translated by : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

Given below is the translation of a speech made by the leader of the Pivithura Hela Urumaya Attorney at Law Parliamentarian Udaya Gammanpila at a media conference of the Joint Opposition held at the N.M.Perera Centre in Colombo.

The nomination storm has ended.  Wards are limited.  Applications received are enormous and unlimited.  Therefore the contest is very serious.  Previously we used to put all the applications to the list and got the selection work done peacefully.  This time when we select the candidate of a one party to a woard we are compelled to reject the candidates of the other parties.  Therefore there is no one who has not got hurt.  Our Alliance has twenty parties.  It is the most powerful Alliance. None of the parties in our Alliance got all the candidates they requested.  Therefore there have been many misunderstandings.

When the three parties in the government Green, Blue and Red political parties go after the candidates pleading for them to contest under their respective parties the massive requests received for an opportunity to contest from our Alliance we see it itself as a premonition of our imminent mammoth victory.  We know that it is to the flower which contains fragrance the bees get attracted.  The acute contest and enthusiasm that was displayed for the candidateship from the flower bud symbol gave the message that the whole country has got stirred by the fragrance of the flower bud and has got attracted to it.

During the last three years when the people were grumbling about the increased taxes the housewives went to their houses complaining that food prices are high.  The life patterns of the people have shattered because of frequent strikes.  When the patriots regret about the witch hunt against the war heroes who liberated our country the so-called erudites supportive of the government speak about dividing the country into nine pieces and bringing in a federal constitution which could turn the country intoa pool of blood.  The patriots also grumble about the sale of national assets to foreigners.

They beseech help from Gods.  The government cannot be made to understand your predicament by keeping on criticising the government at the junctions, at worksites, inside the houses, in the buses and trains, and other places. Yet the government leaders have not the wisdom of reading the minds of the people.  Therefore the best mode of communication to make the President, the Prime Minister and the other leaders in this government to understand your anger, your regret and your calamity is to cast your vote for the flower bud symbol.

Why we ask for you to cast your vote to the flower bud symbol?  The government comes for this election divided into three pieces.  It is the swan gang that comes in green elephants, Blue hand and Red bell.  All these three groups are partners of the current crisis.  They contributed to establish and sustain this government, when there was a crisis in the government they contributed to protect and safeguard it.  Therefore these three groups are part and parcel of the government.  Those who claim that this government is good they have three alternative groups to vote, vote to the elephant, vote to the hand, or to vote for the bell.  Bur the only alternative for the people who thinks that this government is going on a wrong path has the option only to vote for the flower bud symbol.

Similarly there is a message for the UNP supporters as well.  We know that they voted for Swan on January 8^th anticipating a change. Now they cannot go on the roads. When the UNPers go on the roads others ask them whether you are happy Now? They ask whether the change is Healthy? When they take their lunch packets to their offices and work places they find their lunch packets have been put aside and Croton leaves kept in their places.  These people are facing much inconvenience today because they helped to form this government.  It is they who have felt and suffered more than us.

The UNPers want to give a message to their own government that they struggled in the opposition for over 20 years and formed a government not to misbehave like this and get deteriorated, and it was not this route they anticipated.  Therefore the vote of the UNPers who want to give a red light to the government saying that they are going on the wrong path and not on the path they anticipated, and of the UNPers who thinks futuristically will also cast their vote for the flower bud symbol in this election.