The Mahinda Chinthanya way forward, the 2010 election manifesto and indeed political vision and action plan of President Mahinda Rajapakse has an importance and seriousness which exceeds the average election manifesto in a democratic society.

Now an election manifesto itself is an important document, because from it flows, the concept of a mandate to rule, the consent of the governed that forms the core value of a democratic system of government amongst a sovereign people. A free and sovereign people, including Sri Lankans do not give their leaders including President Mahinda Rajapakse, a blank check to govern according to various whims and fancies but support at periodic elections a stated set of policies and principles, which then forms the mandate by the people to their government.  However, the Mahinda Chinthanya in Sri Lankan society has now been elevated, almost entirely by the government’s own propaganda machine to the same status that Chairman Mao’s “little red book” occupied in the pre Deng reforms China as the political guide book to life. Read the rest of this entry »