The government’s actions in the past four years have pushed the Tamil people into the racist ideology that they need a separate government instead of accepting the present one as their own, the JVP stated.

Speaking at a press conference today (September 5), JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that Prabhakaran was able to recruit suicide bombers and amass such a strong force by spreading the ideology that the government in Colombo should be replaced by a Tamil one. Dissanayake claimed that at that time there were those who accepted this ideology and there were those that did not.

However, he added that the government’s actions in the past four years had pushed Tamils towards sharing a similar ideology.

The MP pointed out that the people have realized that to get anything from the government, they have to go to the UN or western countries. He claimed that the government took the police service out of the purview of the Ministry of Denfence, despite the JVP calling for it previously, only with the visit of the UN Human Rights Commissioner. The demilitarization of the North is another example that he cited.

He further stated that the people of the North believe that the elections are a direct result of pressure on the government from India. Dissanayake believes that the people have begun to think that foreign powers need to intervene if this government is to give them what they ask for.

He added that the government has pushed the people towards racist party politics as well.

The MP also spoke about the TNA election manifesto which he claimed was aiming at a separatist agenda through its clear attempt to segregate the Tamil community from the others in the country and suggesting that the Northern and Eastern Provinces should be merged.

Speaking to the Tamil community of the country, he stated that this was not the answer to their problems.

MP Dissanayake added that it was important to establish that all races living in Sri Lanka, namely Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim, should have the same rights throughout the whole country regardless of whether their people originated from another country, came to the country as merchants or by way of invasion.