The only way of thwarting him, I suggested, was to tell him that he was not as popular as he had been and there was a possibility of him being booed at when he walked imperiously to the Mustang Tent which was his custom for many years past with a retinue of his "catchers" basking in reflected glory.

I was told to convey this view to H.E. since I was always free to tell him the exact score and not sweet-talk him with sunshine stories he was told by his staunch supporters through fear or to gain favour.

I agreed and I dropped in at Ward Place and we met at his breakfast table, the others present being Mrs. Jayewardene and Will Subasinghe, a first cousin of Mrs. Jayewardene and a regular visitor to "Braemer," and his eldest grandson, Pradip.

As usual we indulged in political gossip, especially the forthcoming Southern Provincial Elections later that month. While listening to his learned dictums and off- the-record comments, at the opportune moment I suggested that he abort his intention of going to the R/T Match since he was no longer a popular President of Sri Lanka and there was the danger of someone hooting at him and the derision spreading.

He vehemently disagreed with my opinion about his popularity but when my views were echoed by the others, who had been briefed about this ploy, he reluctantly agreed to abort his visit.

Will Subasinghe and Mrs. Jayewardene had left us and only Pradip and I were at the table when he asked me whether I was going to the match. I replied that I had not decided at that moment of time whence he told me that if I do go to somehow meet Old Royalist Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was expected to be at the match and give him an urgent message.

The message he wanted conveyed to Ranil was that earlier in the morning he had been told by one of his trusted supporters that the UNP vote bank in the south was very poor and that Ranil should do something fast to rectify this situation to achieve positive results in the forthcoming elections.

He said that the popularity of the UNP was always thin in the south and the area needed a lot of careful organization and nurturing as done during his leadership.

It was not too late, he said, for Ranil to make immediate arrangements to get Governor Gamini Fonseka (in Trincomalee at that time) to campaign for the party by addressing as many party meetings as he could.

My immediate reaction to his suggestion was to say: "Sir, what’s the point in calling on a jaded old film actor to assist the party at this time?"

His reply was: "I say, Fonseka may be old and jaded but he is a popular Durawa man who must be made use of to counter Mangala Samaraweera"

"Sir", I replied, "caste and caste issues are dead these days."

His voice had a tinge of annoyance at what he often called my "punditry" when he said; "Caste issues are dead when it comes to marriage now. But caste is certainly very much alive when it comes to elections, particularly in the south"

He then gave me a lesson on caste issues in the political affairs of the country and its importance to a leader of any party and election campaign managers adding that most of the younger politicians and party organizers did know anything about caste and caste issues.

It will be tiresome to write in detail what he said for almost half- hour and I am penning a few points of his thesis which I had noted down in my diary.

He told me that the support of the Durawa community was essential to win seats from Habaraduwa to Tissamaharama and that was why Ranil should invite Gamini Fonseka, a stalwart of that community, to address public meetings in the south,

Matara, he said, was a pivotal point, with the Samaraweeras leading the way and coming through almost unchallenged since Independence. Further, the Durawa business community had money and they were always willing to support a candidate from their community.

In other electorates in the area, including southern seats interior from the coastline, the winning candidates could be from the Goigama community but it was won because the winning candidate would have got most, if not, all the Durawa votes as well as the support of some of the other castes in lesser numbers who always voted en bloc.

I chipped in with the success of W. Dahanayake in Galle and he challenged me by saying that Dahanayake was able to gather around him the Durawa community which when added to the Goigama votes in the area became a winning combination. Further, Dahanayake had almost 100% of the Muslim votes.

Colombo South was another seat which had powerful Durawa connections. According to him Bernard Soysa and Edmund Samarawickrema , both Durawa stalwarts, and their nominees, held sway. Their influence spread into the Wellawatte –Galkissa area.

He spoke about absolute necessity to consider caste, as well as religion and community, in the choice of candidates for certain electorates. For example; Katana; Salagama, Sinhalese: Balapitiya; preferably Salagama, if not Karawe, Buddhist, Sinhalese: Moratuwa; Karawe, Sinhalese, preferably Buddhist but a Christian would be acceptable while Moratuwa and Ambalangoda should be Karawe, Sinhalese and essentially Buddhist.

He explained that from 1947 to 1956, A.H. Mathew, Cyril’s brother was the second M.P. with a walauwe-bred Molamure in Balangoda, because of a block vote of his Wahumpura caste people pocketed in parts of the electorate. He mentioned the Nawalapitiya seat as having a bloc vote of a particular Sinhala caste which complimented the estate Tamil votes but my notes are undecipherable with the letters REJ in the jumble which I presume stands for R.E. Jayatilleke, who was the M.P. for that seat sometime ago.

