A group of politicians overthrown by the voters with their cohorts seem to scramble through the present political arena of the country crafting their strategies to grab the power in the forthcoming elections, be it the presidential elections or elections for the provincial councils.
We the general public have got to be politically conscious of their manoeuvres, for their detrimental nature can drag the country into the abysmal depths of chauvinism and anarchy. This must be said because the about-face of the political landscape of the country is more than the indiscipline of expected democratic political culture. The harder truth is that many politicians have no productive options except pouring eloquence on building political images.
Admittedly, this stubborn reality has to be done away with if a coherent democratic political culture is to be firmly established to steer the country out of this stenching political bog. What I mean by a democratic political culture is the genuine political will of both politicians and the people as the basic requirement for democracy to flourish. In a democratic political culture, particularly men or women who lead political parties are not worshipped as idols but they are open to public scrutiny and criticism. To our dismay, what is happening today is not taking ardent efforts or taking appropriate decisions for nation building but venerating their own political leader as a god given personality heaping all the virtues on him as the only saviour of the country. These cohorts act almost impulsively not to speak out about political issues that impact the good governance and development process of the country, but to idolize their leader as the best political figure. In a way, they bring out this hazard for achieving their own political elements, for it is quite clear, many of them will be dumped into the political dustbin by the people if they do not hang themselves onto the colours of their leaders.
Chauvinism
The dirtiest and worst strategy a politician can adapt to get him hooked to the power is to run on the wheel of chauvinism. Some garrulous and unself-conscious politicians who describe themselves as the political whiz kids of the day seem to go to the wilderness of chauvinism merely to evoke emotions among the people depicting a picture that the country is on the verge of being engulfed in flames of yet another internecine war.
There is a high price to pay if we emotionally involve the people in such notions that can kindle their emotions particularly when it comes to the topic of national security and integrity. Therefore, any utterances made towards chauvinism are likely to be fraught with the risk of dragging the country to the shimmers of the turmoil of ethnic disharmony. Elimination and annihilation of any views pertaining to chauvinistic politics must be one of the priorities of the genuine peace loving politicians and the members of the civil society.
Concerted efforts
It is high time we brought in consensus among all the politicians of various hues and all the communities to lay down a common framework for a democratic political culture that will pave the way for establishing a new society to work for the common goal of nation-building without being trapped in communal politics.
Any attempts that deter such a move by any politician or an individual must be looked down upon. Politicians should not degrade themselves to such situations for running on the wave of communal politics for selfishly achieving their personal political goals. It is the responsibility of the existing government to initiate on a campaign with the full cooperation of the other political parties to have a very compressive discussion for the stipulation of the fundamentals of such a framework that can be accepted and followed by all the political parties of the country.
What is badly needed in the post-war period of the country is to work for creating a democratic political culture that can take firm roots in the Sri Lankan society and it will then leave no room for communal tension and disharmony between the ethnic groups. Though attempts have been made by the governments for constructing a bridge for national integration, they have not so far been able to create a conducive political culture where all the masses of the country irrespective of the ethnic group and religious faiths become committed to being active members striving to build a Sri Lankan society.
Voters’ responsibility
It has been a common phenomenon in the Sri Lankan political scenario that the majority of the voters are blindly glued to their respective political parties or allies. They are not used to critically looking into the policies of their political parties and then to decide on the political party to be brought into power. If a stalwart of their political party commits a heinous crime and is convicted by a court, what the voters do is to make big efforts to find excuses to wash him or her of the wrongdoing merely for the sake of winning the elections. Yet what should be the primary duty of the voters in a democratic political culture? Whatever they do or any decisions they take must be to protect the democratic culture.
If a politician of his party behaves in an undemocratic manner, it is the duty of the voter to reject him even though he is a big personality. But, our political culture does not seem to have grown to such heights. The main repercussion of this situation has therefore been to persistently strengthen the decaying and rotten values that hamper the process of building a democratic political culture for the country.
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