While stressing that Indo-Lanka ties should be confined to trade and economy, Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said the proposed bridge between the two countries should be approved by the Sri Lankan people through a Referendum.
Speaking at a healing service at the Thewatte Basilica church in Fagama over the weekend, Cardinal Ranjith said it was the rulers who had betrayed Sri Lanka in the past.
“Construction of a road between Sri Lanka and India has been proposed now. It is the rulers who come up with such proposals and betray our nation. All can remember the air dropping of dhal and how the Indian army was sent to Sri Lanka in the past. Ancient kings confined their relationships with India to trade and economy. Therefore the proposal to set up a road between India and Sri Lanka should be approved by the people in Sri Lanka at a referendum,” Cardinal Ranjith said.
“Pakistan and Bangladesh have been parts of India in the past but Sri Lanka has always been a separate country,” he added.
“We have seen some political leaders showing their faces in religious programmes in temples and church feasts. These political leaders should not use these religious programmes to enhance their images,” he also said.
He said it is the open economy that was introduced in 1977 that led to the economic crisis which the nation is facing today.
“Around 80 per cent of Sri Lanka’s resources are enjoyed by 20 per cent of the population while the remaining 80 percent of the population are left with 20 per cent of the resources. “This vicious system should be changed,” he said.