majority expectations are still with us: MR

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa  and other leaders,  greet the crowd
PIC BY WARUNA WANIARACHI

• Claims Western imperialist forces and NGOs teamed up against his party because it pursued a homegrown path
• Past trade union leaders never held people hostage to win over their demands.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his May Day address, said the Western imperialist forces and the NGOs teamed up against his party because it pursued a homegrown path based on nationalist thinking.

Rajapaksa who is also a former president said it is blatantly obvious today who led the Galle Face Aragalaya. He took an indirect swipe at the JVP and said it was a party that always counted on anti-democratic, violent methods to come to power unsuccessfully.   

The former president who commended the workers’ struggle said the past trade union leaders never held people hostage to win over their demands. Having named a few such leaders in the past, he said some politically affiliated trade unions had boycotted the scrutinizing of the answer scripts of the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination leaving students in the lurch.  Asserting that such actions had affected the future of children, he said it is not worth to win over trade union rights in this fashion.   

“The past trade union leaders never acted like that.  Today, even the G.C.E. Ordinary Level Examination has been postponed.  What is the use of winning over trade union rights by inconveniencing innocent children and endangering their future?” he asked.   

He asked the trade unions working with his party not to fall for some trade unions acting with narrow political ends.