Former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga praised the history of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in a statement this week, where she urged party members to “think wisely” before voting in the upcoming election.
Kumaratunga, who is accused of overseeing the bombing of schools and churches during her tenure as president, slammed the current Sri Lankan president for allowing the party to back Gotabaya Rajapaksa in next month’s presidential election.
She stated Sirisena had “betrayed the party to the conspiracists” in a statement and went on to laud the achievements of the SLFP.
"Our beloved party is a political party with a proud history of 68 years,” she claimed. “Not because we were the most powerful party in the country after independence, but because it is the political party that has led the liberation of the rightful heirs of the motherland tied by the chains and shackles of the pro-imperialist regimes."
She went on to claim,
“During the 54 years that our party was under the control of the Bandaranaikes, there were no murders.”
In fact, under S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sri Lanka passed the Sinhala Only Act in 1956 and saw numerous pogroms which killed thousands of Tamils. Under Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the 1971 JVP insurrection also led to thousands of deaths.
"As I took the lead in 1994 to win the most victorious victory of the party surviving all the harassment we have endured for 17 years I boldly declare that I am sacrificing my life to save the party supporting you in your isolationist struggle to defend our party at this critical juncture," Kumaratunga concluded.
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