Dear palazzo serfs, is “dynastic dacoity” a banned word in your lexicon?
I know you are unanimous that “majoritarianism” caused the Sri Lanka crisis. Many of us are scratching our heads trying to find out what “majoritarianism” you are talking about.
It is weird that so many of you ‘fearless and independent’ folks that call yourself economists, journalists and academicians are blaming the exact same thing – majoritarianism. As if you were all given a script you were asked to read out from! I know if I use the word toolkit, I will be tarred as Sanghi, WhatsApp graduate etc. Or should I borrow a phrase from your erudite and scholarly friend Tharoor saheb, and ask how come your noses appear to be the same shade of brown?
If that word refers to ethnic majoritarianism, the Lankan Tamil issue, and the ill-treatment of the Tamil minority, that’s not just old news, it cuts across party lines in the Sinhalese South. And goes back to the 1950s if not earlier. Strange that the economy took this long to implode. After all, Lanka’s ethnic problem has been so intractable, that even our born genius Rajiv Gandhi was not able to solve it and ended up…well, you know.
Perhaps you are talking about religious majoritarianism? As far as I know, some, if not all, of the ruling Rajapakse family, headed now by Percy Mahendra Rajapakse, son of Don Alwin Rajapakse, brother of Basil are Christians although they are somewhat ambiguous about their faith and often show up at temples etc. Does that remind you of something or someone in India? In any case, that makes a poor case for religious majoritarianism. Because Christians are a minority too in SL.
If that refers to just the party that the Rajapakse’s represents, I read on TV that the house of PM Ranil Wickramasinghe, who belongs to the opposition, too has been burnt and destroyed. I know some of you wish India suffers Lanka’s fate, but I hope this is not what you have in mind!
As someone quipped, you guys are quite ok with minorityism, especially of the kind that saw UT & his son come to power with the real winners of the election.
Two plus two is FOUR
I often like to quote Blackadder TV serial because, as I said before, it is an endless reservoir of wit and humour. In one episode, Atkinson is trying to teach his dogsbody (Baldrick) mathematics. You watch this super funny clip here.
For the impatient, it goes like this (highlights) –
Blackadder: This is called adding. If I have two beans and then I add two more beans, what do I have
Baldrick: Some beans
Blackadder: Lets’ do it again..if I have two beans…(repeats)
Baldrick: A very small casserole
Blackadder: Baldrick, the ape creatures of Indus have mastered it! Now try again, One, two, three, FOUR! How many are there?
Baldrick: Three! And ‘that one’!
Blackadder: If I add ‘that one’ to the three, what will I have?
Baldrick: Some beans!
You get the drift? Sorry I was reminded of this when I see your tweets and statements.
You are coming out with all sorts of answer to the Lanka crisis other than the one that stares in your face – dynastic loot, cronyism and rent-seeking.
Well, there is another, that we all know but that it does not suit the agendas of “amadher Chairman” so his coolies in India that call themselves intellectuals won’t mention it. After all, if they can take the side of their ideological fatherland on matters that directly concern India such as the supply of nukes to Pakistan and the 1962 war, why should they even bother to offend China for something that concerns another country?!
They too have happily jumped on the ‘majoritarianism’ bandwagon knowing it keeps the GHQ happy and on top of that gets extra licking rights at the palazzo and the perks that go with it.
Did you recall any of our genius economists, promoting dynastic politics and enabling their loot from afar in USA, tell you having four or five members of one family in the cabinet is a disease in of itself? Or are they too busy thinking up what can we say after “she has her grandmothers’ nose”?
Do you recall any leftist intellectual or media elite write articles on how many developing countries have been kept poor by corrupt families that keep their wealth overseas and often openly flaunt it in trips?
Why is that? Why this omerta? Why this tiptoeing around the most significant cause? Is it not even worth a mention? Are you complete idiots like Baldrick?
I don’t think so, some of you want to become Professors at Harvard. Unless you tell me, Harvard is hiring idiots.
That leaves me with only one answer – you are worried people of this country will come to the same conclusion – that they have been taken for a ride by dynasts. A conclusion you don’t want them to reach. Is it because it has serious implications for your own careers, cushy lives and cash flow?
But I have news for you – Majority of Indians reached that conclusion in 2014 and reaffirmed that in 2019. I hope I live to see it reaffirmed yet again in 2024.
