Rulers took power by turning our cultural differences into political divisions – Anura Dissanayake

“The Muslim people believe in Islam, the Tamil people believe in Hinduism, the Sinhalese people believe in Buddhism, and the Christian people believe in Christianity. There is no political division there. There is a difference between religions. If Muslim people are confronted with a calamity, six thousand six hundred and sixty-six clauses of the ‘Al-Quran’ instruct them to maintain their lives. There are examples of Sinhala Buddhists building their lives from Dhamma pada or Jathaka stories. The Christians are taught how to build their lives from the ‘Bible’ and the life of Jesus Christ. The Hindus are guided to sustain life through ‘Geethavali’. You are celebrating Ramzan. We Buddhists celebrate Vesak. Christians celebrate Christmas. Tamil people celebrate Thaipongal. These changes come from our culture. A Sinhalese girl wears an osari, a Muslim girl wears a hijab, a veil, and a Tamil girl wears a salwar. These are our cultural differences. But what these rulers did was take the cultural difference to the point of creating a political division. Mahinda for the Sinhalese, Sambanthan is for Tamils, Hakeem is for Muslims. Such divisions are not found in the Dhammapada, the Qur’an, the Bible, or the Geethavali. ‘Tree’ for Muslims, ‘The Sun; for Tamils and the ‘Flower Bud’ for the Sinhalese. There are only cultural differences between us. How did they be in power despite stealing? Communalism was stirred up. And the thieving went under. The breakdown of the country was overturned. Communalism was nurtured. They were in power for a long time because they took our cultural divisions to political divisions. Did that racist politics benefit the South, the East and the North?” said Anura Dissanayake, the Leader of the National People’s Power (NPP) while addressing the Muthur Constituency Conference held in Kinnia town on the 16th.
The Organizing Committee and the Executive Council of the of the Muthur Constituency for the NPP were elected.
Anura Dissanayake said, “There is a generation of young people in Muthur who have played a major role in the National People’s Power. Comrades like Arun, Rafi, Wazir Mouli, Safran, Imran, Rizad and other strong young people are contributing to a large part of the work. Comrades such as Kalidasa and Naja Mohammed are contributing while representing the upcountry brotherhood. When we go to the south of Sri Lanka, to Colombo or Ratnapura, people say that these provinces are ready to win the NPP, and ask how will the east be? The thousands of people who have gathered for this Kinnia Constituency Conference today shows that the NPP will win in the East as well.
Why do these governments need to change? Thieves who stole public property should be chased away. These rulers took loans from the world and turned our country into a begging country. They made it impossible to pay the debt. The health system collapsed, education collapsed, factories closed. There is no way to study, Youths have no jobs. Facilities for farming were destroyed. The harvest has no price. Many professionals had to leave the country. The prices of goods have gone up. Businesses collapsed. Workers have no jobs. There is no hire for vans and three-wheelers. People are starving. These problems were there not only today. They have been there in the past as well. Those in the south were told that those were not the issues. They hid all the real issues, saying that the nation needs to be saved. They raised the national question, saying the Sinhalese people were in danger and that there was a Muslim invasion. They said that the Sinhalese people should unite to overcome it. People voted for Mahinda to save the nation. But the problems remained.
Gotabaya comes to power. Now, the safety of Muslims was in danger; Gotabaya the racist; Hakeem is sent to parliament to save Muslims from Gotabaya’s government. The nationality came up. The real issue was hidden. The governments of this country have always been formed by taking votes from the people to save the nation. Billions of people’s wealth is being stolen. The economy crashed, turning the country into a begging country.
When the election is near, the fight to save the nation will be taken up. People vote to save the nation. What did the Muslim leaders come and say in the 2020 general election? They asked to send Hakeem to Parliament to get rid of Mahinda’s racism, to send Tawfiq to Parliament from Muthur to get rid of Gotabaya. What did Tawfiq do when he went to the parliament? Taufiq voted for Gotabaya to increase Gotabaya’s power when the 20th amendment was brought. Muslims voted to send Tawfiq to parliament to protect them from Gota. However, Tawfiq voted in parliament to protect Gotabaya. This always happened. In 1994, Hakeem was in Chandrika’s government. In 2001, he was in Ranil’s government. In 2005 he was in Mahinda’s government. In 2010, he was again in Mahinda’s government. In 2015 he was in Ranil-Maithri government. Now, he is in the opposition for two years. This is also the case in the south. The Sinhalese racism is stirred up in the South. Muslim racism is stirred up in the East, and Tamil nationalism is stirred up in the North. This is how they take power and steal together.
They have divided us, but they got together. Now we must unite. There is no point in getting divided. Ranil’s Mahinda’s Sajith’s movement is the movement that divides Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. National People’s Power is the movement that brings people together. There are cultural differences between us. They are not political changes. There is a difference in language between us. The Muslim people believe in Islam, the Tamil people believe in Hinduism, the Sinhalese people believe in Buddhism, and the Christian people believe in Christianity. There is no political division there. There is a difference between religions. If Muslim people are confronted with a calamity, six thousand six hundred and sixty six clauses of the ‘Al-Quran’ instruct them to maintain their lives. There are examples of Sinhala Buddhists building their lives from Dhamma pada or Jathaka stories. The Christians are taught how to build their lives from the ‘Bible’ and the life of Jesus Christ. The Hindus are guided to sustain life through ‘Geethavali’. You are celebrating Ramzan. We Buddhists celebrate Vesak. Christians celebrate Christmas. Tamil people celebrate Thaipongal. These changes come from our culture. A Sinhalese girl wears an osari, a Muslim girl wears a hijab, a veil, and a Tamil girl wears a salwar. These are our cultural differences. But what these rulers did was take the cultural difference to the point of creating a political division. Mahinda for the Sinhalese, Sambanthar is for Tamils, Hakeem is for Muslims. Such divisions are not found in the Dhammapada, the Qur’an, the Bible, or the Geethavali. ‘Tree’ for Muslims, ‘The Sun; for Tamils and the ‘Flower Bud’ for the Sinhalese. There are only cultural differences between us. How did they be in power despite stealing? Communalism was stirred up. And the thieving went under. The breakdown of the country was overturned. Communalism was nurtured. They were in power for a long time because they took our cultural divisions to political divisions. Did that racist politics benefit the South, the East and the North?
