Like A Cat, Ranil Wickremesinghe Has Nine Lives, But Can He Claw His Way Out of Trouble This Time?
james
4 min read
Like A Cat, Ranil Wickremesinghe Has Nine Lives, But Can He Claw His Way Out of Trouble This Time?
Ranil Wickremesinghe has nine life like a cat. In Sri Lanka, they called him “the eighth wonders of the world”. Every time the followers and opponents thought he was finished, Ranil managed to surprise them by making a comeback.
The Prime Minister who had just been appointed as Acting President of the State in chaos always wanted the position. In the past, he lost the presidential election but had succeeded in holding the chairman of the prime minister five times.
The Head of the United National Party or UNP, the oldest Sri Lanka’s oldest political party, is the second most active senior leader at the country after Mahinda Rajapaksa.
But they are cut from different fabrics. Ranil is a colombo elite. Mahinda is from South Rural. People accuse them secretly holding hands to protect each other.
Ranil, Putra Media Sri Lanka, Baron Esmond Wickremesinghe is the nephew of Junius Jayawardene or JR, who is considered the most powerful President of Sri Lanka to date. It was JR’s decision to eliminate the Westminster system to embrace the French gaullist system where the executive president was the most powerful person in this country who had caused a chaotic situation at this time in Sri Lanka.
An alumnus of the Royal College of Colombo, the most prestigious educational institution in Sri Lanka, Ranil won his first parliamentary election in 1977. After serving as an important minister in his uncle Jr. and the replacement of Ranasinghe Cabinet Premadasa for Long, in concerns, fate, fate, fate, fate For a long time, in the temple of fate, fate, Ranasinghe Premradasa, in the temple of fate, Ranasinghe Premradasa for Fate, in the Quirk of Fate, Ranasinghe Premradasa for Long, in the Quirk of Fate, he became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka after the murder of the President of Premadasa on 1993.
He lost the position because SLFP leader Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who was riding in a popular vote in 1994. Ranil must cool his heel in opposition for the next five years.
In 2000, his party UNP managed to form the government and he became a PM under Chandrika. The uncomfortable relationship between the two caused the dismissal of his government when he was in a meeting with US President George W Bush at Whitehouse in 2003.
After that Mahinda Rajapaksa became president in 2005 and his victory over the terrorist organization feared by LTTE in 2009 almost sealed Ranil’s fate. Both admirers and criticisms writing his political obituari which showed he would never be able to shift Rajapaksa and return to power.
They are wrong. Towards the end of 2014, something that was not thought of happened. Ranil silently joined hands with his rival Chandrika to roll Rajapaksa. Their joint candidate Maithripala Sirisena surprised the Rajapaksa camp by defeating Mahinda who was very strong in the presidential election. That is the highest point in the long political journey of Ranil. He became Prime Minister promised to eliminate the executive presidency, which he could not do.
In the night coup in the winter of 2018, Sirisena surprised Ranil by firing her and putting Mahinda as PM. After two months of political uncertainty and back room negotiations, Mahinda lost the voice of trust and Ranil returned as PM again.
2020 was the lowest point in his life because Ranil not only lost the parliamentary selection for the first time since his debut in 1977 but his party was also diverted in the hands of Mahinda Rajapaksa by failing to secure even one of 225 seats. Before the election, the deputy leader of his party Sajith Premadasa had come out to form his own party, SJB, to become an opposition leader, thinning UNP cadres.
The loss was so embarrassing that Ranil did not even come out of his house for several days after defeat. Everyone in Sri Lanka thought it was the end and his own party demanded that he had to move aside to hand over the stick to someone younger.
Ranil deftly handled a rebellion, refusing to resign, even got the title “Power Hungry”.
After refusing to nominate anyone to a seat in the parliament under the national list that became the Unp, Ranil managed to nominate himself to the post in 2021.
After this new rebellion, Mahinda Rajapaksa stopped as a PM in May and Ranil became PM again without members of parliament except herself in parliament.
Ranil Wickremesinghe was respected and considered honest (not personally corrupt) until that day. He walked to the trap of Rajapaksa by receiving the Prime Minister last May. That is a big mistake. Accusing him of protecting the Rajapaksa clan, anger hordes of burning his magnificent house in Colombo, burning books and rare paintings, forcing him to hide.
He has now been appointed as the acting president to extinguish the fire and restore the law and order in this country.
With angry people taking over his office and demanding his exit together with the Rajapaksa Clan, the future looks very gloomy for the 73-year-old leader. Will he go to Jalan Rajapaksa or succeed in doing another return?
