The story of a Puppet who has no policies

by Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D.
Former Government Agent, Matara District.

For a long time Sri Lanka had two major Political Parties, one of which secured the majority to rule depending on the decision of the people at the polls. In 1970 it was the socialist SLFP led coalition. In 1977 it was Jayawardena who moved to embrace the West and the IMF. In 1995 Kumaranatunge came back with the socialists and again Ranil Wickremasinghe established a Government in 2001. Mahinda Rajapaksa became the President in 2005 on a socialist card. In all these elections the contenders for the presidency had their own policies and plans. At the 2005 Presidential Election our President submitted the Mahinda Chintanaya, the most comprehensive cluster of policies ever included in any one election manifesto. I have lived through elections in Sri Lanka, in the USA, in the UK and never have I seen so comprehensive an election manifesto. This included the development of the country as well as defeating the terrorists. Restoring the sovereignty of the country from shore to shore was a task that had defied attempts by all past Presidents . Mahinda Rajapaksa has achieved the task of defeating the terrorists and now his realm covers the entire island.


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