10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Vijitha Herath

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Gampaha· 22 February 2025 ·Debate: Appropriation Bill 2025 - Second Reading Debate (Fifth Allotted Day)

Public Finance
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Hon. Vijitha Herath characterized the Budget as a pro-people measure aligned with national reconciliation and based on the public mandate. He argued that the Government is undertaking a long-term programme with public support and stated that criticism would not deter its implementation.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Okay, Sir.

¶ 02 Through the measures taken to build national reconciliation, the Budget we have presented is, in the fullest sense, a pro-people Budget.

¶ 03 This is not dogma or mere argument. What is here is clearly populism; this is populism. Each one can label it as they wish. However, this is a pro-people Budget. That is to say, we have presented a Budget based on the people’s will. With the people’s mandate and blessings of this country, we are setting out on a long-term journey. No amount of barking can stop it; we will steadily move forward and no one can halt it. Accordingly, we are embarking on a strong journey, and with that I conclude. Thank you very much.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Saturday, 22 February 2025 ·No. 1741001658041256 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Vijitha Herath. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 22 February 2025. No. 1741001658041256. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/24996