A LEADER AHEAD OF HIS TIME
Everybody who knew him tells he was Tomorrow, October 24 marks Gamini Dissanayake’s 26th death anniversary
What a lot he achieved from 1977 to 1988, the completion of the Mahaweli Development Project, the building of five dams and reservoirs so that the country becomes self-sufficient in rice and doubles its electricity capacity, he obtains Test status for Sri-lank cricket, yes we will become world champions one day, he gives nearly 100,000 land deed to poor landless families and empowers them and most notably he takes a political risk by standing up for the IndoLanka Accord which for the first time in this country recognizes power devolution into the political mainstream of Sri-lanka.
It has been a long time- 26 years to be precise-but it feels like yesterday that I was looking at him in our house in Dangolla, Kandy. It was the final stretch of the 1994 Presidential Election and the date was October 24. On this day I was looking at the handsome face of my father and feeling very proud of the man that he has become, he was fighting with his back against the wall indomitable and strong footed and giving everything that he has learnt in the field of politics for 24 years which started in 1970 as a young MP in NuwaraEliya. How far he had come personally and how he has extended his vision of building a democratically strong and economically resilient Sri-lanka. It was a dream we had in 1994, do we still have it?
The politician
By what measure is a politician successful? We have so many measures. Generally, its how you get power and how one uses it. You would expect that power is used to uplift society and the people around you, one can also look far and say that a successful politician should be a “nation builder” and must have a vision of where he wants to take his country. My father
the hinterlands of Nuwara-eliya.
He used to go to funeral houses, weddings and spend endless hours chatting to people and getting to know them. He had a knack for it in the early 70’s he didn’t think big but the political process was his educator and he read widely the books, which left a lasting impression on him. Kennedy’s” profiles in courage” was one such book, Carnegies How to win friends and influence people” was another.
He thought the world was his oyster and he should not be restricted in his thinking because he was a Sri-lankan politician. Even at a young age, he wanted to improve himself, hone his leadership skills and become a superlative politician. The journey was started in 1970, maybe in the 1950s and ’60s at Trinity College Kandy.
Who knows? The spirit of a leader was part of his DNA even at a young age and may be an inner voice kept telling he was meant for greater things. extraordinary that he was out of the ordinary and he had something in him.
For a leader to materialize there have to be other leaders showing him the way, GD was lucky he had two extraordinary leaders grooming him and nurturing him, they were Dudley and JR.
The boy becomes a man
At 35 he becomes one of the most powerful men in the country. In 1977 he is sworn in as the minister of irrigation, power and highways. The nation wakes up to the fact the UNP has sprung up a youthful, good looking and dynamic young leader. President Jayewardene identifies and gives break to about four young leaders who can take the mantle of leadership forward.
JR is a large tree but he allows robust trees to grow under him. He doesn’t cut them. Instead he waters them and makes them grow, what a man, what a leader, love him or hate him he initiates reforms in the country which no other leader has undertaken.
The open economy, the Presidential system, Mahapola, Mahaweli, Gam Udawa Housing Schemes, electricity generation and five river dams coming up at the same time, education reform and television.
All this happened before our very eyes and the country was transformed in 10 years SriLanka was a different country. My father in this time was a man possessed with vigorous and enigmatic action of a dynamic politician thinking big and taking his country forward.
What a lot he achieved from 1977 to 1988, the completion of the Mahaweli Development Project, the building of five dams and reservoirs so that the country becomes self-sufficient in rice and doubles its electricity capacity, he obtains Test status for Sri-lank cricket, yes we will become world champions one day, he gives nearly 100,000 land deed to poor landless families and empowers them and most notably he takes a political risk by standing up for the Indo-lanka Accord which for the first time in this country recognizes power devolution into the political mainstream of Sri-lanka.
His oratory is masterful he mesmerizes audiences with his excellent English and Sinhala. He is a magician, what he touches turn to gold the boy has become a man who wants to take his country to the 21st century. He speaks of English and computers before they become a trend he wants to prepare our younger generation to the next wave of Information Technology that is coming.
He is ahead of his time and preparing himself for the ultimate mantle of leadership. Some people get jealous of him, they can’t figure out how a boy from Kandy has so much going for him, why he is so ‘blessed’ scurrilous stories are spread against him, apple farms in Australia and the third richest man in Asia, such is Sri-lankan politics, he take it on his stride he knows that greater things will await him in the future. Undeterred, he moves on.
Pain before the Mastery
Starting from 1990 he is sidelined and politically victimized. He is stripped of his ministerial portfolio and a bogus case is initiated against him by the Premadasa regime. The sacrifices he has made to the party are forgotten. The rottenness of Sri-lankan politics comes to the core. An endless witch-hunt is initiated against him with the CID and other state agencies on 24-hour surveillance of him. He doesn’t put his head down and surrenders. The “yes sir” mentality is not in him. He and Lalith fightback. They say no to oppression and fear.
Undaunted they initiate a new political movement, the DUNF. As a son I am seeing the zenith of leadership from a man who is determined, fighting and motivating his followers to come on the road with him. Some do, others are scared but there is hope as long as he is there he will never let us down. When his friend is killed by a bullet of an assassin, he comes to the party that he has sacrificed so much for and becomes its Deputy Leader and Presidential candidate.
He does what he is a master at talking to people and motivating them. He raises the green flag and says “I am taking this flag and running to the goal post anybody who wants to come can come with me” he doesn’t hesitate despite our advice he starts to run and the people follow him.
On that fateful night, an LTTE suicide bomber took away arguably the most skilled and dynamic politician of his generation I went to the General Hospital and saw his motionless body with one pellet-hole in the chest and another in the head. If he had taken the advice of his security and us he would have lived. I said good-bye to him as a son but also as a boy inspired by what he did.
Appachi although the vehicle you had built to go on your journey has rapidly depleted, your large vision for our motherland still
lives on. The writer is the Chairperson of the
Gamini Dissanayake Foundation