Victory Day = Dirty Politics Day

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

What is the purpose of Victory Day anyway? For years we were told that it was the day for remembering those beloved Maldivian of ours who lost their lives fighting for the country and then became martyred. For years, on 3 November, after the year 1988, we remembered them rightfully and in the way we should remembered them.

Just what did we do this year on the same day? The main political parties in the country, Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) used the occasion for political attack and blame game. While DRP hit the streets holding placards and banners calling out to the government to resign, MDP, in their Haruge, resorted to attack DRP using a day that was so emotionally linked to all the Maldivians, especially the families of the martyred. The supporters of both political parties were involved in minor clashes and we all know that there was an attempt to set fire to Immadhudheen School, which is opposite MDP Haruge where the meeting was going on. What were these people trying to do? Were they trying to create a New Victory Day for themselves?
This is not a simple issue that we can sweep under the rug so easily. This was highly disrespectful to those martyred, their families and to the rest of Maldivians who were psychologically affected by the real gunshots and mayhem they witnessed that day.

Incumbent government’s work of investigating in to the misappropriation of public funds by the former administration is a perfectly sensible thing to do as Maumoon was in power for 30 long years. It is true wherever there is an oppressive and dictatorial regime, unsatisfied people within the country would plan and execute armed attacks against such a government to express their anger and frustration. It is perfectly within democratic norms to protest against the government and since we are in a more reformed democracy, we have the freedom to do that. But you simply do not use important days like 3 November as a political opportunity to bring down the other political party. This is what MDP and DRP did and this was a gross mistake on the part of both political parties.

Their actions on Tuesday night reminded us of our beloved neighboring country India where emotional factors like religious issues and important days are frequently used by political parties for back lashing each other. This is the main reason why there are such sharp divisions in the Indian society as age old issues are very commonly dug up by political parties for the purpose of electoral gain.

This all tells us that it’s high time that we welcome Maldives and its politics to the hall of fame of dirty politics. Victory day from today on wards will no longer be a day for remembering martyrs; it will be a day for dirty politics.

Reader Comments

Post a comment

 characters available



The opinions expressed here are those of the individual authors and commenters and do not necessarily represent the views of Miadhu News Daily. We do not take responsibility for the opinions, facts, or claims presented by individual authors or commenters, and reserve the right to moderate or delete inappropriate comments.

Miadhu Opinion Poll
  • Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.