Behold and hail! The pampered Jades of Lanka in the Chariots of the Gods

Yahapalanism’s robe turns transparent to reveal naked truth of inherent greed Billion bucks for 32 luxury limos for 30 ministers is no extravagance but a necessity claims Govt PM moves to delay mega perk till flood hit homes are built but will it lift the

with four wheel drive, it was shrugged off with the reply that a four wheel drive is essential for the ministers to return to their villages to attend to their work.

This sole justification raises several questions? Don’t ministers travel to their villages now? Aren’t the Monteros and other similar vehicles they use now already come equipped with a four wheel drive facility which is a standard feature, and don’t they cost less than Rs 15 million? What do these super luxury vehicles that will cost the nation Rs. 50 million to 70 million really do that a 15 million Montero cannot do? Do they fly over water? Do they come with a cubby full of 007 style gimmicks, including chilled champagne popping out from secret closets? Do the rear seats double up as a water bed where ministers can enjoy a spot of private relaxation with the shutters heavily tinted to ensure total privacy? The sort of high priced deluxe model that gives a spiffing thrill on wheels? If it is to make a minister’s flying visit to his electorate to attend to work more convenient and more comfortable, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s workload is not in his hometown Matara but in foreign capitals. Is the Government planning to buy him a private jet to save him the bother of having to fly on scheduled commercial flights? There are 92 cabinet ministers, deputy and state ministers in the Government. Out of this elite cadre, 30 have now been chosen. How will the 62 who are yet to receive these super luxury motors manage in the meantime? Will it soon become a status symbol by which a minister’s standing is judged and will those now bereft of it, consider it infra dig to be even seen dead in a poor minister’s Montero? Is the Rajapaksa super road network so bad that it needs a super luxury vehicle to travel on it?

Minister Senaratne said that unlike in Singapore, Sri Lanka needs vehicle permits with higher vehicle capacities as the ministers have to travel in difficult terrains such as mountains. It is not like Singapore or the Maldives, he explained, in Lanka ministers have to travel thousands of miles. Perhaps the good minister should, from the mainland of Lanka, sneak a peek across the Palk Strait and see how central government ministers in that patch of land 50 times bigger than Lanka called India travel? Do they surf the roads in 70 million buck vehicles or do they slither in SUV four wheel drive Japanese Toyota Fortunes built in India?

Now that the Prime Minister has stepped in to put in limbo the plan to give 30 ministers a billion buck gift of mega luxury vehicles, the Government should use the breather to review its original decision to pander to the demands of its ministers. Ministers do need proper vehicles to attend to their work. That is not at issue. The question is whether it is necessary to provide them with vehicles at mind boggling prices merely to gratify their egos? Can the nation afford to spend such huge amounts on such vehicles when hospitals are without ambulances due to lack of government finances to import them? Shouldn’t the government decide on a standard vehicle for all ministers like it is done in India?

Secondly when the Government tells the people to tighten their belts and practise austerity without complaining of hardships, is providing ministers with even more ludicrously high priced vehicles the best example to set? By such actions isn’t the Government gratuitously providing lethal ammunition to its political enemies to fire at will and blast the Yahapalana doctrine upon which the government’s political ideology is based sky-high? Is the Government not in danger of losing the moral high ground if, while condemning the Rajapaksa regime for its criminal squander, it brazenly demonstrates it has no qualms in also following the same course?

Something seems to be rotten in the state of Yahapalanaya that moves a government to even contemplate taking such an inane decision: a decision that is a sure fire way to earn a people’s lasting ill will and invite legitimate reprehension. And if the Government, even now, fails act more prudently, the flame lit by the late Venerable Sobitha Thera and carried by Maithripala Sirisena will soon be seen to be flickering and will be in danger of being blown out. Even if it can brave the gusty winds of opposition, the question now being posed is whether it can survive the puff and pant of its present bearers?