The United National Party today requested the Government to do away with “nightly carnivals” and heed the request made by the Mahanayakes to cancel ‘Night Races’ scheduled to be held in Kandy, while terming them as “wasteful tamashas”.
The Rajapaksa regime that has been governing through a constant flow of ‘media carnivals’ is poised to stage another spectacle in the coming weekend in Kandy, the ancient citadel of Ceylon, Chairman of the UNP Leadership Council Karu Jayasuriya said.
“A massive and obscene exhibition of racing cars and motorbikes is being planned with their notorious efficiency which is woefully manifest in such wasteful tamashas but not in the day-to-day administration of the country’s burning issues,” the Gampaha District MP said in a statement.
He stated that objections and protests have already been raised by the denizens of Kandy, including the religious dignitaries in the Hill Capital.
In a joint communique, the Mahanayakes of the three Nikayas have opposed the holding of nightly car races scheduled for June 27th and 28th.
“The rulers, in this instance, should have paid more than cursory heed to the request made by the Mahanayakes,” he said, adding that “scant respect and attention” have been paid to the request of the Maha Sangha.
Jayasuriya says that the most unfortunate feature of all this is the fact that there accrues neither economic benefit to the country nor any advantage in the field of sports by holding these nightly car races in a serene city such as Kandy.
“Their personal glory and stupid arrogance have overtaken sane thinking and prudent decision-making. No lover of the country could justify the enormous amount of country’s resources squandered on events such as this.”
The United National Party most steadfastly request the Government to do away with this nightly carnivals and heed the request made by the Mahanayakes, he said.
“If the rulers are what they profess to be, Sinhalese Buddhist patriots and guardians of our cultural values, then they should not hesitate to cancel this maddening exhibition of obscenity and arrogance,” Jayasuriya said.
