5th Column

Look, who is clinging on to the 'saree pota'
My dear Somawansa sahodaraya,
I thought I must write to you after hearing you say that your comrades will never leave the government, come what may. Of course, that is something we suspected all along but now you have officially confirmed this and we must at least thank you for that.

We all know politics is a funny game but it is still odd to find Satellite sitting in the same Cabinet with those who allegedly murdered her husband and Wee Wee calling her a bibikkama but still not shy about sharing the spoils of power with her.

But all this begs the question, Somawansa, whether your party is an opposition in the government or a government in the opposition. That is the question voters will ask you when they next cast their vote at an election, because you can no longer claim to have always been in the opposition.

People are puzzled about what you say because you seem to oppose anything and everything the government proposes. You are against a joint mechanism with the Tigers to distribute tsunami aid; you are against private universities; you are against selling petrol stations to the Indians and you are even against Norway talking to the terrorists to bring about a solution - and all these are being done by a government which you are a part of!

To give credit where it is due, your comrades Wimal, Lalkantha and even that Anura Kumara chap make a song and dance whenever they get on a stage and threaten to walk out of the government if one or the other of their demands are not met. But then, Satellite had just the answer to that - go if you want to, she said implying that it is you who are clinging to her 'saree pota'. And now, you confirm just that by saying that you will never leave her government!

All this brings to mind the seventies when Satellite's dear departed mother was in a coalition with another set of leftists though many will object to the likes of NM, Colvin, Peter and Leslie being compared to Wee Wee, Tilvin, Anura Kumara and Lalkantha!

Then, those distinguished leftists left the government which eventually fell and went into political wilderness for seventeen years. More importantly, those leftist parties are still trying to find their way in politics. I know you consider yourself the 'remote control' in the government and do not expect to go into political oblivion in the near future but you would do well to learn from history….

Think about it, Somawansa. This is a time when most of the people who were saying 'unuth ekai, munuth ekai' to the blues and greens are now saying the same about your party as well. And, as the last of the 'older' generation of leader in your party could you honestly say that Comrade Rohana and Comrade Upatissa are not turning in their graves right now?

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS-And just why does Wee Wee have such an expensive mobile phone? Is it true that the cost of that phone will provide thirty tsunami victims with their monthly allowance of five thousand rupees?

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