Industries Minister Sunil Handunetti dismissed attempts to create protest movements against the present government, asserting that such initiatives must come from the people, not politicians.
“There will be no ‘AnuraGoGama’. If the people want to they can go ahead but it will not come from politicians. If the people say it’s time to leave, not even comrade Anura would stay a second longer. We are not here out of personal ambition,” Handunnetti said during a talk show on ITN.
He emphasised that the mandate of the current government was not to shield those accused of looting public wealth, but to bring them before the law.
“If we fail to prosecute the corrupt, then we deserve to be challenged. If people say we didn’t act against drug traffickers, the underworld, or economic mismanagement, then their criticism would be valid,” he added.
Responding to reports of a protest site being attempted in Pelawatte, allegedly over delayed payments to sugarcane farmers from the Sevanagala area, Handunnetti dismissed it as politically motivated.
“Protests must come from the people, not be manufactured. Trying to start another village like Gotagogama because of a two-month payment delay is not a genuine people’s uprising but political theatre,” he said.
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