Harsha says that the government will do what Harshala says. There is no principled disagreement in this case. That is the main issue between the opposition and the government. Since there is no disagreement, no matter who comes out of these two or three, no matter who takes over the power, the path is the same.
The same path. The same principle. The same medicine. The same recipe. The same remedy. The same doctor. Then the patient will not get better. Then we need a way out of this remedy.
Now Harsha says ‘You are going totally as we said’. ‘This is not what you said before. However, you are now going down the path that we said. Now we are happy. We congratulate you.
That is Harsha’s pride line. So when you say that, there is no need for an opposition party. Let them do it as it is. If they were going the way Ranil went, they should have allowed Ranil to do it. That is what it looks.
Then no one will think, ‘even if these people are wrong, and send them away, but no point in bringing some others here, if all are doing the same thing’.
We need to bring a camp that presents a different political program…”
The best Pride line heard from a politician after Anura became president was by Wimal.
Today, the opposition in Sri Lanka is divided into three parts. The main opposition is the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. Next is Namal’s Podujana Peramuna. Next is the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the UNP. Among these, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the UNP have a story to tell about what the government is doing.
If education reforms are brought, then the SJB and the UNP are likely to say this.
‘These are the reforms that Ranil brought 40 years ago. The JVP opposed them then. Today, they are in favour. This is our victory. The reforms we brought are what they are implementing today. We wish them well…’
This is the story that the UNP, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, would tell about Harini’s education reforms.
This is the story that the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the UNP are telling about fulfilling the IMF conditions.
‘We were the first to say ‘go to IMF’. The JVP has always been against the IMF. We congratulate the JVP for walking on our path…’
This is the story of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the UNP about fulfilling the IMF conditions.
This is what the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the UNP say about Minister Nalinda’s statement that postal workers should place their fingerprints.
‘We also said the same thing. We are in favour of that. When we said that, the JVP went on strike. We are happy that the JVP accepted our policies…’
Anura has been the President for almost a year now. The people are fed up with listening to the same old speeches from the opposition. The country does not need an opposition that says that the government is going our way, so we are happy with it.
It should be an opposition that tells ‘The government is going in the wrong direction. We are going in the right way…’
The country needs an opposition like this. Surprisingly, the SLPP does not criticize the government’s IMF policy, education reform policy, and strike policy. Mahinda has always been a leader who rejected going to the IMF as a policy. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party, including Mahinda, was an opposition that took to the streets against Ranil’s white paper back then.
The Sri Lankan People’s Party, including the Mahindas, is an opposition that stood up for strikes. Today, the SLFP and the SLPP are not standing up for their policies because Ranil brainwashed them after joining Ranil’s government. They too went around saying that Ranil was right.
There is no need for an opposition to say that the government is right. The JVP today says that it performed the role of the opposition when it was in opposition and that it will perform the role of the government after coming to power. The JVP’s argument is right.
J.R. once told a wonderful story. To gain power, as the Bible says, the party must change its body just as a camel changes its body to fit through the eye of a needle.
When Bandaranaike signed the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakem pact, he did not say, ‘This is what we said. Today, the government is going the way we said. We are very happy…’ J.R. Wearing white and carrying a flower vase on his head, he marched to the Temple of the Tooth, showing that he was a better Sinhala Buddhist than Bandaranaike.
In 2000, when Chandrika presented the package as a political solution to the war, that is what J.R. did after bringing the 1987 Provincial Councils. Ranil did not even say that we are happy that the government is doing what J.R. did then. He burned the package in Parliament.
In 2002, when Ranil became Prime Minister and called a ceasefire with the LTTE and proposed an interim administration for the North, I also asked Norway to intervene. That ceasefire was my concept. When I brought the package that day, the UNP opposed it. Today, Chandrika did not say that the UNP is happy to go my way. She stirred up the whole country by saying that Ranil was betraying the country. In fact, it was she who got Norway to intervene in the peace of Sri Lanka. She and Foreign Minister Kadirgamar were the ones who created the basic framework of the ceasefire agreement.
But Kadirgamar, who claimed to be a diplomat who came to power, also called Norway’s intervention and the ceasefire a betrayal of the country.
In the 1988 presidential election, Premadasa, who felt that J.R. was a disadvantage to him when he took the stage, personally requested J.R. not to attend his meetings. Before that request, in Premadasa’s last meeting, J.R. said that if the SLFP candidate wins, she will have to come in her own way. She will not win.
But in 1994, her daughter Chandrika won in J.R.’s way. J.R. was happy about it at that time and ridiculed Chandrika. That was because J.R. had retired. If Ranil also retires today and says that Anura is going in my way, it does not matter. By saying that story right from the beginning of politics, he himself invalidates his politics and the politics of his followers. By saying the same story that Ranil is telling, they invalidate their politics.
‘We are not ready to dance as the IMF says. The IMF is not the only solution to Sri Lanka’s economic problem. We have a separate program…’
‘Ranil’s education reforms are not suitable for the country today. What the country needs today is not the reforms of the committees formed by Ranil and Gota. Education reforms made by a committee consisting of education experts…’
‘Don’t come Sri Lanka needs a new opposition and touch the trade unions. Trade unions are needed to protect workers’ rights…’
The country needs an opposition today that can stand up and say that.
‘Who will create that opposition…?’ He will be the next president.
