Interview/ Namal Rajapaksa, presidential candidate, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
Clad in a white dhoti and a maroon shirt, the trademark red-brown scarf draped around his neck, Namal Rajapaksa enters the Sri Lanka Foundation building near the Independence Square in Colombo. He appears confident, despite the fact that he is fighting a losing battle in the presidential election. He has come to attend the signing of an agreement between the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to support him. After the signing ceremony, he spoke exclusively with THE WEEK, explaining the reasons behind his decision to contest, despite the loss of popular support for the SLPP. Excerpts from the interview:
Q/ Why did you decide to contest? Earlier it was said that the billionaire businessman Dhammika Perera would be your candidate.
A/ My party wanted me to contest. I believe that I made the right decision, because we believe in the Sri Lankan model of development and that our ideology should be protected. The policies of most other parties are different from ours. We had decided to field another candidate. Unfortunately, he could not continue. Then the party thought that I would be the best choice.
Q/ Didn’t you take up the challenge to keep your flock together?
A/ Yes. The party decided to field me so that I can keep our grassroot workers together. I believe the young generation should take up the responsibility when there is a crisis, not when the ship is sailing fine.
Q/ The SLPP was among the parties with a strong membership base. That seems to have been lost.
A/ At the grassroots level, we are still the strongest party. We are the only party that preaches and practises the ideology that we represent. People still have trust in us.
Q/ During the 2022 uprising, people were completely against your family.
A/ I am the new generation Rajapaksa who has learnt a hard lesson from the past. Our policies remain the same, but the approach will be modern. It doesn’t matter that things had gone wrong earlier for my family. I want to correct those mistakes and move forward.
Q/ A part of the SLPP is with Ranil Wickremesinghe and another one is with Sajith Premadasa.
A/ My party is the most stable and the strongest political party in the country at this moment. Most of these coalitions that have been created for the election will not last long. So if a young voter is looking at a long-term vision, the SLPP is the best.
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Q/ What are your promises to the youth of Sri Lanka?
A/ We will transform and modernise Sri Lanka. We will protect our culture. We will always ensure that we stick to our core values, but we will modernise. I want to ensure that Sri Lanka will be the modern hub of Asia.
Q/ How do you look at the IMF bailout package?
A/ There are good things in the IMF package. We need a fiscal policy that can save the country for the next 15 to 20 years. We need to rework our budget, increase revenue and cut down expenditure. We cannot burden the public with more taxes. We will go for more investors. We will work closely with India.
Q/ How do you expect India to engage with you?
A/ We will continue to work with India. A stable and progressive Sri Lanka is good for India. We want to strengthen our cultural and economic ties with India. Sri Lanka is a Buddhist nation and Prime Minister Modi believes in Hinduism. We have a lot of similarities. Ramayana is one of the key factors that connects India and Sri Lanka. So in the years to come I believe that there will be a very strong bilateral relationship between India and Sri Lanka.