UPFA May Day rally at Town Hall:

President extends invitation to Opposition to join hands

By UDITHA KUMARASINGHE

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday addressing the biggest ever May Day Rally organised by the UPFA, after the elimination of the three decade-old terrorism, appealed to the Opposition to join hands with the Government to rebuild the country, forgetting political differences.

Addressing a mammoth crowd at the rally held at the Town Hall grounds, Colombo under the theme, “Power to the workplace, Dynamism to the factory, Peace to the motherland”, the President said the Opposition should realise that the people have given a clear mandate to the Government to take the country forward.

If the Opposition is really keen on the welfare of the people and the motherland, they should extend their fullest support towards the attempts made by the Government to rebuild the country and not to oppose each and everything and act as a responsible Opposition.”

President said whatever the challenges may be, the Government would take every possible measure for the well-being of the country’s working class, which is a very strong weapon which has the ability to force any force to bow down before them. Therefore trade union leaders should act in a responsible manner to safeguard their rights.

The Government is doing its level best to uplift the living conditions of the people, which is what the people expect from it. Our prime responsibility is to unite the broken hearts of the communities and develop the economy by creating a peaceful environment to each and everyone to live in harmony. “ The country before us”, should be our motto. Everybody should be united to carry out the country’s development process, irrespective of political differences, he said.

President Rajapaksa said:” Today we celebrate the May Day with humility. It is the working class which has to face the various hardships when a war is waged in a country. However, the working class in Sri Lanka would certainly go into history as the key element which laid the foundation to our war heroes to put an end to the three-decade old war against terrorism.

In a situation where the Government had launched military operations to defeat terrorism, whatever problems they had, the country’s working class acted with a lot of responsibility and cooperated with the Government.”

Even though the Government had launched military operations against the terrorists, it did not curtail the rights of the working class. The previous UNP Government had reached agreements with the World Bank and the IMF to reduce the number of employees in the State sector, whereas the present Government had the strength to increase the number of employees in the State sector.

This Government did not sell any State property to find solutions to problems like the former UNP Government did. When the entire world faced the economic recession and their banking sector collapsed, our Government was able to safeguard the banking sector and each employee worked within the State and private sector, the President said.

The President said the Government took measures to rebuild a large number of State institutions which had collapsed. The Government could achieve all those significant victories as a result of its close relationship maintained with the working class. “The political experience gained by me as a politician who has closely worked with the working class also helped to achieve these victories”.

The country’s working class has also proved that they are the people who has the ability to unite all the communities by turning the great victory achieved by the nation into reality. The support of the working class is essential towards the development process. They are in the forefront which can give the leadership to the Government’s development drive. It is the responsibility of the working class to win this development war, he said.

“In future we would be able to change our map. People would be able to see our future May Day rallies held in the Galle Face Green. In future they would also be able to see a giant 500-acre city to be constructed within the Galle Face Green in future. While the war was being waged against terrorists, the Government was able to start construction work on five harbours, a good number of expressways and an international airport. Therefore the Government will take every possible measure to improve the living conditions of the people,” the President added.

Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratne in his speech, pointed out that it was the SLFP-led governments which always acted to safeguard the rights of the workers. When President Rajapaksa was the Labour Minister, he did immense work on behalf of the working class. “I request the political parties not to use workers for the existence of their political parties. If they are genuine, they should extend their support to the Government to develop the country.

The Premier added: “When the entire world pessimistic, we were able to defeat the ruthless terrorism purely due to the firm commitment made by the President. Our aim is to create an environment conducive to all communities to live in peace and harmony. The working class should also extend their fullest support in this regard.”

SLFP General Secretary and Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said after defeat three decades of terrorism, this is the first time the country’s working class showed their power to the entire world under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. We could celebrate this year’s May Day rally on a grand scale due to great victory achieved by our war heroes. This would go into the history as a historic May Day rally held in Sri Lanka.

MEP Leader and Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said the trade union movement always came to streets to safeguard this Government by giving massive strength to it. As a result they could defeat various conspiracies hatched against the Government. It is the trade union movement which can safeguard this Government. The working class has extended an immense support to this Government. This Government always represent the hopes and aspirations of the country’s working class.

Labour Minister Gamini Lokuge said, “On behalf of the working class, I extend my gratitude to the President for his sincere attempts to create a country free from war. A large number of State and private sector employees have responded to the call made by the President to form a very stable Government.

Western Province Governor Alavi Moulana said the country’s working class was always ready to come to the streets to safeguard the President due to dynamic leadership given to the nation without subjecting to any international pressure.

NFF Leader and Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Minister Wimal Weerawansa said this is the first historic May Day rally held in Colombo after the defeat of ruthless terrorism. We could celebrate the May Day within a very peaceful country due to great sacrifice made by the war heroes under the leadership of the President.

At present the Opposition within their May Day rallies has to talk about a Government which did not make any injustice to the working class or did not sell any State property. The entire working class has now come forward to commence a massive development drive with the Government.