“Let’s choose the difficult but real path of victory instead of the easy way” – Anura Dissanayake

Speech made by NPP and JVP Leader Anura Dissanayake at Thambuththegama yesterday ((3rd).

“A large number of my relatives and teachers who taught us are participating in this event. Tambuttegama had only one teacher to teach us science. He is our Amarasuriya sir. Amarasuriya sir’s wife, Rani teacher was my teacher when I was in grade two. Rambanda Sir is also there. A large number of my school friends and friends from the village have come. Tambuttegama is where I grew up and learned many things. Several things always weigh on the heart when coming to Tambuttegama. We have lost many people who should have been in the front seats on this stage. Especially because my brother was involved in this politics, he was abducted by the regime. Premasiri, Wasantha Tissa, Demeta Vewe Ratnayake, Wasantha Premasiri and his sister, Guard gentleman’s two children and many other friends were taken away by the regime not to be seen thereafter. Chandimal, the famous former student who won the love of many teachers of our school, and his younger brother, mother, father, and many others were tortured by Premadasa in 1988-1989 and are no longer with us today. Therefore, leaders who distribute must remember that some things cannot be distributed and compensated. Material things cannot compensate that past. A number of people who could work at the forefront of this movement even today, breathing and talking with us, were taken away by the regime.
Many friends in my school, and many friends in the village also thought that I might not be there either. Our lives were saved with great difficulty. Since then, we have been shouldering this responsibility without giving up. Justice can be done to my relatives and all the comrades of our party who were taken from us only by building the state they wish for in Sri Lanka. Therefore, we have a conscience that will not submit to any kind of insults or threats.
No one can put a price on it. No one can mortgage it. I assure the people of this country that we will continue to build a fair, just government. A high elite group has inherited the politics of our country for many decades. The people of our country have changed governments from time to time. But our country was ruled by a small elite group. However, we are not a group that inherited politics by tradition.
SWRD Bandaranaike, Sirima Bandaranaike, Chandrika Bandaranaike all from Horagolla Walauwa. Bandaranaike became Prime Minister, his wife Sirima Bandaranaike and daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike became prime Minister and then President. D.S. Senanayake s Prime Minister his son Dudley Senanayake also became Prime Minister. JR Jayawardene became President, JR. Jayawardena’s son-in-law Ranil Wickremesinghe is the president now. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s father was a Minister of State, and Mahinda Rajapaksa became President. His father’s elder brother was a minister, his brother was a minister, his son is a minister, his brother’s son was a minister, his son-in-law is a member of parliament, and his younger brother was the president. Few such families had inherited power in our country. Premadasa President’s son is trying now.
We were born in these villages and are children of ordinary people. The children of the last class of Gamini Maha College studied under the most difficult conditions. The GCE classes ended with us. Once Gamini MV was made a Central College, they started the A/L classes with us. Until then, Tambuttegama school did not have science and mathematics. At the time when science and maths classes started in our school, Amarasuriya sir told us, “Children, you should not do higher studies in this school. You guys will be treated as guinea pigs.”
There were no teachers. No facilities. There was no lab. Most people with me were very talented. Those with very high results at the O/L got low marks at the A/L. We are the ones who suffered in education. We are the ones who have seen the pain of mothers and fathers in the villages of this country. Most of my classmates had to choose between the police and Army for employment. Many became police constables of soldiers in the army. Many of them died. Some people died due to excessive alcohol addiction. Some people left their families and children and went abroad and were ruined.
Therefore, we did not have to learn from books about the sorrow, pain and boring life that people are experiencing. We are not people who learned by listening but people who have experienced suffering with our lives. For us, poverty is not a fashion. We are not beggars to get something from those at the top.
The poor are not beggars to get what is distributed by groups from above, to get sarees, toilet bowls, or food bags they distribute.
Our relatives, our friends, our friends have chosen leaders from a very limited group of elite families no matter what style of government they have formed for decades. We invite you to change this political path that has been followed for decades. We need to change and transfer our political power to a new generation that has experienced people’s sorrows and pains, and who are closely connected with this country and the people.
It has to be decided whether to continue behind the old, failed, elite family politics or change it. The NPP invites all to change the current political course and create a government of the common people.
Various conspiracies are being launched today. The common people agree that fraud and corruption should be defeated. Common people accept that these rulers destroyed our country. The general public admits that the economy has collapsed. In this situation, there is a new round of using Buddhist priests to spread the word that there is a conspiracy against religion. A large number of respected Buddhist priests have visited this place.
We were taught Buddhism at school by the leader of the Veheragala Rajamaha Vihara. That Buddhist priest loves children very much. If you make a mistake while studying a stanza, you will get a knock on your head. When he goes back from the class, he touches the head of the one who got a knock on his head. Then the heart hurts. That is how our monk taught us.
But now, other types of conspiracies are being launched in different guises. A large number of Buddhist priests have come to this conference and have indicated that they are ready to support the NPP.
We are at a certain juncture in history. One is the old, failed, outdated destructive regime. It is the path that will lead us to further destruction. You will get a parcel of dry food if you step on that road. It feels comfortable for a short time. Sometimes you will find a bottle along the way. You will be able to float. That way leads us to further destruction. We invite the people of the country to take the path to save the country and the people instead.
Whether they come wearing a shawl, wearing national dress, whether they come as a driver, or in a tie coat, whatever disguise they come in, they are agents of the path they have been travelling for 74 years. In the mid-1980s, they came as friend of the poor. In 1994 came Viharamaha Devi. The man born in Giruwapatthu in 2005, trampled the tender grass. Then came the villager from Polonnaruwa in 2015. His daughter wrote a book and called it “the man who emerged from the earth”.
Then came the working hero. Now they say that the greatest brain in Asia has arrived after the hero of the work has fled. In whatever form they came, they came along the path that had been walked for decades. The same economic policy, the same political culture, the same kind of theft, the same kind of waste and corruption, and the same kind of destruction of the country came along with them.
The other way is hard, demanding and challenging. A tough, trying hard road. Nevertheless, it is the path that paves the way to put the future of the child in the hands of the mother and the father. It is the way to make the future for the child who is struggling in the womb. It is the way to make the future for the child hanging from the finger to trod to the Montessori class. The NPP is building this road. It is difficult, but let’s choose the path that can build our country and bring happiness to people. Let’s take control of the politics that had been restricted to a few families all this time. Let’s all unite to stop this and build a people’s government through the NPP that will build the country and make the people victorious!”

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