Optics: Wimal Vs Ranil

Wimal Weerawansa protesting in front of Parliament


This is a story of two protests. Today Wimal Weerawansa of the extremy side of government fronted a protest at the UN office. Ranil fronted a protest outside Parliament. Here are two photos? Which looks better? The optics for Wimal are standing with a large crowd of average peeps vs Ranil standing with a bunch of MPs, not an especially popular bunch. Someone told me when Ranil had popular support after Chandrika seized the Ministries, I was told that he went home and slept. The optics are all wrong. Wimal looks like he’s leading the revolution. Ranil looks like he’s leading the old boys choir.

Ranil’s protest in front of Parliament

That said, Ranil got more votes than Wimal in the last election. But that by being the head of the oldest party in the country, Wimal running on basically no party at all. I’m not saying that I like Wimal better, but he just seems to be working harder than Ranil.

I personally think the UNP position on the Constitutional reforms is weak sauce. They’ve focused on being anti-Mahinda rather than pro-something. It just comes off as sour grapes. If there’s no term limits for the opposition leader who are they to call for term limits on the President? How can they talk about democratic succession when their own house is so messed up? It looks all wrong.

RSS feed | Trackback URI

16 Comments »

2010-07-06 19:37:13

Why Ranil get more votes? The difference is the tie and the blazer! If anyone is capable wearing ether, in Colombo heat, outside, should get more votes than pot belied grunge band.

2010-07-06 21:36:00

That is brilliantly stupid thing to say.

 
 
The way of the Dodo
2010-07-06 20:09:16

any protest that involves ravi karunanayaka is dubious to say the least

 
jtl
2010-07-06 20:13:27

UNP needs fresh blood. That rumor he’s trying to spread about Mervyn trying to kill Ranil, ha ha ha, only if it was true.

The MR gov will never harm a hair on Ranil, as long as he’s there, there really isn’t an opposition.

 
Dilan
2010-07-06 21:18:07

“Ranil looks like he’s leading the boys choir”…

Man, he really does. Not that I’m a fan of Ranil, but I’d rather be on his side on this one than Wimals. I’m not sure how anybody can vote for someone who even LOOKS like an arch crook.

2010-07-06 21:37:43

So true! UNP need a manly man with loud voice and lot of facial hair. King Kong I suggest.

 
 
totallyunimpressed
2010-07-06 21:47:26

Wow. What an amazingly foolish thing to say.

 
Giri IS da 1
2010-07-06 23:05:26

Oh it had to happen … indibum sticking the boot into his former master and chief guru Ranil and now worshiping at the alter of ….

REVOLUTION!

Watch out baby, here I come!

That facist Wimal may yet die to be a hero.

 
Chavie
2010-07-07 06:20:00

Great post mate. Love the part about the old boys choir and the term limit argument. So true. :/

 
D
2010-07-07 09:04:42

“working harder than Ranil.” pretty much. Like catching the minds of the very common folk, and providing the alcohol after the day is done. :( gamei politics.

 
greene
2010-07-07 09:25:02

the day we require our leaders to dance and make noise on the streets in stupidity to get our respect would be a sad fucking day

 
Suresh
2010-07-07 10:20:45

So I guess you’re trying to say that the best way to look good in front of the masses is to behave like a ill mannered lout, insult / humiliate the police force who are trying to keep law and order and threaten to take innocent people hostage?

Wow! Advocating a banana republic much Indi?

Dark Lord
2010-07-07 10:51:05

Ranil already did all those except the hostage part during the pottery exhibition, and then at the honking exhibition.

 
 
Dilan
2010-07-10 21:34:07

All hail the king. The farce unto death has ended.

 
Observer
2010-07-18 10:03:52

I added some comments to the 2nd picture here.. lol. Hope it does not violate any copyright.

http://crocodoc.com/y5qUtk

 
2012-03-14 16:04:50

[...] last biblically epic stunt, protesting in front of the UN in 2010 Oh mantz. In response to the US’s admittedly douchey [...]

 
Name (required)
E-mail (required - never shown publicly)
URI
Your Comment (smaller size | larger size)
You may use <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> in your comment.

email indi AT indi.ca.


Recent Comments


Unequal Marriage In Sri Lanka (The Foreign Kind) (18)

DK: My thanks to everyone – well, perhaps not Acro – who has contributed to this. I’ve learned a lot. As I’ve said in a previous string I’m Sri Lankan-born, lost SL citizenship because of prevailing laws at the time I...

Why Does India Suck At The Olympics? (5)

David Blacker: First I’d like to see what the average Indian is. Or Chinese for that matter.

Dinuka: “…b ut the average Indian can take the average Chinese person in a fight.” Really? Do tell me how you came to that conclusion, I’m interested to know.

Carasek: I think David Blacker’s got it about right, though there are a few additional reasons. First, South Asians love their sport as much as the next person, but they don’t necessarily do sport as much as the next person. Leaving...

New New Kottu (7)

Chavie: Thanks bro. :)

Chavie: Yeps, any combination of language/popula rity that you use to view a page can be used to obtain a feed. Let’s say you’re looking at Sinhala posts popular today: http://kottu.or g/si/today You can get the feed for that...

D: Can we get separate RSS feeds based on the language?

General Sarath Fonseka Out Soon? (12)

David Blacker: Nothing wrong with the Sinhalese being divided by politics rather than united by ethnicity. And yes, of course SL must cooperate with an international investigation if one is initiated. We can’t afford not to. The idea is to...

You’re Nobody Till (45)

Regewaypere2: Asortyment uzupe?nia Outcast przestrzenna uciecha przygodowa i klisza Setnie Speedway. Nu?e na godzin? poprzednio wschodem s?o?ca nieruchomosci odby? wspomnian? z wykorzystaniem Benwolia przechadzk? w gaju sykomorowym mamy w...

Sarath Fonseka And Minority Politics (9)

tastyjujubes: Being more “Tamil 221; is not going to help the Sri Lankan Tamils to be honest. Being even more insular, introverted and ethnocentric is not going to help the Tamil people. The Tamils of Sri Lanka live on an island with a...

Why Does India Suck At The Olympics?

Today on the morning show we talked about the Olympics, namely China’s emerging dominance. For me the bigger question is India. Why does India suck so much? In 2008 the US won 110 medals, China won 100 and India won… 3. India has over a billion people, some economic clout and is by all counts an emerging superpower, but they suck at the Olympics. Why?

New New Kottu

Janith has updated Kottu with rims and shit. Seriously, it looks pretty good. You could say the desktop look is cosmetic, but check out the mobile. Kottu now looks like an app with settings and menus and such. The biggest problem with K2 is me, ie, it now takes me up to a month to respond to emails. OMG I’m scared of my email. But Janith’s done this code and design update all by himself and it looks pretty good. Check it out. There was one bug with the previous page link. Lettuce know if there’s any more.

Miss Travel. Alternately, Mistravel

This is highly dubious. Miss Travel is a travel/social networking site that connects ‘Generous’ and ‘Attractive’ travelers. To, like, travel together, I guess. It all seems a bit like arranged prostitution and trafficking. This is part of a broader online trend to connect rich men to younger, attractive women. Sites like seekingarrangement.com connects women to ‘sugar daddies’ already. I guess Miss Travel is just taking that trend international. Wait, I checked, it’s the same guy doing both.

Buying Appliances Online (Singer)

Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from Singer, ONLINE. I put the online in all caps because it’s pretty awesome. I ordered the thing in like 15 minutes on Saturday and they just delivered it today. It’s pretty awesome, this brave new world.