[Speech by Comrade Anura Dissanayake at the ‘People’s power in protest’ rally held at Nugegoda on November 18.]
“Why did we, with tens of thousands of people, march from Delkanda Junction to Nugegoda today? It is to protest against the government’s sale of our country’s valuable national resources, against the pressure placed on the people by imposing unlimited taxes, against increasing the prices of people’s essential commodities. But this does not stop at just protesting. It is a protest movement to build a people’s government of the National People’s Power. We have opposed for decades when the rulers of this country looted the public wealth, sold the country’s national resources and curtailed democracy. Now, the protests have reached a certain point and are aligned with the ousting of corrupt rulers and forming a people’s government. The politics of our country has moved to a very definite critical point. We assure you that a new government and a new administration will be established by November next year. We assure that the budget Ranil Wickramasinghe recently presented to Parliament would be the final budget of this wicked and destructive regime.After presenting the budget, Ranil Wickramasinghe said he would turn their economic policy like flipping a pillowcase inside out. A few months ago, Ranil said he had flipped the pillowcase inside out. What is interesting is that after flipping the pillowcase inside out twice, it is now in its original state. Selling the country’s resources and taking loans is just another step in his journey. These rulers do not have a plan to change the production of goods and services according to the needs of the country’s people and the world. They always talked about a tea, rubber and coconut export economy. These leaders are as old as tea, rubber and coconut. These rulers could not use technology to make new products in accordance with the changes occurring in the world. These rulers could not change education according to the world’s changes. As a result, a country that has been isolated from the world, a country with a bankrupt economy and a country plagued with crime has been left. A country has been created where the citizens cannot procure their essential food and medicines. We have before us a destroyed nation and society. It is the seventy-five-year curse. In the first chapter of Ranil’s budget document, seventy-five years curse is implied. It is the political policy of Ranil and his likes that is presented in the budget documents. Now, they tell us about 75 years of destruction. We cannot expect Ranil, Mahinda, or a similar successor to build the country. Gentlemen of Samagi Jana Balawegaye say that Ranil Wickramasinghe is implementing their policies. Only the National People’s Power has an alternative economic strategy that can move the country forward.
Now Ranil Wickramasinghe is putting his hands on the farmers belonging to the National Livestock Development Board (NLDB). He is preparing to sell twenty-eight thousand acres of land after abandoning bringing new technology to the dairy industry in our country. It is planned to sell 28000 acres belonging to 31 farms to India’s ‘Amul’ company. Ranil Wickramasinghe’s selling list is not just loss-making institutions.
Among the public institutions that are to be sold include the largest profit making institutions such as Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, which makes large profits. There is a profit of one million four thousand nine hundred and fifty till September this year. A portion of the insurance corporation’s tax income and dividends went to the Treasury. Last year’s profit of the Bank of Ceylon was 1,300,977. The profit of the People’s Bank last year was one million and twenty-one thousand. The Airport Authority has made a profit of one million and twenty-six thousand till September this year. Do we allow Ranil Wickramasinghe to sell these institutions belonging to the people who make huge profits? The National People’s Power, the trade union movement of this country and the progressive masses are working together to protect these resources for future generations.
An anti-corruption drama has been launched in Parliament these days. There is a conflict between the corrupt. As the National People’s Power, we do not have to choose between less or more corrupt. For us, a thief is a thief, and the National People’s Power will continue to fight to stop corruption. It was not only the wrong economic policies that contributed to the fall of this country, but the looting of billions of people’s wealth has a direct effect. Ranil Wickramasinghe’s term is entangled with Pohottuwa, the hypocrite of fraud and corruption. It can be ended only by an administration of the National People’s Power.
Also, the entire state machinery is shaken. The Senior Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Western Province, Deshbandu Tennakoon, says that the Sri Lankan police know all the details regarding drugs. However, strangely, the police don’t know about thirty to forty major drug traffickers. These are the results of political power’s bifurcation of the state machinery. The Chairman of the Cope Committee exchanges signs with the accused, who are brought before the Cope Committee for investigation.
None of these institutions have any responsibility or accountability today. There is no agreement in the cabinet about the cricket institution. An IGP cannot be appointed. Many senior IGPs have cases. Can a country go like this? Can the Bribery or Corruption Investigation Commission go on withdrawing cases from the court? The entire state structure that has been demolished should be strengthened from top to bottom. The police also commit crimes; they seize land from the underworld. But there is no accountability. Can the customs, the local income tax department, the police chief, and the speaker lead a country without any accountability?
