The fish that swallowed the whale

Continued from Page 15

Mahinda Rajapaksa is not a selfish man. He institutionalised the exploitative privileges and perks of his team from base to the top of the pyramid. Despite his great charisma, this episode has made him a political clown. He has paid a high price. He has lost all political legitimacy. This is the beginning of the end of the Mahinda Rajapaksa folk legend. 

Now we must focus on our President whom we elected as the common candidate. 

His humility and his humble life trajectory were his USP – ‘the unique selling proposition,’ the term used by professional marketeers in marketing FMCG – Fast-Moving Consumer Goods – the stuff that has a limited shelf life. 

In fairness we must remember that he was proud of his achievement or destiny. At some point he concluded that he himself singlehandedly reached the hybrid of an Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela. That is beside the point. 

He certainly has a deep-seated antagonism towards Ranil Wickremesinghe, the UNP Leader, who paved way for him to become president. The problem is that halfway through they both got confused. The President stopped being grateful. His Prime Minister never ceased crying over his spilt presidential milk.

When the President complains about the cultural chasm between him and the Prime Minister, my conscience dictates me to agree with him.

First, Ranil Wickremesinghe does not speak the Sinhala that Maithripala Sirisena speaks. Second, no matter how humble you are, there is a limit to tolerating the uppity know all attitude of Ranil Wickremesinghe. It is not an act that is human possible unless your fate, interest or wellbeing is dependent on the UNP Executive Committee. 

Since defeating the no confidence motion against him, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe did not bother to mend fences. Newspapers periodically reported that the President got mad over some Cabinet paper or other.

In high pressure politics, getting mad over something is not unusual. Staying mad with somebody with whom you have fundamental differences is also not unusual. Getting mad is no big deal. Going actually, really and truly mad is catastrophically insane.