Hon. Chamal Sampath Dissanayake

¶ 01 We have 6.58 million votes on our side. In the next election, that will be split a bit. If the UNP and Samagi join together, how many votes would they have? Sajith had 4.48 million, Ranil 2.28 million — 6.68 million if combined. We are not joining that side. Even if we do not unite, those people will. So do not act out of hatred. Stop the hate. I told the Leader of the House: these are good, popular decisions. Do them. These are promises given at election time — fine, fulfill them. But, Minister Sunil Handunnetti, when doing these, we must think twice. People didn’t vote for Mahinda Rajapaksa — or rather, they rejected Mahinda Rajapaksa — yes. But remember, among the Sinhala Buddhists there remains respect and love for the character of Mahinda Rajapaksa — whether in Deniyaya, Matara, or elsewhere. So act with a proper understanding of that.

¶ 02 I told the Leader of the House: by all means take popular decisions, but also consider how people will react if they go wrong. We know our Sinhala people — when they turn, how do they turn? How was Gotabaya brought in? He was hoisted up with 6.9 million votes. Now someone over there says the next President won’t come from here but from there. Gotabaya came and became President within three months. Do not make idle speculations. You cannot say now where the next President is, in which world, or which country. All right, all right, give it a rest. What if my friend Samantha Vidyaratna becomes that? It could happen. Can interruptions stop it? That could happen too. We have swallowed, drunk, and absorbed politics well — Wategala and the others know. We are people who made Presidents and unmade governments. Anura Kumara was sitting here on counting day. Over there they counted Ranil’s votes. When he came out, President Anura Kumara told me, “You were right; your game was right,” and left from here. We are people who build governments — and we know well. So act prudently. The government party can take decisions — they will look nice — but if it goes wrong, next time no one will be there for this government. Understand that well.

¶ 03 Look at what happened in Nepal today. In any political party, burning someone’s house or killing leaders is not right. I hold no such hostile politics. What we say is this: when you do these things, be ready to face the consequences that follow; govern accordingly.

¶ 04 Thank you.