Lakdaruwo - Children of Mother Lanaka

 

The factual biography of Ranil Wickramasinghe Download pdf file of this article (118 KB)

Leadership by Ancestry • Wickremasinghe's father was Esmond Wickremasinghe, an ex-Samasamaja (Socialist) activist and supremo of the Lake House group of newspapers. • The Wickremasinghes were an established part of the upper class Colombo Anglican elite. • His paternal uncle Lakshman Wickremasinghe was later to be a much respected Bishop of the Church of Sri Lanka. • He was a nephew of J.R. Jayawardene, later President of Sri Lanka. J R was notorious for his greed for power (which he got only at very old age) • Fact: Ranil just as his uncle JR are Anglican catholic by birth. • Wickremasinghe was appointed by J.R Jayawardana (whom Ranill is the nephew) as the chief organizer of the Kelaniya Parliamentary seat in the mid 1970s but was later installed as the chief organizer of the Biyagama seat which he won in the 1977 Parliamentary Elections. • At the very entry in to parliment, he was soon promoted by J R to the post of Minister of  Youth Affairs and Employment which made him the youngest cabinet minister of Sri Lankan history to date.   The first lesson: • From his uncle J R, Ranil got the first lesson of the hunger for power and art of retaining power at any cost, even at the cost of motherland. Darling of Mr. R. Premadasa • Mr. Premadasa was well known for greed for power and he set aside true born leadership like Mr. Atulathmudali, and Mr. Gamini Dissanayake and vested the power of key roles to puppets that he can manipulate easily. • His first choice was Mr. D.B Wijetunga and the next obvious choice was Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe whom was appointed as the Minister of Industry and Leader of the House. Lession #2 learned: Being dumb and get the windfall • When the UNP true born leadership giants including Lalith and Gamini brought forward the motion to impeach president Premadasa who was leading Sri lank to dictatorship at that time, it was Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe who did not have enough guts to question his leader’s misuse of power that remained the obedient servant to Mr. Premadasa. • He learned his second lesson of cunningness and greed for power from Mr. Premadasa during the motion of impeach.   Leadership by Others Deaths: • Mr. Lalith Atulathmudali was known to be a true born leader with national interests. He had successfully leaded the Wadamarachhi battle against LTTE (which was ultimately abandoned by order of aging fox JR). • Unlike Sri Lankan politicos, LTTE always work on a long term plan. So LTTE terrorists saw the future threat by true born leader Mr. Lalith Atulathmudali, who fought fearlessly against iron fist of Premadasa dictatorship, brutally assassinated him. • Once the immerging movement of Lalith-Gamini was halted, the fascist LTTE targeted the next major threat Mr. Premadasa himself. Mr Premadasa was assassinated on May 1, 1993 while he was inspecting May Day fared. • There came the chance for Ranil to get into the post of Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. He got the reward due to the death penalty by fascist terrorists on the hard earned leaders of UNP.   Prime Minister by Constitution (not by votes) • On May 01, 1993 Wickremasinghe was sworn in as Prime Minister after President Ranasinghe Premadasa was brutally assassinated, allegedly by the Tamil Tigers. • In the 1994 Parliamentary Elections, the UNP lost to Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA) which ousted Wickremasinghe from the Prime Ministership.   Lossing the Post of Opposition Leader: • Ranil lost the race to be the Opposition Leader by 2 votes to fellow UNP member Gamini Dissanayake who just re-joined the party. This gave Gamini Dissanayake the default leadership of the party and made him the Presidential nominee of the UNP.   LTTE Terrorists to Rescue Ranil Again • The UNP was showing great spirit and strength under Gamini Dissanayake, when he too was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers. • Gamini Dissanayake's widowed wife Srima became the replacement candidate of the UNP and secured only 35% of the vote, losing to Chandrika Kumaratunga in all the Parliamentary seats in Sri Lanka apart from Mahiyangana. • Afterwards Wickremasinghe was reappointed by default as the Opposition Leader as well as the UNP leader. (By this time LTTE has completely eradicated the UNP  leadership including Premadasa, Lalith Atulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayaka, Ranjan Wijayarathna, Weerasingha Mallimaracchi etc. which pave the way for even a muppet to retain the leadership of UNP) I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum. ~ Bishop Desmond Tutu   Opposition (Leader) Under CBK Goverment (1994-1999) • CBK came to power with the bags of bogus pledges. Almost all of those promises were not met, yet CBK had a happy and corrupt time exploiting the power at the mercy of feeble opposition under the (leadership) of Ranil Wickremasinghe. • In 1999 President Kumaratunga called the Presidential Elections a year prior to its expiration in the hope of regaining and fortifying power in order to amend the constitution. • Wickremesinghe was nominated as the UNP candidate.   