Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

14 May  2019

Me Too Leadership?

[Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday appealed to the people, especially the youth, to avoid taking the law into their own hands and prevent enemy forces from plunging the country into another 1983 Black July.]

Black July happened because the force of those in uniform and their supporters  was weaker than the force of those who were driven by primitive emotions. This was the case with both sides – the LTTE in Jaffna and the Government in Colombo. The Unarmed Tamil civilians in Colombo were the victims. To the extent the LTTE are claimed to have been wiped out – Tamils – especially Non-Christian Tamils are not in the current equation of cause and effect. If Muslim militants are the parallel of LTTE – and Christians were the Government – then ‘yes’ Black July is a strong possibility. If July 2019 becomes Black July that would be not an extension of Easter Sunday. It would be due to Political Radicalism exploiting the armed forces.

Our experiences could be effects of our own previous actions or they could be causes of future manifestations. When we look deep within we would identify which one it is – Cause or Effect? In Mr Rajapaksa’s shoes, based on his claims of victory, I would consider the above as cause and not effects. But then there are no current Sri Lankans to play the role of LTTE. Is Mr Rajapaksa then claiming to know what ISIS would do to invoke young Muslims in Sri Lanka who would then cause reactions from Buddhist youth – especially during Vesak? Mr Rajapaksa does not have enough depth of mind to intuitively know how young Law-abiding Muslims or Tamils would act. Until he took credit for victory against Terrorism, he would have had some intuition into militant minds. But no more.

It looks as if Mr Rajapaksa is trying to take credit for the management of the current disaster by the current government – especially the UNP which has - with the support of General Fonseka’s positive contribution,   managed to keep the armed forces in their uniform.

It is important that we are driven by the Truth that we identify with in each other and not political radicals ourselves. As Leader of the Opposition, Mr Rajapaksa’s duty is to present the feelings of minority victims – i.e. – Muslim civilians. Had Mr Sampanthan been the leader – that would have been a natural pathway for him. But Mr Rajapaksa needs majority empowerment to lead. It’s a lost opportunity to lead minority communities. That is how karma works.