{"id":107830,"date":"2020-10-22T07:03:36","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T14:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=107830"},"modified":"2020-10-22T07:03:36","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T14:03:36","slug":"dual-citizenship-and-amendments-to-the-constitution-an-open-letter-to-all-parliamentarians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/10\/22\/dual-citizenship-and-amendments-to-the-constitution-an-open-letter-to-all-parliamentarians\/","title":{"rendered":"Dual Citizenship and Amendments to the Constitution \u2013 An Open Letter to all Parliamentarians"},"content":{"rendered":"

from\u00a0The Sri Lanka Study Circle\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

 Dear Parliamentarians, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We urge you to refrain from voting for any Amendment\nto the Constitution that would permit foreign citizens to enter Sri Lanka\u2019s\nParliament and hold political office. This is the newest tactic being used by\nthe former Colonial Powers to re-colonise our Country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you vote in favour of the Amendment this is\nprobably the last Sri Lankan Parliament you would be in because thereafter the\n\u2018foreigners\u2019 with their money-power and with the backing of the Colonial powers\nwill be taking over the leadership of the Parties and they will nominate their\nfriends and relations living outside the country, as candidates for future\nelections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You would be considered \u2018not posh\u2019 and therefore not\neligible candidates to be in Parliament. You and your children will never get\nan opportunity to do politics at National level; you would be relegated to the\nlocal councils. The S W R D Bandaranaike era of the common man will be gone\nforever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that what you want?   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stand up, bold and strong, and say NO to any such\nAmendment. This is Sri Lanka. This is our country. Prevent the country being\nre-colonised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Party leadership may threaten you with Party\ndiscipline to throw you out of the Party; they cannot do so. Why? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Bringing Amendments to the\nConstitution was not in Gotabaya\u2019s Election Manifesto. If he says it is there,\nask him to show it to you; it would mean he is not telling the truth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If he is unable to show it to you, it means that it\nwas not in the Manifesto and that the people did not give him a mandate to make\nAmendments to the Constitution. It means that the 2\/3rd<\/sup>majority in\nParliament, which is what you represent, is being misused by him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell him not to go on that path because that is\nagainst the People and the Party. If he does not heed you, then it is time to\nremove him from your Party, so that you continue to have the people\u2019s support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By saying NO, you are also standing up to the\nAmericans and to Pompeo who is coming here immediately after the vote to gloat\nover the results <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be bold and strong. The people are with you, the Maha\nSangha are with you. The country has to be saved and you are our frontline\nsoldiers. May you and your families be blessed. May the Blessings of the Triple\nGem be with you all. Jayawewa! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from\u00a0The Sri Lanka Study Circle\u00a0  Dear Parliamentarians,  We urge you to refrain from voting for any Amendment to the Constitution that would permit foreign citizens to enter Sri Lanka\u2019s Parliament and hold political office. This is the newest tactic being used by the former Colonial Powers to re-colonise our Country.  If you vote in favour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sri-lanka-study-circle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107830\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}