Not only the state machinery but also the political machinery has collapsed. Even if Ranil Wickremesinghe is the President, the country cannot go forward with someone else’s cabinet. The political structure should lead the state machinery. Ranil has no political structure. Whatever committee Ranil Wickramasinghe appoints, Sagala is the chairman of that committee. There is no other political structure. There used to be a political structure of the Rajapaksas. It has been proved even in the Supreme Court that the state body is not appropriately managed. According to the Supreme Court’s decision, former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Prime Minister Mahinida Rajapaksa, former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, former President’s Secretary P.B. Jayasundara, former Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Atigala, former Governor of the Central Bank, Cabral, and the former Governor Lakshman have been found guilty of bankrupting the country It means back then there was a proper structure to decide about the criminals. Still, today there are only Ranil and Sagala.
The Rajapaksa’s had a state structure to commit crimes. There is no structure to lead the country, whether for good or bad. Everything is cracked. If we want to make decisive, direct decisions and transform this country, we need a political structure that can give life to a strong state structure. Thousands of people gathered at Nugegoda today to show that only the National People’s Power has that political structure.
Rajapaksas formed a government. There was a political structure to lead, whether for the good or bad. Today, Ranil Wickramasinghe has formed a government, but there is no political structure. A new state structure should be established in our country, where the decisions made by the government go to the distant villages, and the needs of the remote villages come to the central structure in Colombo. National People’s Power is the movement that has the only political structure that could do it. We are establishing a government by building a mechanism that can lead to the village with proper political leadership. The demolished country can be rebuilt only by extending the National People’s Power organisations to the village. We form a ‘Ward Council’ for every Grama Seva area, not only to fill ballot boxes but as structures that will provide the political leadership needed to build the village.
There are four primary sources of government revenue. The Inland Revenue Department, Excise Department, Customs Department and Immigration and Emigration Department are the four. The employees of these institutions should be trained not only to go to the polls on Election Day but also as operators of four efficient institutions that send wealth to the Treasury. Engineers, educators, people with skills in the health sector, agronomists, etc. should be produced under the control of the National People’s Power as activists who can build the country. No one except the National People’s Power has a story to tell before the people. The UNP used to go to the village and say they brought the open economy in 1977. Those in Mahinda’s government said that Mahinda Rajapaksa was like ‘Lee Kuan Yew’ in Singapore and Gotabaya Rajapaksa was like ‘Mahathir Mohamad’ in Malaysia. We were asked what a country would be like if both of them came together. People clapped. They said they were building miracles in Asia. Can it be said today that Sajith Premadasa’s father built houses? It has been proven that they are ‘thieves’ who have nothing to say. Only the National People’s Power can build and implement a new dialogue with the world. On one side, there is a debate on whether Ranil Wickramasinghe would hold an election. Ranil Wickramasinghe is now pulling Gota’s quota left when Gota was chased away. Ranil Wickramasinghe’s Gota quota will end with the presidential election, which must be held before October 17 next year.
If it is confirmed to the people that the presidential election will not be held as scheduled, Ranil Wickramasinghe will be sent home before next September. Today, the people are not acting in the way they took to the streets to oust Gotabaya Rajapakse, but they are targeting the presidential election. There was no capable people’s government to fill the void left by the ousting of Gotabaya. The trunk was left in Parliament, and the Parliament fixed Ranil’s head to this trunk. People now know from that experience that there is no point in ousting, but ousting should be done only by building a government that fulfils the people’s expectations. Unlike Ranil Wickramasinghe’s chance from the blues, we will not struggle to get such chances. We will oust the government with the plan of forming a government of the National People’s Power. It is the most critical milestone in the presidential election. A lot of disappointed people have put a lot of trust in us. We have a very formidable responsibility towards them. Many people who traditionally trusted the likes of Mahindas and Ranils are coming to us by trusting us a thousand times more than they trusted them. These people have two main expectations. One is the belief in forming a government of the National People’s Power. It was confirmed from the meetings we had in the USA. Not only people in this country, but also the Sri Lankans living a good life abroad, are expecting a change and an administration by the NPP. Thousands of people gathered around us proved this.
We should establish a government of the National People’s Power at the very first opportunity. The most crucial period of ten months to act for that has arrived. These most critical ten months in Sri Lankan politics and Sri Lankan history must not be neglected but used to win over more and more for our task. A strong government of the National People’s Power must be established. Let’s rally the people against taxation, selling, repression, shrinking democracy and selling national resources. Let’s rally the people for a fair and just country. We will build a government for that. We must gather new knowledge of the world around the government that we will establish and build an economy that can compete with the world. We will build a country that guarantees social justice, equity, efficiency and respect for every citizen. We all are responsible for building a government of the National People’s Power and building this country. Indeed, a government of the National People’s Power will be established in the future, and the country will be rebuilt. Let us all work together for that. Victory for all!”
