Governments Changed, Policies Did Not: Pubudu Jayagoda
August 04, 2015Frontline Socialist Party Propaganda Secretary Pubudu Jayagoda said that although the governments have changed, their policies remain more or less the same.
Speaking at a rally in Puttalam yesterday, Jayagoda recalled how the Mahinda Rajapaksa government suppressed the protest at Rathupaswala. The people had only asked for clean water, and they were treated with bullets, he said. The present government has suppressed a similar people's struggle in Chunnakam demanding clean water by obtaining a court order against protests he said.
Furthermore, he said that despite the change in government, the system has not changed. Otherwise, former Pesident Mahinda Rajapaksa would not have been able to return to politics, he argued.
Jayagoda also refuted the allegation that the FLSP is indirectly helping Rajapaksa by criticizing the present government. As a left movement, the Frontline Socialist Party remembers the history of Sri Lanka's capitalist class vividly, he argued. It remembers what happened well before Rajapaksa, in 1988-89, 1971, 1953 and 1948, he added.
Frontline Socialist Party Propaganda Secretary Pubudu Jayagoda stated that all major parties are promoting a "flight instead of fight" theory by speaking of a world market economy.
Speaking at a meeting in Avissawella, Jayagoda said that rural people are given the message that money can be earned in the cities. Urban people are told that one has to emigrate, he pointed out.
All three parties are saying the same thing in different words, Jayagoda said, adding that they were now promoting an idea of increasing Sri Lanka's portion in the world market.
Pointing out that the world market was in recession from 2008, Jayagoda said that capturing a larger portion of market in recession was an empty promise. An economy with more participation by the people was needed to solve the problems of the country, he argued.
Good relations with India will be a cornerstone of the foreign policy of the Sri Lankan government if the United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) forms one after winning the August 17 parliamentary elections.
This was stated by Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka, the foreign policy adviser to the UPFA at a meeting with the Foreign Correspondents' Association here on Wednesday.
The UPFA ,whose candidate in the January 8 Presidential election, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was defeated by the Joint Opposition Candidate, Maithripala Sirisena, has "learnt its lessons", Jayatilleka said.
"The foreign policy of the UPFA will be a series of concentric circles, the closest circle being the immediate neighborhood. Specific mention has been made about India in the foreign policy segment of the UPFA manifesto. Good relations with India is axiomatic. Good relations with India will be a corner stone of the UPFA's foreign policy," he stressed.
On relations with other countries, he said: "The first circle in the series of concentric circles will be South Asia; the second will be Asia; the third will be Euro-Asia, the fourth will be the Global South and finally the world."
Asked about concerns in India and the US about China's overwhelming presence in the economy of Sri Lanka thanks to the Rajapaksa regime, Jayatilleka said that Sri Lanka will cultivate relations with China, India and other countries depending upon the economic need.
(The New Indian Express)
