This should help them in getting through another tough nut to crack: 20th
Amendment (20A) to change the present electoral system where strong differences
exist between the two main parties. The new system is a complex mix of both
first past the post and modified proportional representation systems. How much
the public and will understand its final form is an open question.
As the
SLFP is more likely to listen to Sirisena, one thing is clear: now it would not
be easy for Rajapaksa to rally the party support in his favour. After all in
politics winner takes all. In any case the days of free-wheeling presidency
seems to be over as the sweeping powers it enjoyed have been curbed by 19A.
Yet
another impact of the 19A will be on the inquiries into alleged corruption by
Rajapaksa brothers – Mahinda, Basil and Gotabaya – who had controlled the reins
of power. If the inquires now underway throws up evidence, it would be
difficult to delay follow up action not only for Rajapaksas but also the
authorities as the 19A has made the right to information a fundamental right.
However,
former President Rajapaksa is a street smart politician who would not give up
easily. Already a one-to-one meeting between Rajapaksa and Sirisena is being
organised. It does not matter at whose initiative it is because both the
seasoned stalwarts will try to give and take political favours. But clearly it
is Sirisena who holds the aces at least for now. So Mahinda must be ruing his
past as Thomas Jefferson did: “No man will bring out of the Presidency the
reputation which carries him in.” And that many not be enough as he is likely
to face more taxing days.
Lastly,
Sri Lanka people have shown a lot of political maturity to see that all these
radical changes take place without any thuggery and fisticuffs that used to be
common in politics in Rajapaksa days. The message it sends to our people cannot
be clearer: if you elect the right persons with a clear agenda, life will be
more comfortable for everyone, even for the thugs. Bodhu Bala Sena, Buddhist
ultras who used to beat up Muslims and spew venom against other religions, is
now thinking of registering as a political party according to the latest news.
It seems Gandhigiri (or is it Buddhagiri) seems to be at work in Sri Lanka in
real life!
Courtesy:
India Today Opinion portal DailyO http://www.dailyo.in/politics/sri-lanka-maithripala-sirisena-mahinda-rajapaksa-slfp-unp/story/1/3529.html
Blog: http://col.hariharan.info/2015/05/sri-lankan-politics-move-over-rajapaksa.html
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