Betrayal has been part and parcel of Sri Lankan politics for decades now and politicians crossing over for a mere Cabinet portfolio has become more of a norm than the exception and this should not elicit surprise. Even so, sometimes it does. The crossover of Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) stalwart Harin Fernando last week was one such instance.
Fernando crossed over after days of speculation along with his colleague, Manusha Nanayakkara. The latter’s change of loyalties hardly raises an eyebrow: he contested the 2010 general election on the United National Party (UNP) ticket and a few months later crossed over to the government side to vote for the 18th Amendment with the blessings of Basil Rajapaksa. He remained with the Rajapaksas until the infamous ‘51-day government’ when he crossed over to the UNP again. Now that he has done it yet again, there are no surprises there.
Harin Fernando was a different kettle of fish, or so we thought. He was a live-wire in the SJB and was one of its key speakers, both in Parliament and outside it. He first came into national prominence when he quit the Badulla district parliamentary seat he won in 2010, to contest the Uva provincial council in 2014 as its chief ministerial candidate. He was hailed for putting his party ahead of his personal political career.
Fernando did not win that election but the gap between the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the UNP was less than 12,000 votes and provided the stimulus for the UNP to go on and challenge the Rajapaksa regime. Many give credit to Fernando for changing the defeatist mindset of the UNP that led to toppling Mahinda Rajapaksa from the pedestal of the Presidency in January 2015.
When UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe refused to part with the leadership of the UNP after being at the helm of the party for twenty-five years even after the party’s defeat at the 2019 presidential election, Sajith Premadasa faced a difficult choice: quit the party his father sacrificed his life for or face an uncertain future, with Wickremesinghe doing everything he could to obstruct his progress.
Eventually, he chose to form a new party, the SJB and Harin Fernando took pride of place in that party’s line-up being its Vice-Chairman and then being accorded a place on its National List.
During the Gotabaya Rajapaksa presidency, Fernando did yeoman service for the SJB. It was he who popularised the ‘Sir fail’ slogan to highlight the shortcomings of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government.
A popular and forceful orator, Fernando once referred to the President as ‘Nandasena’, his first name. Livid with anger, Rajapaksa responded saying that he had been called ‘Nandasena’ and recalling that those who tried to harm him could ‘die like a dog’ referring to the fate of Velupillai Prabhakaran. On that occasion, Fernando wrote to the Inspector General of Police, saying he felt his life was in danger following this thinly veiled threat.
Even after the current protest campaign, the ‘aragalaya’ at ‘Gota Go Gama’ erupted, Fernando has been at the forefront agitating for Rajapaksa’s resignation and pledging repeatedly that he would not be part and parcel of a government with Rajapaksa at the helm.
All that changed however when Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed the premiership. Prior to that and after Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation as Prime Minister, the President had asked for the SJB’s stance on forming a new government.
The SJB was quite cautious in its response because with barely fifty seats in Parliament and with Rajapaksa still in charge, it didn’t want to be saddled with a government without having the authority to take any decisions. At first it demanded that Rajapaksa commits to abolishing the Presidency and then softened its stance to say that a timeframe for this should be announced.
That is when Wickremesinghe stepped in. With that, the Rajapaksas naturally opted to retain him as Prime Minister knowing very well that they would be immune from prosecution, as they were from 2015 to 2019.
Wickremesinghe then began his recruitment drive and Fernando swallowed the bait hook, line and sinker. His argument for accepting a portfolio, without any guarantees that the Presidency would be abolished, is that the country is in a severe crisis and that all political differences should be put aside temporarily.
The country is indeed in crisis but political differences have not been cast aside. Emboldened by Wickremesinghe’s presence and their majority in Parliament, President Rajapaksa has carried on regardless, appointing a Cabinet which is simply a rehash of the same personnel, with a few new rather questionable inclusions such as Tiran Alles and Nalin Fernando.
It is into this unholy mess that Harin Fernando had nosedived. His contention that the country is in crisis is not a justification for his actions which will strengthen the Rajapaksas, create a potential pathway for them to return to power and cause more damage to the nation in the long term. His decision fits in very well with the Rajapaksas’ grand design of buying time to split and weaken the opposition which in turn, they hope, will cause the ‘aragalaya’ to fizzle out.
There are signs that this is already happening. Mahinda Rajapaksa and Namal Rajapaksa who were in hiding after the May 09 incidents have come out of the woodwork and are attending Parliament. Namal Rajapaksa is even talking of ‘rehabilitating the misguided youth’ at Gota Go Gama!
Fernando too, in the short time that he has been in office, seems to have picked up the art of uttering lies as if it were the gospel truth by being with the Rajapaksas. After his swearing-in, he said he did not look at the President when he took his oaths but that he looked the other way. However, video footage and photographs showed a smiling Fernando accepting his ministry from the president and exchanging pleasantries. Now, in talk shows on television stations and social media channels, his barbs are directed more at the SJB and Premadasa, rather than the Rajapaksas!
There is no doubt that Fernando’s departure is a loss to the SJB. Nevertheless, the SJB and its leader Sajith Premadasa has in this instance demonstrated unequivocally that it values principle over personal gain.
HarinAs for Fernando, when the current government fails and falls, he may have to plead forgiveness and return to the SJB a much lesser man or look at political oblivion.
