|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
AN IMPORTED CROWD RECEIVED THE HOME-COMING COUPLE IN MATARA.A.A.M.NIZAM MATARA.Terrorist proxies and the reactionary gang held immense hope on Friday’s Matara meeting, described by some people as the home-coming of Ranil-Managala couple (there were some e-mail photos circulated recently relating this union as the First Gay Marriage in Sri Lanka). This sudden enthusiasm among the unpatriotic, pro-alien, anglophile, elites and their lackeys was created by the massive publicity given to this meeting coupled with Gnanakoon’s millions offered to government Parliamentarians. As the Sinhala adage “Ashwayage labba waetenakan balaahiti Nariya wage” (like the fox who lingered until the fall of Horse’s male organs) these treacherous elements whose unrelenting dream is to topple the government, stop the war and save the terrorists from getting annihilated, hoped that a sizeable number of Government Parliamentarians would join the rally ushering in the downfall of the government. Let alone the Government Parliamentarians, the honeymoon-duo even failed to make several prominent UNP members and even their new found hero the fairy tale narrator Sripathy Suriaratchy to attend the meeting. It is the general practice of UNP politics in Matara that whenever it is in the saddle of the powerm Uyanwatte Esplanade, the largest ground in the area, becomes taboo to the SLFP or SLFP led coalitions to hold meetings at this venue. The organisors of such meetings get notified by the Urban Council (now MC) that the ground has been reserved for the said period for a UNP meeting or for a meeting associated with the UNP, although such meetings never take place. Therefore, there were many occasions that the SLFP was compelled to hold its meetings opposite Kotuwegoda Market, or at other venues. Although Matara Municipal Council is presently held by the SLFP and the Mayor is the newly appointed SLFP Oganisor for Matara Electorate the government did not impose any kind of restrictions or obstructions for holding this meeting. Even the vehicles entering Matara were not subjected to security screening. For the people of Matara the life on this day was normal and the multi-coloured posters that flooded the walls and all spots that can catch by the eye did not make any impact on them. It was an eventful day only for traditional UNPers in the area and a few persons holding political offices due to their relationship with Mr. Samaraweera and a few others thriving in business since they were beneficiaries of various contracts and licenses such as liquor licenses, lottery agencies etc. People of Matara majority of them being SLFPers and those affiliated to the Communist Party remained impassive. The bulk of the crowd made to attend the rally was imported from distant parts of the country in buses and lorries and the organisors were meticulous even to fool this crowd by arranging to park lorries and buses at various places and forcing the people to walk along the access roads to Uyanwatte. Busses from Deniyaya, Akuressa were kept in Nupe area, those came through Galle Road 8 buses from Colombo by Ravi Karunanayake , several buses from Kurunegala by Johnston Fernando and other places were kept in Pamburana, those from Kamburupitiya, Hakmana etc., in Gabadaweediya, and those from Ratnapura, Hambantota, Dickwella etc., at Pallimulla. The people were made to get down at these points and were forced to walk to the grounds along the Kotuwegoda, Gabadaweediya, and Broadway roads. People of Matara are used to this crowd influx culture of UNP pioneered by Dharmapala, Montague Jayawickrema and their ilk. For the last several decades the UNP used to bring people from the Estates in the District, owned by UNP stalwarts in lorries and buses with a fully paid holiday additionally compensated with food and drink (including hot drinks). With all this gimmick and incentives the organizers failed to get the promised crowd and it was far below the historical crowd seen by Matara for the PA meeting in 1994. During the last meeting held by Mr. Mangala Samaraweera in Matara, just after he was sacked from the Ministerial portfolio and before his visit to Temple Trees for dining and watching the World Cup semi-finals with the President during which he requested for his reinstatement, Mr. Samaraweera made a promise to the people in Matara that he will never join the UNP and his exercise is to purify the SLFP and liberate if from what he claimed the corrupted Rajapakse brothers. Subsequent events have convinced the politically enlightened people of Matara that he has left the SLFP never to return, and it was done just because he could not get a lucrative Ministerial portfolio, being slavish to urbanite culture he did not want to serve the Amude-clad farming community through the Irrigation Ministry offered to him by the President (at the World Cup semi-finals dinner meeting), there are ample reasons to believe that his activities are being financed by vested interests envious to the progress of rural masses, his frequent visits to Singapore could have some links with his current political activities and various other attempts being made to topple the government, and his only objective now is to strengthen the UNP and help the treacherous Ranil Wickremasinghe to gain power, and halt the drive against the terrorists. Despite a claim made by Mr. Samaraweera at the last meeting that he has 22 Government Parliamentarians loyal to him and prepared to join him at any time it has become only a pipe-dream. The desperate attempt made during his speech at Friday’s meeting to prove that he is not a stooge of the UNP may have certainly angered the crowd as it was an imported UNP crowd who was listening to him. Mr. Sripathy Suriachchy, who is now popular for narrating fairy tales, said in the last meeting at Matara that he would be attending his next meeting in Matara under the Premiership of Mr. Mangala Samaraweera. It may be the reason that he had to flee the country without turning up for the meeting. It was reported in certain newspapers that he is on a foreign holiday with his family. It has become questionable as to who pays for such foreign retreats with their families whenever our politicians desire to do so? The reactionary media made a great show on Mr. S.B.Dissanayake embracing Mr. Samaraweera at the Hyde Park stage. They made people to believe that the reunion of the two personalities will intensify the fall of Rajapakse domain. Their hopes have been shattered by Mr. Dissanayake and he was one of the prominent UNPers who failed to attend the meeting despite his relationship with some people in the area. It cannot be totally ruled out the meeting as an utter failure. It had some plus points too. The remarkable achievement made by the meeting was sporting some hardcore, traditional UNPers in Blue Shirts and Blue Sarees and making them to parade the streets of Matara. Without trying to fool the people of Matara, and the country it is
high time for Mr. Mangala Samaraweera to discard his mask and gracefully
take up the Matara District UNP Leader post which is being kept reserved
for him by the autocratic Ranil Wickremasinghe without offering it to
the District’s only Junk-UNP MP Mr. Sagala Ratnayake |
||||||||||||
|
|
Disclaimer: The comments contained
within this website are personal reflection only and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the LankaWeb. LankaWeb.com offers the contents
of this website without charge, but does not necessarily endorse the
views and opinions expressed within. Neither the LankaWeb nor the individual
authors of any material on this Web site accept responsibility for any
loss or damage, however caused (including through negligence), which
you may directly or indirectly suffer arising out of your use of or
reliance on information contained on or accessed through this Web site.
Copyright
© 1997-2004 www.lankaweb.Com
Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved. |
|||||||||||
