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We
will establish a National Policy: Ranil He said “When we obtain power we will do away with this politics of bankruptcy and establish a National Policy which successive Governments will not be able to deviate from. As the youth of this country what sort of a country are you going to inherit? This country is yours. This country is ours. Would you too try to preserve the aristocracy and nobility rule which is going on or will you strive to preserve the place of the people.” Mr. Wickremesinghe said in 1954 the Sinhala Only Bill was enacted and 50 years have passed but still have the Sinhalese achieved anything? In 1987 President J. R. Jayewardene signed the Indo-Lanka Pact. But some opposed it. What happened? The Indian Peace Keeping Force was sent away. Provincial Councils fell apart. But the same people who opposed the Pact are asking the Indians to come back. They want the PCs given more powers. If the Pact was properly implemented at that time 40,000 people would not have to sacrifice their lives. In 2001 we were voted into power. My government worked hard to bring in 450 billion rupees of foreign aid. That was lost as Parliament was dissolved in February 2004. In January 2004 we presented the Disaster Management Bill but it lapsed as Parliament was dissolved in February. In December the same year the country was struck by the tsunami which left 40,000 dead. Because some went to court against the Tsunami Relief Council, the country lost 350 billion rupees. We have lost altogether 80,000 people as well as 80 billion rupees, he said. “With
the Youth Revolution we will start our political revolution. We
will also spearhead the Cultural Revolution to face globalization,”
he said Speaking hours after a landmark Supreme Court judgment paved the way for Presidential elections this year, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the UNP was a party which had the history of protecting the people’s fundamental rights and franchise. He said the 1978 Constitution adopted during the J. R. Jayewardene administration was able to thwart attempts by the government to rob the fundamental rights of the people because the new Constitution upheld the people’s basic rights. Pointing out the protests led by J. R. Jayewardene against the Sirimavo Bandaranaike administration’s extension of the life of Parliament from 1975 to 1977, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the UNP under his leadership launched the Janabala Meheuma to defeat attempts by the UPFA to rob the people’s right to vote. “Mr. Jayewardene made sure that the fundamental rights of the people be included in the 1978 Constitution. He did this to prevent a future government from robbing the basic rights of the people,” he said. Mr. Wickremesinghe pointed out that Ms. Bandaranaike got the people’s mandate at the 1970 election to govern this country for five years but she introduced a new Constitution and illegitimately extended the life of Parliament by two years while the people suffered without food. He said it was the era of suffering with food items such as rice, sugar, chillie and dhal being rationed and with people standing in long queues for hours to buy them. “JR demanded in 1975 that Parliament be dissolved. But Sirimavo said she would go on till 1977 and if necessary even beyond. JR resigned his Colombo South seat in protest and stood for a by-election. He said if he was defeated he would accept it as people’s approval for the extension of the life of Parliament and if he won, the government should dissolve Parliament. But she could not field an opponent and JR won a thumping victory,” he said. Mr.
Wickremesinghe said the then government continued to govern till
1977 but the UNP as a responsible opposition party launched a non-violent
satyagraha campaigns to uphold the sovereign right of the people.
Mr. Wickremesinghe said that the UNP after winning the 1977 election with a five sixths majority enacted a new Constitution with one of its features being the recognition of people’s fundamental rights. It was this entrenched article in the Constitution which had made the people sovereign and recognised their right to exercise their sovereignty through franchise. “The Constitution declares that the executive power can be used only by a President who has a mandate from the people and that constitutional power can be held by a Parliament only via a people’s vote for a term not exceeding six years. The right to hold elections is entrusted with the Elections Commissioner in terms of Article 31 and 32 of the Constitution. JR must have included these provisions in the Constitution probably because he had the foresight to believe that someone in the Bandaranaike family would try to steal the right of the people to vote at a future date,” Mr. Wickremesinghe said. He said the spirit of the 1978 Constitution was to uphold the people’s right to vote and the Supreme Court in recognition of this right had declared that the Presidential election should be held this year. The UNP leader claimed that Chandrika Kumaratunga after being elected for the second time on December 22, 1999, had been scheming to change the Constitution to prolong her term at the cost of the people’s fundamental right. But the political culture his party had introduced under the visionary leadership of President Jayewardene sought to end feudalism and the walauw mentality and make the people sovereign. |
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