General Sarath Fonseka has become the most important political topic today.
Not that he has done any political intervention; on the contrary he says
that he has no intention to come into politics. But some of his statements
made during the conduction off the war were definitely political and
directly in line with the unitarist Sinhala chauvinist view point. Also he
appears to have committed to the view that every thing and any thing should
be done to stop the implementation of devolution beyond the 13th amendment.
But he did not support any party or any particular party leader; and
continually denied that he will come into politics in the future.
However
history is full of examples of military men who were recognized to be
powerful soldiers by the establishment of the day, later may be reluctantly,
and were drawn into politics. Julius Caesar, Cromwell and Napoleon were few
of them. In order to defend the subjugated territories, Caesar intervened to
undermine the republic. Both Cromwell and Napoleon in the name of revolution
dismissed the parliament to become virtual dictators.
But the history has
removed such openings for the soldiers to day. It is by the grace of the
global capital that any ruler can survive even in a developing country like
ours. In the developed west or in any other industrial country the workers
movements are powerful enough to demolish any attempt of a modern Hitler or
a Bonaparte.
Sinhala Napoleon
So there is no room for a Sinhala Napoleon. However few months ago Victor
Ivan started a heated argument with Viyangoda and me to convince us that
Mahinda would be a Sinhala Napoleon. So, it was a very important belief with
in the bourgeoisie intellectual circles. But today Mahinda is busy turning
every stone around, in order to get rid of sanctions of the global capital.
In spite of his noise against the western powers for raising HR issues, he
is doing every thing possible to satisfy his global masters. It is clear
that the Indian rulers are heavily on his side. They should be, because he
conducted their war. Sonia, the Maha Rani of the Indian imperial setup,
mercifully sent a Dravidian delegation from their epicenter of Tamil
nationalism to wash Mahinda’s dirty linen. Of course the Brahmins of Delhi
were always with their loyal Yuvaraj Mahinda. He did what they wanted and
now he is doing every thing to bring Indian, American and Chinese
investments into the cleared up Lanka.
One international money lender has
classified Lanka as the best investment joint in the world. Of course; where
else you get an over 60 % supported government with a powerful military
backing. It is a government which has taken over large part of land and
other resources into its hand and prepared to dish out to foreign investors...
It is a country where large parts of workers are held in open prison camps
while trade unions are controlled by chauvinist and government stooges. In
fact Emergency and PTA has made TU legislation none existent.
But their tragedy is that Sinhala chauvinist camp is now divided. Mahinda
deliberately pushed general Sarath out of his power center. He was to be
appointed as sports secretary; in the mean time Mahinda’s pal Wimal was
speaking loudly about a conspiracy. Yes of course, it is a conspiracy to
isolate general Sarath. Was the plan to make him the escape goat for the HR
violations, and save the political leadership? That will satisfy both the
Mahinda government and the global powers.
Crumbs of devolution
Even Maha Rani of Delhi will be
happy if she can give some devolution crumbs to the Tamil leaders.
On the
other hand if General Sarath Fonseka were to contest presidential elections
with the support of ardent Sinhala chauvinists, capitalist regime will go
into crisis. In the mean time we notice that the soldiers are getting
restless. They can see that future is bleak. Already steps are taken to
convert them into khaki clad law paid workers, without labour rights. The
day that khaki clad workers rise, there want be any place for all these
Sinhala Napoleons to hide.