Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is lamenting the arrest of Opposition politicians who lead protests against the government. Speaking to journalists outside the Tangalle prison, after visiting those held in custody following the recent demonstration in Hambantota, the former President said that no other government, before, had thrown parliamentarians behind bars as the present Yahapalanaya administration. He noted that not even JR or Premadasa did so, even though he (Rajapaksa), together with Vasudeva Nanaykkara, led pada yatras, organsied human chains and even went to internationals forums to complain about tyre pyres and human rights violations. He said anyone has a right to demonstrate against the government but this regime has trampled on that right.
Earlier Joint Opposition parliament group leader Dinesh Gunawardena too complained to the Speaker in parliament that the MPs who led demonstrations were being arrested by the government and urging the Chair to take serious note about the matter. He too praised the hands off approach by JRJ and Premadasa. Both, Rajapaksa and Gunawardena, are obviously trying to hide the horrendous record of the former regime in the treatment of the Opposition. MR may have not thrown Opposition politicians behind bars for leading demos. He did not need to. Opposition protests were broken up even before they got started. Implied in the statement of Rajapaksa, when he claimed that anyone has a right to demonstrate against the government, is that everything was hunky dory under his rule. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Both, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Dinesh Gunawardena, appears to have been struck by a bout of selective amnesia when they imply that the UNP went about their business of protests without any fuss. Has it slipped their memory as to how a group of UNP MPs who went on a fact finding mission to Hambantota were pelted with stones, the Hambantota Mayor, no less, leading the attack. Are MR and Dinesh G. unaware how the vehicles of Rosy Senanayake and Chandrani Bandara were smashed up while they were participating in an ant-government demo in Punchi Borella, with MP Harsha De Silva running for dear life? Where were Messrs Mahinda Rajapaksa and Dinesh Gunawardena when a Minister from the Kalutara district, known for his uncouth language, instigated a mob to hurl insults and abuse, at the deposed lady Chief Justice, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, in the vicinity of the latter’s official residence? Were MR and Dinesh not aware of the attack on the vehicle of then Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, when the latter visited Balapitiya to address a public meeting, the attacker being none other than Sajin Vas Gunawardena, who punched our Ambassador to the Court of St. James, in London. Was Mahinda Rajapaksa not in the country when a mob led by Duminda Silva blocked the passage of UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, on the road to parliament?
These are but small samples of what obtained under Rajapaksa rule, when the democratic opposition was given no space to engage in legitimate political work and was harassed and intimidated at every turn. One need not go to the extent of throwing one’s political enemies behind bars, to subdue them. Intimidating and placing road blocks to the Opposition by the deployment of violence to break up protests and anti-government agitations is equally a potent weapon. It would have the effect of taming the country’s political opposition permanently, although, to the credit of the UNP, the more intrepid members of the party refused to be intimidated. Besides, arrests made in Hambantota, of JO parliamentarians were for defying a court order. Namal Rajapaksa, being a lawyer, should, we believe, have known the consequences of turning the back on a court order. Lawmakers cannot be lawbreakers.
Mahinda Rajapaksa and Vasudeva Nanayakkara may not have been harassed by JRJ and Premadasa for leading anti-government protests. But both were very much members of the government which inflicted much misery on JRJ and Premadasa when they were in the Opposition. Government sponsored goons were deployed to break up many a demonstration led by the duo. Have MR and Dinesh G. forgotten how the Satyagraha led by JRJ to Attanagalla was attacked by mobs, unleashed by the government, following which Sirima Bandaranaike famously stated that the people of Attanagalle had all the right to drive away strangers to their territory, which gave birth to the equally famous ‘Attanagalle doctrine’ coinage.
Both, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Vasudeva Nanayakkara were also very much on the scene when mobs went on the rampage and smashed the vehicles transporting JRJ and Premadasa to address a UNP meeting prior to the Ratnapura by-election. Old timers may still recall the mayhem unleashed during the Dedigama by-election, held in the aftermath of the death of Dudley Senanayake, where both MR and Vasu were in the thick of the government campaign and were among those who directed the violence. Hence, bringing JRJ and Premadasa to the picture is purely an eye wash.
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