Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said that violence is not in their politics, and the government accepted this challenge by committing to a non-violent political victory. He made these comments during the programme for the distribution of incubators with the view of strengthening the rural economy and uplifting small-scale poultry farm owners, held on 07.04.2024 at Mavittara, Piliyandala, at Wilfred Senanayake Stadium, Homagama.
“One and a half years ago, the people of the whole country were very courageous in the face of the economic crisis. We have never thought that the country could face such a crisis in our lifetime. We had heard that our elders faced such a situation during the Second World War. At that time, our peasants faced the crisis of food production by adding existing estates into food production.
After World War II, we heard a lot about Korea. The bombing of Korea continued even after the end of World War II. Then, Korea was divided into two countries, as North and South. But the Korean people gave priority to rural food production and not only enriched their country with food but also became a country that produced a surplus. By adding new knowledge, Korea became one of the developed industrialized countries. Since Korea was able to transform itself into a country with a surplus of foreign exchange, they have the strength to successfully face international economic crisis.
A programme was launched to reduce the income gap in the villages so that all the low income earners could have the opportunities to gain a good income level. Also, they paid attention to not only the development of those villages, but also the progress of the new generation by focusing on information technology, digital system, and industrial development and due to their surplus, they are still supporting countries like us. Still providing loan facilities and providing assistance. As a result, our country received these incubators. This programme is implemented across the country in every electorate in Sri Lanka.
In the economic crisis that we have faced, we should all join hands for the first time without looking at political differences, as we need to protect the people of our country and build the country forward. Violence is not in our politics. Only by winning the politics of non-violence, the human society can be transformed into a development that gives it the ability to live in a peaceful state. The government accepted this challenge by committing to it. President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Cabinet of Ministers worked together to prove that and motivated the government employees and restored the country to Democratic politics based on non-violence.
Many people said in many perspectives that it cannot be done. But all those campaigns failed. So far we have established economic stability as well as the stability of law in the country. If the period in which the violence prevailed for a week was allowed to pass for months, what could have been the scale of that violence? By renegotiating with the global community, we can deal with them and open new avenues to add new investments to development, so the country can move forward.”
A group including Minister Bandula Gunawardena, Former Minister Gamini Lokuge, MP Yadamini Gunawardena, Colombo District Secretary K. G. Wijesiri, Kesbewa Divisional Secretary K. P. Premadasa, and Homagama Divisional Secretary B. A. D. Chinthaka participated in this event.
Prime Minister’s Media