Sri Lanka, Sept. 17 -- When constitutional amendments are proposed and they are made public in draft form, there is a general rule of thumb that can be employed to figure out where one should stand -- for or against. It goes like this: You disregard whether or not you are generally in favour of the immediate would-be beneficiary or beneficiaries in the political order; instead you ask yourself a simple question, 'what if was in power right now?'

That's my first comment on the proposed 20th Amendment and it is a general one. I'll get to the specifics presently.

Speaking generally, we have had 19 amendments to the Second Republican Constitution (the JRJ Monster, if you will). The 13th had Indian Hegemony written all over it. The 17th was...