How to solve a problem like President Mahinda who has followed the IMF line whole heartedly but failed to keep the human rights promises, must be a problem for the global capitalism. However, in the recent past they practised the ’democratic’ way of supporting the mass agitations for good governance and also demands the blood of the ruler. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who defied the West by not allowing the implementation of the LLRC recommendations, has been discredited by the West, since he did not clearly follow the policy of Israel either. Obviously Mahinda Rajapaksa is pro Indian and India did all to protect him. Even Modi has not changed the policy though he is compelled to follow Western economic models. The 13^th Amendment though linked with India and insisted by Modi as well, Mahinda could not agree as his fascist styled regime was devoted to anti Tamil chauvinism. Thus with Rajapaksa there will be no more devolution in the sense of the 13^th Amendment, and the West as well as India are not happy with it. His cordial relationship with China is not compensation to the weakening of links with the West and India.

The West has intervened indirectly to put pressure on Mahinda, through various means including economic sanctions on the garment industry, fisheries industry, in addition to the UN Human Rights Commission actions. Latter included the work of people such as Solheim, the Tamil leaders in the Global Tamil Front and other organizations of dispersed Tamil diaspora in the West. They are propagating the real picture here of Mahinda Rajapaksa being a chauvinist dictator with fascistic leanings. This picture of the regime is widely accepted in Sri Lanka, now even among those in the Western educated circles. However, Mahinda regime supporters, mainly media men, claim that they have much more freedom now than in the days of JRJ, Premadasa, Ranil, Ranjan Wijeratne, Charitha Ratwatte and others including Chandrika Kumaratunga. They claim that they were under death threat in the times of many of them and their freedom of expression was curtailed by the orders to the editors of newspapers. It has to be mentioned that except for Premadasa the others belong to so called Radala families in the country.

The reality is that President Mahinda destroyed the peace attempt started by Ranil Wickremesinghe. Thereafter, he launched a vicious war, advised from India and Western powers; also getting loans from them. This action brought disaster to the country. It did not solve the Tamil national problem, but we became indebted to the whole world. The development launched with the direction of the Western powers, gave benefits to the rich but not to the poor. Hence, while few people enjoyed like goddesses and gods, we became slaves to the system. Rajapaksa Government wants to arouse racial and religious hatred and use that to rule for ever. For that purpose they have launched a fascistic repression. In the last ten years Ranil Wickremesinghe joined with others in a common struggle against this situation. They faced bullets, thuggery and police violence, stones and rotten eggs and fought back. Hence, the government started to collapse. Fascist styled power exploded and Hela Urumaya came out. The JVP, who at the beginning gave fullest support to Mahinda, has got offended recently. All these resulted because of the wave of struggle launched by the united Opposition. They have built a force for freedom and democracy.

At the climax of the struggle, those who were with Mahinda but understood the imminent fall of the regime, started coming on to the side of the Opposition. What was sproposed was for them to unite with the rest by joining behind the leadership that developed the free democratic movement. But Minister Sirisena brought in pressure of the chauvinists and became the common presidential candidate displacing Ranil Wickremesinghe. Till yesterday he was party to the fascistic rule of Mahinda; also he shared the sins of the regime. Yet he jumped over the shoulders of Ranil and thereby discredited the free democratic movement. However, radicals have to counter these ill effects and go forward. The struggle for freedom and democracy does not end in the domain of elections. It has to face violence and conspiracies. But it must go forward. While voting against Mahinda to defeat him, all should mobilize the masses to face any fascistic conspiracy. For that all must fight unitedly. In order to take this message to the masses and to organize, NSSP have put forward Sundaram Mahindiran as a candidate. But all have to vote for the common candidate Maithripala Sirisena to defeat Mahinda and expel him from the centre of power.

Dr. Vickremabahu Karunaratne