President at mammoth UPFA May Day rally:

INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACIES WILL BE RESOUNDINGLY DEFEATED

Chaminda Perera

* Certain individuals trying to destabilise country

* Sri Lanka, no longer a colony

* Working community should be protected

* Govt places enormous confidence in working masses

President Mahinda Rajapaksa stressed that he will not permit international conspirators to create disputes and destabilize the country, under any circumstances. He said Sri Lanka is one of the oldest democracies in the Asian region and honours all kinds of democratic norms and practices.

“We will never deny the people’s right to change governments through Universal Adult Franchise,” he said.

President Rajapaksa was addressing the May Day rally of the United People’s Freedom Alliance at the Colombo Municipal Council grounds yesterday.

Thousands of people irrespective of political and other differences kept streaming in from Campbell Park, Borella, from where the rally commenced yesterday noon.

President Rajapaksa said that the working masses in Sri Lanka are so intelligent they would not fall prey to certain segments trying to destabilize the country.

He said certain individuals were trying to destabilize the country by using the working masses as a cat’s paw but the masses did not fall prey to their designs.

Some such individuals do not have a country or a particular name but some countries are in the process of inciting them, he said.

The President stressed the importance of increasing the country’s productivity as ‘imperialists are operating in various forms to acquire national assets’.

The President said imperialists are still under the impression that countries like Sri Lanka are their colonies and it was for this reason that ‘they exert more pressure on us’.

He said that the government led by him reacquired state ventures, including national carrier SriLankan Airlines which were privatized by previous governments , He said that productivity of state ventures has to be uplifted as imperialists are awaiting their collapse to acquire them.

The President emphasized that what the government, the working community and the country at large have gained should be protected from these imperialists. “The country was deprived of the GSP facility and the Opposition thought that the government was on the verge of being overthrown by the working masses.’ ‘But that did not happen’, the President added.

President Rajapaksa said that the members of the working class worked harder and effectively tackled the challenge facing the country.

The President said that the working masses, irrespective of racial, religious and other petty differences should show more commitment to the country. He stressed that the government led by him adopted a policy of not recognising such differences in its effort to achieve freedom for the country . The President said that the United National Party should apologize for depriving the Tamil community of its rights in the Jaffna district by carrying out the infamous vote rigging at the District Development Council election in Jaffna and for the destruction of the Jaffna Library before they hold a May Day rally in Jaffna .

“I was delighted on hearing the news that the UNP was organizing its Rally in Jaffna after the government wiped out terrorism from the country, he said.

He said that the UNP leaders are having boat rides and visiting places where they have never been to in Jaffna after the Security Forces eradicated terrorism from the area.

President Rajapaksa added that those who left for Jaffna can see how the area has been developed by the government, if they are free of petty political objectives.

‘Every stride UNP leaders make in Jaffna will remind them of the importance of the government and they will themselves see how the area has been developed by the government. I wish they will understand the importance of freedom won by the country when they move freely in the Jaffna peninusular, he added.

President Rajapaksa said that the government increased the workforce in the government sector and one in every ten persons is a government servant at present.

He stressed that the government did not adopt a policy of privatizing state ventures to fill the state coffers. The President recollected how the state workforce was dwindling during the UNP regime as they adopted a policy of not recruiting personnel for state sector.

“We have ensured a better future for the members of the working community. The President said that the government faced the looming food crisis by initiating a number of programmes to grow food crops locally and these programmes have borne fruit. He said that the people themselves can feel how their village, town and cities and the country at large are being developed.

The President said that the government has placed enormous confidence in the working masses and has built up a stable economy in the country , he said.

Certain persons who identify themselves as economists have been saying that the government would collapse in April since 2005. But the government was strengthened more and more every April, the President said. The President said that the economy gained more vigour by focusing on production of food crops locally and creating more and more employment ventures for youth every year.