Gen behind LTTE rout is now agent of change

COLOMBO: Shafts of fire shoot up into the night sky, return in parabolic curves and end in cheery explosions. Lights burning in various hues adorn festoons planted along the corners of a wide road leading to a decorated stage, while flags of different political parties are waved lustily. Political leaders of different ethnicities and differing ideologies jointly address an obviously multi-ethnic crowd that has gathered at Kotahena in downtown Colombo.It is an election rally, and it is not only a riot of colours, but a symbol of the country’s many-hued diversity.
Retired army chief Sarath Fonseka is the unlikely cynosure of this gathering, as he arrives on stage a little later than Ranil Wickremesinghe, the leader of Sri Lanka’s oldest political party and two-time prime minister. Just over a year ago, Fonseka had shocked the liberal and secular world by his remarks that minorities should not “demand undue things” and that the country belonged to the majority.
Hundreds of Muslims and ethnic Tamils listen patiently to more than a dozen Sinhala speeches along with their Sinhalese fellow-citizens. Only Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem addresses them in Tamil. By the time the election rally ends with a combative campaign pitch by Fonseka himself, it is clear that the man’s image has been transformed from one of a ruthless commander with a suspected majoritarian streak into a rallying figure for minority expectations in post-war Sri Lanka.
It is a rare sight to see Wickremesinghe, who leads a party seen as pro-west and capitalist, sharing the stage with Sunil Handunetti, a prominent parliamentarian from the Marxist-Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP). Mano Ganesan, a Colombo Tamil politician and a former LTTE sympathiser, is also among the leaders of this grouping.
Amidst this gathering of supporters is Arjuna Ranatunga, the country’s cricket icon and a member of a family associated for decades with the Freedom Party now led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“Support for us is growing day by day. I can see that the national mood is building up for a change,” Fonseka says.
“The war has ended, but there is no sign of improvement in the people’s lives or any relief from their burden. The people don’t believe any more that their problems will be resolved by this government,” says Fonseka, whose main campaign platform is that he is the change that the country needs.