Paada Yathra for whom?

Wednesday, 3 August 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Sri Lankan Joint Opposition under the leadership of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa concluded its Paada Yathra with a gathering at Town Hall earlier this week. Harkening to a grand tradition of street marches and protest in Sri Lanka, this was the Joint Opposition in full bluster attempting to assert its relevancy and bring a bygone leader back into the spotlight.

While political engagement on the street level with the masses is an admirable move and one that under the right circumstances is emblematic of a fully-functioning democracy, the recent Paada Yathra raises eyebrows, given the Joint Opposition’s own inactivity in Parliament.

Historically Sri Lanka has demonstrated a strong two-party parliamentary system, with one of two major parties occupying power while the other sits in the opposition. However, with the rise of the incumbent National Government, this dynamic has been forced on its head and as the marriage of convenience between the UNP and SLFP looks like it will stand fast in the coming years, it seems the Joint Opposition is a faction of dissenters pushed out of Parliament into the streets.

The Opposition itself puts forward no concrete policy alternatives or resolutions to the criticism it puts forward to the current National Government. It has indeed struck a chord with a sizeable number of people who have various grievances with the State; however, without a coherent message or alternative to politics as usual, the Paada Yathra comes across as naught but a feeble attempt at rabble rousing.

The current Government is set to carry forward its mandate of cleaning up corruption and introducing economic reforms at a swift pace. With no elections coming up in the near future, it is then rather odd that the Joint Opposition would devote so much time and money on a national campaign with thousands of participants when there is no political goal in sight. Indeed the Paada Yathra seems to be organisation for organisation’s sake, with little regard to key features of a genuine social movement such as a drive towards political literacy and the formation of social and economic alternatives to the current system.

The current National Government are certainly no saints and there are indeed many legitimate grievances against their brand of ‘Yahapalanaya’ that can and should be taken up both in Parliament and on the streets. However the recent Paada Yathra bears the dubious signs of one man’s vanity project rather than a platform for the aggrieved masses of a post-war nation still grappling with complex socio-economic hurdles.

Historically social change and great upheavals generally come from below through mass movements launched by the people and led from within their ranks. The Joint Opposition’s recent Paada Yathra bears little resemblance to these movements of yore, instead serving as a temporary spotlight on a demagogue.