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What on earth happend to the once mighty UNP ?

ASOKA S

Great leaders create great societies. They build nations out of nothing or pull countries out of troubled times. Lee Kwan Yoo of Singapore, DR Mahathir of Malaysia, Margaret Thatcher of Britain, Franklin Roosevelt of USA are just a few that comes to my mind. They stood on solid principals and made politically unpopular decisions for the broader good of the people. Lee Kwan Yoo built a model modern prosperous island state of out a mud hole, while President Roosevelt brought US out of the great depression into winning the world war 2 thereby liberating the world from evil fascism.

Conversely minion leaders destroy countries or parties built by sweat of their predecessors. Mrs. B senior brought Lanka into almost bankruptcy with her 1970s socialist experiment. People spent a large part of the day lining up for a loaf of bread or a pound of dhal at selected shops. Brides had to buy the wedding sari only from the Sathosa or the local corporative shop after producing a barrage of paperwork to a bunch of beauracrats. One had to obtain a "exit permit" even to migrate so the he or she can atleast avoid hunger. Boy or Boy.. what was she thinking...?

This leads me to the classic case of flopped Leadership of Ranil. UNP was once high and mighty. Clever, smart and competent people led the party. A collection of bigger than life leaders like JR, Premadasa, Athulathmudali and Dissanaike represented sheer dynamism, pragmatism, wisdom and might of the party in the late 70's and 80's. Those were the days one might say, and rightly so until Prabhakaran from the North and Wijeweera from the South started sucking lifeblood out of Lanka.

Ranil has lost a dozen or so elections including 2 presidentials. He has failed to retain the wise guys in the party. He took the easy way out of the LTTE menace by signing the CFA that nearly handed over whole of Sri Lanka to shrewd Parabhakaran. He has managed to bring the once high and mighty UNP into a national joke. As if this is not enough he is doing everything he can to stop Rajapaksha leadership from wiping out the evil LTTE. He is Prabhakaran's only hope in that sense.

In developed England or America the leader gets only one shot at the trophy. If he or she loses he or she accepts defeat in grace and fade away to political twilight zone allowing another to pick up the pieces and lead, thus injecting fresh ideas and strategies. Isn't this marvelous? In our beloved motherland on the other hand, the case is diagonally opposite. Aging retired prime ministers come back on wheelchairs to give leadership to a besieged society. Oh! the taste of power is so addictive one just cant let go. Then comes the daughter and perhaps the grandson or daughter and so on making a dynasty drag on. Ranil, the mother of all failed leaders is still dreaming at the distant and ever evasive dream of "kingship" while his ship is sinking all around him faster than the mighty Titanic.

Thus continues the saga of the island of Serendib, home to 20 million broken people with shattered dreams while a day dreaming Ranil is waiting for ever for the day of reckoning immaterial of who he is dragging to the bottom of the abyss.

ASOKA S

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