‘A man cannot win elections… But he is not a thief..’
This is the tagline that was hung on Ranil when he became Prime Minister in 2013.
‘Ranil was called a traitor. He was called a tiger. No one called him a thief. Even his arch enemies accepted that…’
This is what international political commentators said when Ranil became Prime Minister in 2015.
‘Mr. Clean…’
This tagline was given to Ranil by his uncle’s newspaper, the ‘Sunday Times’, but no one challenged that tagline.
Ranil defeated the Rajapaksa family, which he could not defeat in 2015, by making Maithripala the common candidate, by hanging the tagline calling the Rajapaksas thieves.
‘The Rajapaksas are thieves. Ranil is Mr. Clean…’
People voted in 2015 thinking that.
The Rajapaksas realized that it would not be easy to get rid of the label of thief after being labeled as thieves. The Rajapaksas knew that the best thing to do was to rob either Maithripala Sirisena or Ranil. By now, there had been minor disputes between Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil, and the Rajapaksas calculated that if they discredited Ranil, they would be able to win over Maithri and get the charges against them dropped.
‘How can they rob Ranil, who has the image of Mr. Clean…?’
The Rajapaksas wondered.
It didn’t take long. The Rajapaksas hit the jackpot. That was through the Central Bank robbery.
The Rajapaksas discredited Ranil through the Central Bank, using President Maithripala, the SLFP ministers in Ranil’s government, and the COPE Committee in Parliament.
When Mr. Clean Ranil, who came to catch thieves, was accused of involvement in the Central Bank issue, the civil society organizations and artists who brought the Maithri–Ranil government to power in 2015 were ashamed.
As soon as the Central Bank robbery accusation came up, Maithri asked Ranil to come. Ranil came with Malik.
‘If you want to protect both our mandate and the government, you should tell your friend Arjuna Mahendran to resign…’ Maithri told Ranil.
‘I will solve this problem…’ That was all Ranil said. Arjuna Mahendran was a close friend of Ranil. Ranil made him the Governor of the Central Bank because of that friendship. Ranil did not want to betray his friend. He set up a committee of lawyers to defend Mahendran. He told Maithri to investigate the old Central Bank bond issue.
But Maithri did not dance to Ranil’s tune, but to the tune of the Rajapaksas. He appointed a commission to investigate the bond scam. Maithri warned Ranil on a public stage not to protect bond thieves. The COPE report in Parliament proved that the bond scam was a major robbery. The SLFP ministers told Maithri to remove Ranil and appoint someone else as Prime Minister.
Ranil’s government came to catch thieves in January 2015. By June–July 2015, Ranil had become the biggest thief.
That was like the Rajapaksas’ game. But without President Maithripala, the SLFP ministers in the government, and the COPE report, the Rajapaksas would not have been able to play this game. At the same time, the audit report on the Central Bank robbery was also released. Ranil’s government was defeated in the 2018 by-election.
Opposition leader Sajith, who is the weakest opposition leader in Sri Lanka and insults the government and other opposition parties, recently played a game to teach the Rajapaksas a lesson. That is, the JVP government, which came to catch thieves, was turned into thieves through the coal scam.
Unlike the Rajapaksas who made Ranil a thief, it was not easy for Sajith to label the JVP government as thieves. The main reason is that the mandate of the JVP government was a huge mandate compared to the mandate of the Maithri–Ranil government in 2015. Mahinda received a majority of Sinhala Buddhist votes in 2015. But in 2024, the entire country voted for the JVP in unison.
On the other hand, the Rajapaksas received President Maithripala Sirisena’s support and blessing to discredit Ranil. Maithripala Sirisena justified the Rajapaksas’ allegations by appointing a presidential commission to investigate the bond scam. The SLFP ministers in the cabinet also supported the COPE committee in Parliament’s charges against Ranil.
Sajith got a president who protected Minister Kumara Jayakody, who was accused of corruption. A prime minister who protected the minister. A cabinet of ministers. A COPE committee that protected the minister. But Sajith did not give up. After exposing the coal corruption, he decided to bring a no-confidence motion against the minister.
‘The government wins by bringing no-confidence motions…’
That is how the UNP and Ranil’s joint opposition mocked Sajith. When the no-confidence motion was brought against Keheliya Rambukwella on September 8, 2023, the JVP, which was in the opposition at the time, said the same thing.
‘Sajith is crazy. He is gathering UPFA MPs around Ranil. He is giving the government a chance to show its power in Parliament…’
That is how the JVP mocked Sajith at that time. But with that no-confidence motion, Sajith shaped the public perception that Ranil was protecting thieves. That public opinion was so strong that Ranil had to remove Keheliya from the cabinet and later she was arrested. If Sajith and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya had listened to what the JVP said then, Keheliya would not have gone to jail.
When Ranil’s joint opposition mocked Sajith, he stayed in the game.
Even when Sajith approved Samudrika Jayaratne’s name as Auditor General, Sajith was accused of making a deal with Anura. Because it was Anura who proposed Samudrika’s name. But Sajith supported her appointment, knowing that she was a senior official in the Auditor General’s Department and that she would not act improperly at the wrong time.
Sajith’s calculations were correct. She did not cover up the coal scam. She told the truth.
Now, just as Ranil protected Arjuna Mahendran back then, the JVP government is protecting Kumara Jayakody. Arjuna Mahendran was Ranil’s friend back then. Kumara Jayakody is Anura’s friend. Ranil set up committees to investigate the bond scam during Mahinda’s government to protect Arjuna. Today, Anura sets up committees to investigate coal scams in previous governments to protect Kumara Jayakody.
Just as civil society organizations and artists who brought the Maithri–Ranil government to power were ashamed back then, the activists who brought the JVP government to power are now ashamed.
‘Sajith Premadasa has lit a fuse that is set to explode in a few months…’
This is the story told by an old JVP member about the game that Sajith is playing amidst the vicious game of weak princes who cannot get 10 votes to become presidential candidates in 2029, saying, ‘Sajith is not fit’ and ‘Sajith is not good enough’.
