Emphasising that it is not difficult for the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP), having waited patiently for 75 years, to wait patiently for another week or a month, NPP and JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated that their goal is to transfer political power, which has been limited to only a few elite families, to the masses, and that all attempts would be made, until the last moment, to achieve this goal democratically and peacefully.
Speaking during a protest organised by the NPP against the postponement of the Local Government (LG) election in Colombo yesterday (26), he said: “President Wickremesinghe is currently harbouring hatred towards the people for not having voted for him in the Parliamentary election in 2020. They thought they could enter Parliament as if by family inheritance. They thought that the people were bound to vote for them, but what happened in the end? The people drove Wickremesinghe out in 2020. Since then he has been angry and hateful towards the people and is taking revenge on them. However, do not have any doubts, We will definitely drive him out. We will form a people’s government. We have waited for 75 years, so can’t we wait for another week or month or so? We will work more and meet people during that week or month too.”
He further claimed that the NPP would not resort to violence to achieve its goals.
“We do not want to create a problematic situation at all. We come in peace. Regardless of the violence President Ranil Wickremesinghe resorts to, we will rally the people peacefully and democratically till the end. Our strength is in peace and democracy. We will definitely defeat you (referring to Wickremesinghe) and your Government within a short period. We have set the goal of transferring power from the corrupt elite class to the people within the next year and a half. We are working towards that goal. Neither Wickremesinghe nor anyone else can push us back by even a single step. That is because others fight for themselves and their families, but our battle is for the people. Therefore, Wickremesinghe can never reverse this and we will definitely win this battle.”
Claiming that Wickremesinghe was under the impression that the highest positions in government, such as the posts of President and Prime Minister were always reserved for elite families such as the Wickremesinghes (a reference to Wickremesinghe’s family), the Rajapaksas (a reference to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and former President, Prime Minister, and incumbent MP Mahinda Rajapaksa and their family), the Premadasas (a reference to former President, slain Ranasinghe Premadasa and incumbent Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa), the Senanayakes (a reference to former Prime Ministers late D.S. Senanayake and Dudley Senanayake and their family), and the Bandaranaikes (a reference to former Prime Ministers, slain S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and the late Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranaike, former Minister and Speaker of Parliament Anura Bandaranaike, and former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga), Dissanayake said that that era is now reaching its end.
“For the first time in Sri Lanka, the people are lining up for a government of the oppressed people. The LG election was announced in January and was to be held on 9 March. However, it has now been postponed. Why is it? If the power were to be transferred between the Rajapaksas, Wickremesinghes and Premadasas, he would not have hesitated to hold the LG election. However, the beginning of the political transformation in the country was to begin with the LG election. So, Wickremesinghe is postponing it. The President also said that the Opposition (Samagi Jana Balawegaya) had asked him to postpone the LG election to prevent the NPP from coming to power. However, they cannot keep postponing this forever. People are joining us day by day. Today, the Police fired tear gas at us, but we know that on the day this battle ends, the Police and Army will also join us.”
Commenting on the orders issued by the Colombo Fort and Maligakanda Magistrate’s Courts preventing Dissanayake and several others from entering and holding protests in several places in Colombo yesterday, he said: “A total of 26 people, including myself, have been banned from entering several places in Colombo. What has happened to Wickremesinghe? He has been banned from all parts of the country. We (the NPP) can reach the people of the North, East, South, and West without any difference. We can meet people in every corner of the country, be they the farmer, the labourer, the professional, the Buddhist monk, the police officer, army personnel, or anyone else. We can talk and align with all of them. However, Wickremesinghe has been President for eight months. Tell me about a meeting he had with 100 people or a speech he made to farmers or fishermen or some other group. All lands are forbidden lands to him. He has only two spaces, they are the Parliament and the President’s House; the land of the people has been prohibited for him.”
The NPP held a massive protest in the Town Hall area in Colombo against the postponement of the LG election by the President – who is also the Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies Minister – and the Government led by him, which many parties claimed to be one of the largest protests following the massive “aragalaya” protests which demanded the resignation of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last year (2022). Thousands of NPP and JVP supporters, most of whom were youths, gathered at the Viharamahadevi (Victoria) Park in Colombo last afternoon to protest the postponement of the LG election due to Wickremesinghe not releasing the necessary funds to the Elections Commission (EC).