Champika Ranawaka has emerged as a key spokesperson in Maithripala Sirisena's presidential campaign. Some of his former critics have now become admirers. Even his foes grudgingly acknowledge that he is not just eloquent but backs rhetoric with substance. This is a revisit of sorts; an article written for the 'Daily News' of December 17, 2009, five years ago to the day.
I think it was George Bernard Shaw who made the following
observation: ‘Reasonable men adapt themselves to the world, unreasonable men
adapt the world to themselves; therefore all progress is due to unreasonable
men.’ It is about swimming against the
tide, doing the unthinkable, defying logic and reason and overcoming all
odds.
‘Progress’ is of course a loaded term, but Shaw is
essentially right in that it is those who are ‘unreasonable’, who possess
powers of observation and reasoning that enable them to envisage possibilities
unthinkable to most, that have a transformational impact on society.
The true measure of a person’s impact on his/her social,
economic, political and cultural environment is obtained only after that person
is no more. All salutations should be
kept on hold until then. And yet it is
not impossible to praise and blame as appropriate in an interim sense.
This is about a book, a biography covering 30 years in the
life of a man, a document appropriately titled ‘patisothagamiwa this wasak’.
My friend Karunaratne Paranavithana who reviewed this book recently in
the Divaina points out that patisothagami means ‘swimming upstream’
and observes after the late Tissa Abeysekera that it is the appropriate Sinhala
equivalent of ‘radical’. The term
‘radical’ has been appropriated by Marxists and others who are obsessed with
the left-right dichotomy; the truth however is that radicalism is not necessarily
bound by preferred political outcome or social order.
The book, by the way, was authored by Patali Champika
Ranawaka, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. The book is more than Champika’s
recollections of his political life. It
is essential reading for students of Sri Lanka ’s recent political
history, especially the student movement and the agitations in the late
eighties as well as the rise of the nationalist movement which peaked, one
could argue, with the comprehensive military defeat of the LTTE in May
2009.
It is just one man’s version and does not give the whole
picture, yes. On the other hand, the man
concerned was not an idle observer, but a colossus in the political
firmament. I remember Upul Shantha
Sannasgala speaking at a book launch several years ago, saying that there were
three individuals who stood out as giants of his/our generation: Daya Pathirana
(leader of the Independent Student Union, Colombo University), Ranjithan
Gunaratnam, Convenor of the JVP-dominated Inter-University Student Federation
and Champika. He observed that the first
was murdered by the JVP, the second by vigilante groups affiliated with the UNP
regime of the time and opined that had they not perished in the UNP-JVP bheeshanaya they would have definitely
shaped the nature of Champika’s intellectual and political interventions in the
nineties.
A few years ago, Milinda Moragoda asked me what kind of
person Champika was. This was my answer: ‘He is a person who reads the
political equation very accurately and is capable of playing trumps no one knew
existed and turn everything upside down’.
Victor Ivan, editor of the Ravaya, who was also present, concurred.
My association with Champika goes back to the year 1990, in
the immediate aftermath of the annihilation of the JVP when there was a marked
political silence in the entire university system. I was introduced to him by Ven. Athureliye
Rathana, a brilliant student at Peradeniya.
They were instrumental in rescuing me from the intellectual reductionism
and limitations of Marxism. I have known
him close to two decades now. I was associated with political organizations he
helped launch and have observed closely his political career as it
evolved.
Champika was not born with a political ‘silver spoon’. He
did not come from a wealthy family. And
yet, this man with sheer force of determination and incredible intellectual
drive left a singular mark in the political developments we saw in the last
twenty years. I can safely say that I
have never met anyone endowed with the creative and intellectual capacities
that Champika Ranawaka possesses.
He has a rare clarity of mind that allows him to sit and
write an entire political column within 30-45 minutes, without any errors,
grammatical or otherwise, and without compromising ‘lyricality’, logic and
overall coherence. That quality is
evident when he speaks too. There was
never a word too many and he got his point across whether he had 30 mts or 3
minutes.
I still remember a brilliant lecture he delivered at the Institute of Fundamental
Studies , Kandy
at a conference on Buddhism, Science and Realism. He spoke on quantum physics. In 45 minutes he
was able to explain the most complex theories to people who had no background
on the material he referred to. A professor who taught this subject observed,
‘if I was asked to speak on this subject I would have needed 3 weeks worth of lectures to say what
Champika just said in 45 minutes’.
Champika, like Nalin De Silva and Gunadasa Amarasekara,
argued that the LTTE must be and can be militarily defeated. Those were unpopular positions to take during
the Chandrika Kumaratunga years. He was
vilified as a racist, a Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinist. The agitational fronts he created such as the
National Movement Against Terrorism played a crucial role in creating the
ideological foundation from which that ultimate victory charge could be
launched.
Champika is not a journalist, but it would be difficult for
me to name any regular columnist who could match him for volume, range of
subject and argumentative power over the past two decades.
When he took over the Ministry of Environment, he bragged
that he would show how ministries should be run. Well, he made good. Within a year he made sure that the Ministry
did not require any Treasury allocations.
His work in the sphere of environment has earned him a lot of respect
internationally. He and I may disagree
on many things, but I, like almost all his detractors would acknowledge that we
are better off as a nation for the energy, intellectual punch and strong and
unwavering nationalism of this man.
He may come off as an aloof, humourless, matter-of-fact
individual, but that’s not true. He is
caring and sensitive when it matters. I
still remember an incident when we were both detained (along with 12 others) at
the Wadduwa Police Station. Champika was
in a cell, I was handcuffed to the stairs along with Paranavithana (referred to
above), Janaka Bandara (who later became Public Trustee and is now a National List MP of the UPFA) and others. I was not in the best of moods because I had
been interrogated a little while earlier and the officer who questioned me had
threatened to assault me in the night.
Champika must have noticed that I was a bit down in the mouth. He smuggled some biscuits to me as he passed
me and spoke a few words of comfort.
In all the years of our association, I have never failed to
be impressed by the depth of his knowledge on a wide range of subjects, his
eloquence in conversation, effectiveness in argument and to win for this country
and our people victories that were thought to be unattainable. Others might be dismayed of course, and
that’s understandable. Whichever way one
looks at him, Champika Ranawaka is a man to be reckoned with. In our
generation, I can say with confidence, there is no one who is endowed with the
skills and capacities that this man possesses.
His book is therefore a window into an extraordinary political actor and
one who will remain a determining force in our society. Worth a read.
Malinda Seneviratne is the Editor-in-Chief of 'The Nation' and can be reached at msenevira@gmail.com.