Muslims are enclossed in Harispattu, Akurana, Weligama, Beruwala etc. They are not allowed to mix. Muslims were on top of our music. Gauf Master was a Muslim master musician. There is no such person today. Ghafoor Master was one of the main cinematographers in the film industry. There was a leading singer called Beg Master. Do we have such people today? Today, Muslim representation is confined to the East. Mahroof, Dilshan were players in the Sri Lankan cricket team. Today, they are separated from the national level. Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim all of us should live in harmony. We are not built as a nation. The rulers divided us.
This conference was to be held on the 14th. Even campaigning was done. But the 14th date was changed as there was an important cricket match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan for the Asia Cup. That match was a time for Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people to come forward with the flag for the victory of their national team. That day, the youngsters waited on the field until the last ball with their hearts pounding. We are together. But the ruler is trying to divide us. Let’s build this country. Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, let’s all come together and build this country. Let’s change the old politics.
Former presidents, former prime ministers, their sons, former and current finance ministers are all in the government. Mahinda Rajapaksa used to be known as a patriot. Ranil was named a traitor. Today, both are in the government together. Ravi Karunanayake was called a Central Bank thief. Bandula Gunawardena was the guy who was to catch the Central Bank thief. Now, both are in the government together. All of them are together. why is that? The final innings has arrived. Communalism is no longer valid. The main reason for Gotabaya’s victory in the 2019 presidential election was the Easter attack. The project for this attack started in 2017. They said there were sterile clothes, sterile koththu. That is until Gotabaya sat on the Presidential chair. Koththu became extinct after Gotabaya came. According to them, sterilization doctors had sterilized four thousand Sinhalese women. The Easter attack was carried out on April 21. The country was divided. On April 25, Gotabaya said, “I am coming to the presidential election.” On May 10, he said, “I will come and defeat Muslim extremism.” Now the sterile garments and sterile koththus are over. The sterilization doctor was reinstated.
There are many things that are suspicious of the Easter attack. A former Coordinating Secretary of Pillaiyan has clearly stated that there should be a clear investigation into this. About 270 people died in that conflict. Many people were disabled. Sinhalese and Muslim people became suspicious regarding each other. Bonds were lost. It is a wound that cannot be healed even today. Sinhala communal organizations, as well as Saharan and Muslim extremist organizations, were paid from the same account. It is also given to Pilleyan. They sowed racism and created conflict.
There are two groups responsible for this attack. One group failed to prevent the attack. President Maithripala Sirisena as the Ministr in charge of Security, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, , Head of State Intelligence Nilantha Jayawardene are the respondents because they could not prevent the attack. They are now in the government. Then there is the group that planned the two attacks. An allegation has been made against Pillaiyan, Gotabaya and the head of the intelligence department. They are all in the government. The group that could not prevent the attack and the group that has been accused of the attack are in the government. That’s why the investigations are not carried out. But we cannot allow the crimes to sink into the sand. The real criminals should be revealed to the people. It will be done by a government of the National People’s Power. We will definitely do it. We will create unity between the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities. The Kurundi Vihara incident and the raid on Ponnambalan’s house in Colombo show that they are trying to stir up communalism again. Nevertheless, people did not get roused. Racism in the South is not valid now. There was an attempt to rouse people at Saindumarudu. However, the people of the East no longer make racism their politics.
All the people of North, South and East today reject racism and theft. Not only here, our people in Australia, the Middle East and Italy are asking for us. They are waiting for our calls. All these people have faith in the NPP.
Wars were fought in our country. We want to build a country without wars for our children. Let’s make a country full of children who love Idli, Biryani and milk rice. We need to develop our businesses. Today, businesses and industries have collapsed. Pulmudei mineral sand deposit in Trincomalee district is a great resource. For more than 50 years, raw sand has been shipped abroad. The countries that buy this sand find new elements from that raw sand and make new products. Trincomalee Port is the largest natural port in Asia. They do not do anything to develop it. India is waiting for it. China Bay harbour has 99 oil tanks. One million metric tons can be stored there. It is a huge warehouse complex. They do not develop it. These rulers have prepared plans to give the oil tanks, the port and a large amount of land in Trincomalee to India. That is why Sendil Thondaman became the governor of the East. He came here from the hills to pull India’s strings. Now the oil tanks in the east, the port, the land in Trincomalee, the 4000 megawatt wind power that can be generated by natural wind power, Punareen, the clock tower in Trincomalee have been earmarked for India. These rulers are selling our resources, our country has no sovereignty. While the Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil people are in conflict, we are losing our resources.
British imperialists ruled our country for 150 years. We could not unite against the white man that day. We were divided even then. Sikh leaders, Hindu leaders and Muslim leaders fought together against the whites in India. Our country was divided into ethnic groups and was ruled by the whites. For 75 years, our black people have been dividing and ruling us. Their method is to divide and rule. Let us get together. Let us build this country. We in the NPP are ready for that. We call upon everyone present to give up traditional politics. Traditional politics in the south has changed. Traditional political camps have been dismantled. The young generation expects a new political movement. Let us take advantage of this opportunity. Let us work. Let us not stop this journey without victory. May the people of Muthur win.”