LTTE terrorists attack on CBK Foiled (No windfall for Ranil this time) • President Kumaratunga was attacked by the Tamil Tigers during her presidential campaign in an attempt on her life in which she lost her right eye. • In the election held 2 days later (December 21, 1999), Chandrika Kumaratunga received 51% of the total votes to be re-elected for her second and final term. The gap between Wickremasinghe and Kumaratunga was approximately 700,000 votes (6% of the valid votes). Kumaratunga was sworn in for her second term on December 22, 1999. • After the loss of the 1999 Presidential Elections, Wickremesinghe unsuccessfully led his UNP through the 2000 Parliamentary Elections again losing out to the PA.   People had No Option But to Oust CBK • In 2001, Sri Lanka underwent severe losses in the war front and only managed a highly unsatisfactory -1% economic growth rate, the first ever negative growth in the country's history. • By the end of the year a some members of the PA government led by S. B. Dissanayake a senior Minister of the PA government, and Deputy Finance Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris left the PA to join the UNP thus destabilizing the Parliamentary composition which led Kumaratunga to call for fresh elections.   UNP Under Ranil Won The 2001 Elction at Last(Only Win) Ali-koti (UNP-LTTE) accord • Ranil used all his tricks in the 2001 election for greed of power. • He had a secretly agreed upon a ceasefire agreement negotiation LTTE through his international NGO links. • During the campaign Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe is seen traveling to political meetings all round the country in a ordinary bus decorated with UNP slogans and color. • While all the other political leaders were under tight security due to life threats from LTTE, Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe seemed to be having no threats at all. • The United National Front (UNF), formed with the PA dissidents, the Sri lanka Muslim Congress and the Ceylon Workers' Congress assumed power in the 2001 Parliamentary Elections held on December 10. • One of his first acts was to sign a ceasefire agreement with the LTTE rebels saying its a prerequisite for start peace talks. • For the first time in the history Ranil’s UNP government officially accepted so called “LTTE held territory” which is the biggest trait by a SL leader. • LTTE was allowed to infiltrate into government held Jafna. • LTTE which was cornered after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi got much needed international recognition once again. • Wickremasinghe came under fiery criticism and was called a traitor by many, after a police officer, commonly perceived as a Wickramasinghe ally, exposed an elite Sri Lankan army LRRP unit who were engaged in operations against the LTTE, on the accusastion that the unit was deployed to assassinate Wickramasinghe. • When LTTE was hunting members of intelligence burro of Sri Lankan army Ranil was dead silence. Ranil Loose Again by People's Will • 2004 Parliamentary Elections held on April 02 Ranil Wickremasinghe's UNF lost governmental office. • Having won the election held on 2 April 2004 the UPFA formed a government with Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister. Presidency election 2005 • Mahinda Rajapaksa, then Prime Minister, was appointed as the Presidential candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. It was a real battle of a true born leader against CBK ancestry in SLFPitself. • As usual leadership bankrupt (rather leadership slain by LTTE) UNP had no choice but to elect Ranil as their candidate. Guerrilla Marketing Campign Again: • A well known anti-Buddhist businessman like Mr. Lalith Kothalawala openly campaigned ($) for Ranil. Sirasa and MTV media networks which are owned by Mharaja organization openly supported UNP campaign. • However this time, It was a different opponent to tackle. Mr. Rajapakse is a true born leader having history of genuine faith with common people of Sri Lanka. • Rajapakse was known to be a person having both the feet in the earth with national interests held above all. • Also, all the patriotic movements including JHU and JVP rallied with Rajapakse which made Ranil’s 'fooling the people' guerilla marketing campaign null and void. • Rajapaksa defeated Wickremasinghe by 190,000 votes and took office as President on November 19, 2005.   Ranil's current role as the 'Leader of Opposition" • One of the slogan of Ranil’s election campaign was “Hakiyawata Rakiyawak” , A job for the qualifications. • Now Ranil has been enjoying the post of ‘Leader of opposition” for more than 20 years with more than couple of dozens of election defeats. • Despite all his cunning tricks and guerilla marketing campaigns, Ranil is yet to be the leader (President) of Sri Lanka. • He is waiting again for his next windfall for try to grab presidency. He may try to direct the wind for his luck by pulling Mr. Rajapaksa’s initiative to uproot terrorism from Sri Lanka. In war, three quarters turns on personal character and relations; the balance of manpower and materials counts only for the remaining quarter. ~ Napoleon