CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Of Elephants and Ostriches-Familiar?

By Darmitha-Kotte

These days elephants in Sri Lanka are looking for places to hide their heads. As never before in the history of Sri Lankan politics, elephants have a record 14 defeats at elections and in the most recent CMC elections they even tried to wear spectacles and crashed miserably! Upto date, they are still finding it difficult to mend their fences. A few more defeats and surely, both the "elephant chief" and the "elephant party" can both enter the Guinness Book of Records as the party and leader who " won the most number of defeats in Sri Lanka."

Today, the UNP is going through a severe crisis within the party with members who are deserting it and leaving because the leader cannot see and admit what and where the problem lies. Humility to accept one's shortcomings and concede defeat & step down to make way for someone more capable to steer it on a more glorious path towards victory & dignity- No. This cannot be the case. Unfortunately, the leader relies on a few stooges who are as pig-headed as he is purely because their days are numbered now. Within the party there are huge cracks through which we can see the leaks. The dearth of high calibre cadres within the party with organizing capabilities, was seen only too well when they had to recall an 80 year old party member from overseas in time for the CMC to wear spectacles! What a mess & what a shame?

The UNP was formed by its forefathers, to lead the party towards greater heights and sadly, the present leader has let down those lofty ideals, their members and the entire nation. It is this leadership that brought about the present predicament in relation to the LTTE stalemate with the CFA of which they talked so proudly. Now they are looking for sand to hide their heads like the Ostrich. If the CFA they signed was so wonderful, why on earth did the LTTE back out of peace talks after the Tokyo Summit? Since 2003 May, why was it difficult for the then government in power, to convene and continue the peace process? A Prime Minister who did not know that a document signed only by him when the country had an Executive President in office at the time is illegal, is indeed a fool to say the least. People caste their vote to bring a political party into power because they think that those leaders will ensure the sovereignty of Sri Lanka and also make efforts to bring peace to the entire nation- not a minority terrorist group within a minority community. The irony is that the majority Tamil community in Sri Lanka, do not consider the LTTE as their sole representative but the UNP decided that it had to be so!

The UNP has no one to blame but itself for its current predicament. With all the failures before them, if the party leader is unable to step down with dignity and make way for a more capable member to take the mantle because his "white masters" requested him to remain as the party leader, then he has failed miserably. It is no surprise that members will look for other avenues to serve the country if they really and truly want to. Taking disciplinary action against those who express different views is the most undemocratic method to quell dissention within the party. The UNP has been heard to say that they are the most democratic party in Sri Lanka- do we witness it now at a time when they are facing a crisis? It is extremely easy for the UNP leader to hide his head in the sand and pretend nothing happened!

It is all too obvious that the UNP is no longer patriotic or concerned about the national crisis that Sri Lanka is facing currently. We need to see UNP politicians exhibiting a true sense of loyalty to The State. We have seen enough of the loyalty they show for their own positions and survival. If they do not unite together with the current government in power for various petty reasons which the masses do not believe or accept, then it is better for them to forget about ever getting back into power again. All those who are rallying round the current leader of the UNP are those who need to support him for their own survival. We might as well categorize them as traitors of Sri Lanka who are so selfish, that the country does not mean a thing to them.

Those of you who were once proud to be a UNPer must now think whether or not you still want to continue to live in that "dream" under an incapable leader and his cronies- that will be your doom!

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