Ranil’s Batalanda blues and UNP woes

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe is in the news again, and not for the best of reasons. Hot on the heels of the fallout of the interview with the television network Al Jazeera, his offhandish attitude towards a long-time member of the United National Party (UNP) Lakshman Wijemanne at a Party meeting, which was widely publicised, has done little to endear anyone towards Wickremesinghe. Instead, his arrogance and attitude has driven Wijemanne straight into the hands of the SJB leader Sajith Premadasa and this could be the start of many other such defections. 

Who can blame Wijemanne or for that matter any other party member for wanting to ditch the Party which refuses to evolve and change with the times. Wickremesinghe has kept an iron grip on the UNP leadership, preventing a successor from taking over its reins and not allowing any new blood to come up through its ranks.

Throughout most of his political career, Wickremesinghe has been his own worst enemy. He came into politics with the privilege of being a close relative of the country’s first Executive President J.R. Jayewardene who groomed him to one day take over the reins of the UNP and possibly the country’s leadership as well but he failed to acquire either the finesse or craftiness which are required of a successful politician. It is true Wickremesinghe has been loyal to the UNP throughout his career refusing to breakaway even when powerful and influential UNP members like Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Athulathmudali decided to quit the Party. 

He staunchly backed R. Premadasa playing a crucial role in sabotaging an impeachment motion against the latter and sticking with him through hard times, but his failing has been the failure to read the mood of his own party members which resulted in the majority of UNP members joining the breakaway Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). Since then, the UNP, the once grand old party of Sri Lanka has become a shell of its old self, a party no one takes seriously. Wickremesinghe must take most of the blame for the situation. Sadly, this week’s incident with Wijemanne shows that the UNP leader refuses to learn any lessons and is hell bent on sticking to the leadership of the UNP and putting the final nail in the coffin of the UNP.

Party issues aside, Wickremesinghe has once again found himself in the centre of the unfolding political storm over the ‘Batalanda’ commission report. The Commission to Inquire into the Establishment and Maintenance of Unlawful Places of Detention and Torture Chambers in the Batalanda Housing Scheme was appointed by then President Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1995 and the report handed over in 1998. Wickremesinghe gave evidence at the Commission and was questioned over his alleged links to the infamous ‘torture house’ that was being operated to hold JVP cadres arrested by the security forces. Much has been written and said about the place, but the issue surfaced two weeks after Wickremesinghe was asked about Batalanda during the Al Jazeera interview. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge between now and then and many things that shouldn’t have happened took place during the dark days of late 1980s and early 1990s. 

Many will argue that the Government’s counter insurgency measures went too far while others will argue that the Government in power had to take ‘unprecedented measures’ to deal with an unprecedented threat to the everyday lives of the people and the existence of the State itself.

Wickremesinghe who celebrates his 76th birthday next week might want to wish away the Batalanda report as well as the dissension within his party but it’s unlikely these will go away unless he bows out of public life for good.