Palitha Thewarapperuma, a controversial politician from the Kalutara district met a tragic death last week. His popularity was reflected in the huge crowd that gathered, including thousands of Muslim men and women from many parts of the district. 
He had been famous for what many described to be stunts or antiques, but he always represented the sensitivities of the ordinary people, except for one or two incidents. In December 2013, when the authorities decided to close the Badureliya hospital, Thewarapperuma chained himself to a truck and threatened to fast to death. The hospital was reopened 
in a few hours.  

As the Deputy Minister under the so-called Yahapalana Government, Thewarapperuma in July 2016 joined a group of protesting mothers on behalf of ten children who had been denied admission to the Meegahatenne Primary School in the Kalutara district for seven months. He again threatened to commit suicide if justice was not meted out to the students. He was arrested for unlawful assembly, but he forced the authorities to resolve a serious problem not only in the area but across the country by bringing the 
issue to light. 
He was not a racist. During the racial riots in Aluthgama, Thewarapperuma sent his resignation letter as an MP to his party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe protesting against the attacks against Muslims. It seemed to be a symbolic gesture as he did not hand over the resignation letter to the Secretary General of the Parliament, yet the message he gave was important. During a lockdown in Atulugama, a predominantly Muslim area in the Kalutara district which came under heavy criticism by the media amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Thewarapperuma personally took thousands of loaves of bread and two lorry loads of jackfruit to the area risking arrest for breaching health restrictions.
Stunt or not, this may not be the appropriate way a member of the legislature should handle issues affecting people. However, it was the style of Thewarapperuma to stand with the victims expressing empathy and solidarity with them. A senior journalist while respecting the humanity and the concern Thewarapperuma had towards the ordinary people had told in a Facebook post that a Parliamentarian is not supposed to carry out what Thewarapperuma had carried out. He pointed out that the Mahapola scholarship programme initiated by former Minister Lalith Athulathmudali and the open economy introduced by former Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel have served as turning points in higher education and the country’s economy respectively, irrespective of those politicians having not engaged in acts like what Thewarapperuma had engaged.
The veteran leader of the Communist Party and former Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) once stated that a Parliamentarian must be able to actively and consciously contribute to policy-making, law-making, monitoring of public finance and representing his electorate. Thewarapperuma’s contribution to the first three responsibilities may not be shining, but he was unparalleled in the fourth criterion, inside and outside of the House. 
However, it is a well-known fact that many Parliamentarians did not deserve the credit for any of these four responsibilities for the past several decades. Many members engage in party politics resorting to mudslinging against members of other parties, instead of constructively contributing to those 
four responsibilities. 

When NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake once tabled a document in Parliament, claiming that it was a copy of the agreement on the Yugadanavi power plant, many ruling party members including ministers expressed doubt of the authenticity of it, despite them having supported the handing over 40 percent of shares of the power plant to an American company. They were not in a position to totally deny the veracity of the document Dissanayake presented. This showed that they have supported an agreement even without knowing the contents of it. This is a very good example how many Parliamentarians perform duties as people’s representatives. 
The intellectuality of people such as Athulathmudali and the humanity in people like Thewarapperuma are two different qualities that in most cases not witnessed in one human being, especially in politicians. Hence the American author and theologian James Freeman Clarke once said “A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation.” The country needs statesmen with both qualities if it is to prosper.