Convener of the Eliya Organisation, Ven. Medagoda Abhayatissa Thera, says the new constitution that the government is seeking to introduce is designed to “meet the aspirations of separatists and to pander to certain chauvinistic forces” and will result in destabilizing the entire system of government in this country. 

Issuing a statement today (7), he said that the 2018 Local Government election is by no means an ordinary local government election and has wider ramifications than electing village level functionaries to keep the streets and drains clean and the roads lit. 

“This will be an election at which the people will deliver their verdict on the performance of the present government over the past three years.”

The conduct of this government over the past three years has had a negative impact on this country in every sphere, he charged.

“It is the present government that bears the responsibility for the weak state of our economy, the rapid increase in taxes, the sale of national assets to foreign parties, the jailing and harassment of our war heroes who delivered the nation from terrorism, and the insults that have been heaped upon the Venerable Maha Sangha and our cultural heritage over the past three years.”

He claims that the one of the main objectives of the current government is to introduce a federal constitution and to dismantle the unitary state in Sri Lanka. 

The constitutional reform project has been pushed into the sidelines temporarily due to the local government elections, he said. “The new constitution that the government is seeking to introduce into this country is designed to meet the aspirations of separatists and to pander to certain chauvinistic forces and will result in destabilizing the entire system of government in this country.”