He then told me (something which I, a Wariyapola resident for the last decade or so, did not know) that the winner in Wariyapola, usually a Goigama candidate, has to have the support of the Kammal and the Badahala people who have influential vote banks. He opined that Karawe candidates can never win seats in the NWP and Central Province even if they are "kingfishers".

He told me that he incarcerated Vijaya Kumaranatunga (Durawa) not solely because of his "Naxalite connections" but because he was a danger to the UNP and himself with his alliance with Chandrika Bandaranaike adding that when he met Vijaya Kumaratunga after he was released and apologized for ordering his incarceration, the latter had replied; "Sir, if I was in your position, I would have done the same."

I recall questioning him about Kumaranatunga’s "Naxalite connections" but he artfully dodged my query and did not give me any explanation.

The "caste" talk was getting embarrassing. I felt it as much as young Pradip, who had quietly slipped away, and I told him that in this country one does not discus caste issues so freely over breakfast or any other time since it was not polite to do so.

He agreed with me that it was a "no no" subject as a topic of casual conversation. But it is a necessary strategy when it comes to politics and elections. He was rueful that most of the younger politicians were not aware that the caste issue is an important part of politics in this country.

He said that the UNP had a team of experts on the subject (spin doctors) and "caste" strategy was discussed and studied before the election campaign was launched and among the names I have noted down are Esmond Wickremasinghe and J.L. Fernando of Lake House and Politician/Advertising czar Anandatissa de Alwis, all three of them no longer with us, and a few senior UNP persons who are with us although not actively working for the party these days.

He said that one does not shout about caste from public platforms during election propaganda meetings and insult other candidates by talking about his or her caste.

But a good politician can use the caste issue effectively since it is always there, unheard and unseen, to be brought to the surface delicately.

He then told me how he personally manipulated the incredible defeat of a Rajapaksa nominee in the deep south by tactfully using the caste issue in the great "upset" results of a by-election in 1983.

George Rajapaksa, M.P. for Mulkirigala, considered one of the blue eyed Rajapaskas of the south, had died and his, daughter, Nirupama was contesting the by-election which was to be a cake-walk for her on the SLFP ticket.

The UNP had absolutely no chance at this pocket borough of the Rajapaksa clan and it had been so since the inception of elections for that seat.

He told me that the party hierarchy was not keen on wasting their resources and pressing for victory since it was a foregone conclusion that George Rajapaska’s daughter would sweep the polls but also that George was a well-liked with the UNP hierarchy of that period. (George was an Old Royalist who wore his white flannels with flair as cricket captain and preferred Scotch on the rocks rather than the Old Stuff favoured by the rest of the family politicians.)

While traveling down south with other party men to address an UNP meeting to support the UNP candidate, Ananda Kularatne, the discussion centered round the fact that a Rajapaksa (Goigama) was being contested by Kularatne, who was from the Wahumpura caste.

He was warned by the others, however, not to bring up the subject of caste into the campaign since it was very delicate issue and, further, it could rebound on the UNP as being a negative factor. He was silent on this subject until he addressed the single UNP rally in the electorate.

He told me that he only spoke a few lines at that meeting. All he said was that the Rajapaksas were good people and that the candidate was the daughter of George Rajapaksa who was a powerful and popular figure in that part of the country for a long time. He then added; "However, this time we are giving you one of your own people to vote for."

There were no cheers or any outburst of support following what he had told the well attended rally. But he was sure that the UNP would have the support of the Wahumpura bloc vote as well as the other non-Goigama voters.

The result of that by-election was: Ananda Kularatne …23,109 votes: Nirupama Rajapaksa …19,588 votes

In the history of the elections for the Mulkirigala seat, this was the only time that a Rajapaksa or a candidate supported by the Rajapaksas ever lost.

POSTSCRIPT:

1. I conveyed the message from H.E. to one of Ranil’s staunch supporters, a classmate of his, who was going to the cricket match that day and would meet up with the UNP leader. He told me later that the message was got across to Ranil who had told him that the "south was already stitched up for the UNP" and there was no cause for worry. He was wrong; Chandrika and her alliance won the south handsomely.

2. In retrospect, I find it strange that neither H.E. nor I had brought up the subject of former President Premadasa’s caste during the lengthy conversation that morning. And now that "caste" is being discussed and written about in the opinion pages of leading English newspapers may I ask the question that I should have asked President Jayewardene that evening; "What is Mr. Premadasa’s caste?"