All set for the provincial council polls

All parties are eagerly looking forward to the provincial council elections. Anyone looking at these campaigns might conclude that all the parties are committed to the provincial councils and the devolution of power. If these institutions are not equipped with sufficient power to rule, it is futile for anybody to spend millions of rupees to get into them. But all the same, these dandy candidates of both bourgeoisie parties parade on pages and pages of daily and weekend papers and have become a nuisance to TV viewers with their mini Dancing Star-like impressions.

Then in the evenings we see the participation of candidates in urban gardens and rural villages, with supporters garlanding them in every corner accompanied by tremendous cheers and lighting of crackers. The most remarkable thing is the campaign of the ruling party. It is amazing because most of the parties in the ruling front are opposed to the very idea of devolution.

Of course, there are a few opportunists who hang on claiming that they are there to fight for the implementation of certain power sharing schemes. It is not clear whether they want to go beyond what J R Jayewardene proposed in 1987 or not. But in private discussions these gentlemen assure the faithful that they are in the government for the sake of devolution and nothing else. There cannot be any other wish, with Mahinda becoming the most ardent supporter of World Bank guru Manmohan Singh. However, it is strange how these gentlemen see Mahinda to be more democratic than the opposition leader Wickramasinghe.

Wickramasinghe is no better. But at least, while serving the global capital in the same strength, the latter arrived at a peace agreement and wanted to discuss further devolution as a way out in the Tamil national problem. Still the truth is, within the government, apart from these Left-y gentlemen who have really lost track, all others including the Sinhala war hero Mahinda, are against the devolution setup.

Fuming

The JVP is fuming that some in the government are even thinking about devolution. In fact as far as they are concerned the greatest crime of the present government is the surreptitious tendency to link with devolution. JVPers are not much concerned with the plight of the people caught in the economic disaster nor about the enslavement to global capital. What bothers them primarily is the tendency to yield to a political solution.

In spite of red banners and pickets, the JVP remains the most reactionary Black Angel. However they are very keen to get some foothold in this business of the provincial councils. I remember well that as elected members of the Western Provincial Council they participated and made a significant contribution to strengthen the PC setup. They indirectly confirm that these councils are useful and beneficial to the people. Their hate for devolution and provincial councils arises out of pure Sinhala chauvinism. They cannot stand the Tamils, Muslims and Christians and local communities sharing in the power mechanism.

Validity

In Colombo district elections, the validity of devolution will be the primary concern of the people. It is a district of Tamils, Muslims, Christians and other smaller communities. At the same time it is the red base of the Sinhala racist petty bourgeoisie. The UNP did well in the past because of the faith of Tamils, Muslims and Christians that it was more tolerant than the SLFP. But in the recent past, particularly after the last presidential elections, the UNP did not stand up for the rights of minorities as expected. Many have turned away and are looking for an alternative.

This is where the Left could benefit if they could agree to a Left party. Within the UNP, suddenly, an anti-Wickramasinghe group has developed on a chauvinist platform. Rukman, a descendent of the founder of the UNP has taken the ancestral sword into his hand to chop the head of the present leader. He talks loudly but how powerful is he? In any case the clamour this guy created has made the Tamils and Muslims, who think that the UNP is their safe house, shiver. On the other hand all those who are carried away by the chauvinist campaign of the government are delighted by Rukman - another Parakramabahu from Bothale Walauwa to rescue the landed gentry from the unscrupulous post modernist Ranil Wickramasinghe! Rukman has created a mini war inside the UNP to imitate the true battle taking place in the Mullaitivu jungles.

In Mullativu, it is claimed that still nearly 200,000 people are committed to face the last struggle. Here in Colombo in this mock battle, just how many are prepared to die for Wicky the great?