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.
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