Translated by : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

Addressing a meeting held at the Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna, the former President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa emphasized that he is not a racist and he cannot be a racist as one of his sisters is married to a Tamil from Jaffna.   He focused his whole speech to compare the services done to the North by his government and by this government and said that the present government is a fusion of UNP/SLFP/JVP and TNA.  But yet this government has failed to construct even a culvert in the North. He said that Sambandan is fooling the Tamil people and slavishly remains in the pocket of Ranil Wickremasighe.

Speaking further he said that he is happy to come to the North after 3 years and speak to the people of the North.  He asked whether prices of goods are cheaper in the North now.  He explained that in the past that there freedom had been restricted and if they wanted to go to Colombo they had to face about 100 barriers and there were no electricity, no water supply and no development activities and everything were completely destroyed and people used to look at each other suspiciously and even children were not safe.  Mr. Rajapaksa said that his government freed them from all this hassle and now people in the North can live freely and children can attend to their studies. We were happy when s student from this area became first in the Advanced Level Science Stream. Unfortunately for various reasons we lost on 8^th January 2015, but he said that he got several hundred thousand more votes from this area than the votes he got in 2010. He asked what was not developed in the North during his period? Mr. Rajapaksa reminded that 90% of the population of the North was provided with electricity and water, roads, schools and science laboratories were given, the historical library destroyed by the UNP was reconstructed and given, the train service which had been suspended for several years was given, and the best hospital in Sri Lanka was given.  He said that his government did all this work because it wanted to have development in the North similar to the development we had in the South.  Speaking further he also stated that his government demined paddy fields and made it possible to undertake paddy cultivation and provided subsidized fertilizer at Rs. 350 per bag.  He said there is no fertilizer today and if it became necessary to get fertilizer for cultivation they have to wait until a fertilizer ship comes from Pakistan. Similarly for everything we have to wait now for the arrival of ships from overseas.  All these things were produced earlier by you locally but there is no market for your products.

This government is a combination of four main political parties. Mr. Sambandan is now in Ranil Wickremasinghe’s pocket.  He is the uncle of this Arun Thambimuttu.  But Sambaandan is on the other side. Mr. Saambaandan comes here and utters lies saying tht they will give a separate state, they will give this and they will give that.  He is fooling you, and distancing you from us.

I made a prposal to Sambandan to hold a discussion to get the existing problems solved.  He said that he will come back after discussing with Sumnthiran and others and never turned up.  When we were having 54 members he was appointed as the Leader of the Opposition with only 16 members. But the opposition leader should represent the opposition, on the contrart it was he who first voted for the budget

I was surprised to hear when the MP Sivashakthi Ananthan said recently that the UNP government provided Rs. 20 Million each for 15 TNA MPs to vote for the budget.  It was a serious charge and there is no response for this charge yet.  One MP however admitting making of this payment has said that it was given for a project but no project has been implemented.    The time has come for the people to question about this.  There is no point of blaming us.

The government should refrain from fooling the people of theNorth.  The people of the  North and the people of the East should live honourably.  If they took their votes with false promises they should fulfil those promises.  Therefore do not cast your valuable vote for any of the combine parties in the government UNP/SLFP/JVP and TNA.

We are not racists as we have been misbranded for political expedienct by some racist politicians.  In my case I can never b a racist. A sister of mine is married to a Tamil from the North with Mr. Thiru Nadesan.  At least we must get ready to put an end to this fooling of the people of the North without solving any of their probles and keeping it ever like the wound of a begger.  Therefore please trust us.  We are now coming from a different party, and a different group with a new thinking and with a new symbol.  The Flower Bud is our symbol.  Vote for the Flower Bud this time and see the difference. Be victorius and let Flower Bud be victorious!