The United National Party today accused the government of following in the footsteps of Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler, by amending laws in the country to cover up its defeats and to suppress the people’s right to protest.

Recently the government has secretly approved amendments to the Local Government Act, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said.

He stated that the reason the government is suddenly amending all local government bills is due to the recent budget defeats it suffered in the many local government bodies it controls.

Twenty-five local government budget proposals presented by the UPFA government were defeated recently while 15 of them were defeated for the second time, Attanayake said.

The government has now obtained Cabinet approval to amend the Local Government Act in order to cover up these budget defeats, he claimed. “Has the government no shame?”

When those within the government itself are taking an anti-government stance by defeating their respective budget proposals, the government is attempting to cover up this defeat by amending existing laws, he said.

Attanayake said the government cannot stop its disasters and defeats with such actions, which he termed as similar to “Hitler’s mafia system.”

“Hitler did the same thing. He showed democracy and came into power and then slowly one by one he not only destroyed the basic principles of democracy but also destroyed the parliament before following a dictatorial path in the end,” the UNP General Secretary said, adding, that the Rajapksa regime is doing the same thing.  

The UPFA government is amending laws to hide its defeats, he said. “Can you stop the people’s objection by changing laws? The government is now preparing to suppress that as well,” Attanayake claimed.

He alleged that in order to stop protests by the public in the recent past the government, by implementing the powers vested in the President under the Public Safety Act, gave police powers to the Army, Navy and Air Force.

He inquired what was the urgency to provide police powers to the tri-forces at a time when a terrorism threat no longer exists in the country.

The government itself says there is no threat of terrorism or trouble in the country, he reminded.

The gazette notification providing police powers to the armed forces was issued by the government on July 03, 2013 for the sole purpose of stopping the protests by people, he said.

“The Rathupaswala incident is the best example of this,” Attanayake said.