New Delhi: A day after his swearing-in ceremony, Srilankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in an exclusive conversation with ETV Bharat said that the island nation needs a new constitution that fulfils aspirations of the people of the nation and not of ‘external players’. Rajapaksa who won a landslide victory in the parliamentary polls last week held amid COVID-19 pandemic was sworn in by his younger brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at a ceremony held in the Kelaniya Buddhist Temple in Colombo on Sunday.
Nine months after Gotabaya won the Presidential elections in November 2019 with nearly 52 per cent votes, Incumbent Mahinda who contested as the Prime Ministerial candidate of ruling SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP) from the north-western district of Kurunegala, recorded a thumping win with 145 parliamentary seats. This is five seats short of the 150 mark required in the 225 member parliament to repeal or modify the 19th Amendment of Constitution, a key manifesto promise.
In response to a query by Senior Journalist Smita Sharma, if the revocation of 19th Amendment is now easier with the seat tally, Mahinda Rajapaksa said, “The 19th Amendment made it almost impossible for the government to function smoothly and productively. That is one of the key reasons that the Sri Lankan people overwhelmingly rejected the previous administration at the election.”
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The 19th Constitutional Amendment was enacted in 2015 when Mahinda lost elections after a ten-year rule and Maithrapali Sirisena became the President with Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM in the UNP (United National Party) government. The amendment curtailed Presidential powers and distributed them more evenly with the Prime Minister and parliament to move towards a parliamentary form of governance eventually, as stated by the ‘reformist government’.
However, in his exclusive remarks, PM Rajapaksa criticised the Amendment alleging that it was serving ‘external players’. “What Sri Lanka needs is a new constitution that suits the country and the true aspirations of the people, not to fulfil the aspirations of external players. We hope to do this after intensive dialogue with many sectors of society,” said PM Rajapaksa.
Sirisena and Wickremesinghe have been humiliated in these polls with just 3 per cent of the vote share and Sajith Premadasa of SJB (Samagi Jana Balawegaya) who broke away from the UNP has emerged as the Chief Opposition with 54 seats. However, sceptics are unsure if Mahinda would like to ensure the transfer of power back to the Presidency controlled by Gotabaya or if this could lead to a tussle between the two brothers thereby destabilising the regime.
Asked about the fate of the Eastern Container Terminal (ECT) Project at the strategic Colombo Port and Indian and Japanese partnership to build it, PM Rajapaksa refused to comment saying it is ‘bit premature’ to talk about it with the cabinet yet to take shape.
Read:| Mahinda Rajapaksa takes oath as Sri Lanka Prime Ministe
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