UNP MP Perera warned that it wouldn’t be long before people revolted against the dictatorial Rajapaksa regime, which suppressed the democratic rights of the masses.
Minister Dilan Perera on Monday (13) recalled how the UNP had thrown its weight behind an attempt to help former army chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka win the last presidential election in Jan 2010.
A smiling Perera said that the UNP had conveniently forgotten that it had joined hands with the JVP and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a project to defeat incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the expense of democracy.
The Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister was responding to UNP Kalutara District MP attorney-at-law Ajith Perera during a live political debate, on Rupavahini on Monday night.
The UNP thanked Rupavahini for giving the Opposition an opportunity to present its views through the State-run media after a lapse of about eight years. According to him, the use of State media should be the right of the Opposition, not a privilege given by the ruling coalition.
Badulla District MP Perera said that voters had crushed that attempt by helping the incumbent President to win the presidential poll with a massive 1.8 mn votes over his opponent. The TNA backed the project inspite of its strong objections to Fonseka’s role as the Commander of Sri Lanka Army, the SLFPer said. "Although, I raised this issue with TNA leader R. Sampanthan in Parliament, he didn’t respond."
In the backdrop of the Opposition plot in Jan. 2010, the MP said that nothing could be as foolish as Opposition attempts to compare the post-war situation in Sri Lanka and that of Egypt, Libya or any other country targeted by the so-called Arab Spring.
The programme was moderated by Chamuditha Samarawickrema.
UNP MP Perera warned that it wouldn’t be long before people revolted against the dictatorial Rajapaksa regime, which suppressed the democratic rights of the masses. The MP emphasized that regardless of UPFA propaganda, the country was rapidly moving towards an Arab Spring style revolution. Amidst strong protests by MP Perera and Puttalam District MP Arundika Fernando, the UNPer declared that the UPFA rule, too, would come to an end the way Egyptians forced Hosni Mubarak out of office.
Democratic People’s Front (DPF) leader, Mano Ganeshan, alleged that people of the Northern and Eastern Provinces were still under military rule, though the war ended in May three years ago. A strong critic of the UPFA, over its handling of the ethnic issue, Ganeshan stressed that Tamil speaking people accused the government of retaining military control.
Dilan Perera hit back at Ganeshan alleging that even after the conclusion of the conflict, some opportunistic politicians continued to propagate separatist sentiments.
Mano Ganeshan contested from Kandy District at the last parliamentary polls on the UNP ticket, while his brother, Prabha was elected from Colombo, also on the UNP ticket, but later switched his allegiance to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Mano Ganeshan lashed out at the government for not giving an opportunity for the people of the Northern Province to elect a Provincial Council of their own even three years after the end of war. An irate Ganeshan said that the government should be ashamed of its conduct as regards the people of the Northern Province, who yearned for a provincial administration to help re-build war devastated areas. Ganeshan alleged that the UPFA was hungry for power. The UPFA wanted the presidency and control at parliamentary, provincial council and local government level, Ganeshan said, alleging that the government was delaying PC elections in the North because it couldn’t stomach defeat. Ganeshan asserted that the UPFA lacked political will to settle the national issue, though the armed conflict ended in May 2009.
UPFA MP Arundika Fernando said that in spite of losing the local government polls in the Northern Province, the government went ahead with planned post-war economic recovery process in the region. Briefly explaining the mega projects undertaken by the government in the North, MP Fernando said that the UPFA hadn’t been resentful, though those living in the once LTTE-held areas backed the TNA.
Mano Ganeshan said that he wasn’t talking about development but lack of political will. MP Fernando queried how one could discuss post-war developments ignoring the ongoing work in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
(Island)