The Jathika Hela Urumaya today stated that the present situation is such that there is no opposition to talk about certain issues affecting the country and that an opposition has formed within the ruling government itself.
President of JHU, Ven Athuraliye Rathana thero stated that his party has no need to join the opposition as they are the opposition now.
No matter which government is engaged in wrongdoings the JHU is in the opposition, he said, adding, “We don’t need to sit behind Ranil Wickramasinghe’s opposition”.
He also launched a scathing attack on the government, referring to a recent statement by Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Sarath Amunugama, published in a newspaper, that the illicit liquor (Kasippu) producing trades within the country should registered so that they can be taxed.
The JHU MP pointed out that Dr. Sarath Amunugama is considered by many in parliament as a respectable and intelligent person and that the problem was that a person like him had made these comments.
“We have no problems with him making this statement as the Deputy Finance Minister. Because the entire country knows that his post as Deputy Finance Minister is only a cardboard post,” he said.
The venerable thero alleged that the real Deputy Minister of the country’s Finance Ministry is P.B. Jayasundara, who he claims has the power to change ministers and take decisions and that the rest are only members of the audience.
He stated that the country’s Finance Ministry is completely controlled by P.B. Jayasundara and few other individuals.
Rathana thero inquired whether Dr. Amunugama’s opinion reflects the Finance Minister President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s stance, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapksa’s intention and “Finance Minister” P.B. Jayasundara’s intention.
He stated that the country’s expectation from President Rajapaksa, of electing a national leader who respects the country’s virtue, ethics and national policy, has now become an “illusion” or a “dream.”
He stated that a policy to earn money though issuing licenses to illicit liquor brewers in the villages and legalizing the trade is an act against Buddhism, which has been given the foremost place in the constitution.
