6 September 2020 05:01 pm
As United National Party stepped into its 75th year today, the party’s Deputy General Secretary Ruwan Wijewardene urged all party members to come together for the struggle to safeguard the party and its identity for another one hundred years.
Mr. Wijewardene said this in a statement which he issued on the occasion of UNP’s 74th anniversary which was celebrated today at party headquarters Sirikotha.
“We have to stand up amidst destruction and defeat. It is obvious that one could meet a precipice once he or she reaches the top of a mountain. We fall into a precipice if we are too weak to stay on top of the mountain. We have suffered such a fate today. It is essential that the party should understand its errors and come up once again. It is also essential to unite all sections within the party and walk towards victory. This should be done to safeguard the county’s democracy, for the sake of the working class, for the people whose minds are distorted by gimmicks. However, people will embrace reality soon. We should be ready for the final battle as that happens. Time has come for us to get together,” Mr. Wijewardene said in his statement.
“The pro-people programmes which UNP has undertaken in the past should not be confined into a document. Its journey which continues amidst conspiracies and obstacles will not end. We have been forced to light the torches of expectation in a situation when there is an administration which suppresses the rights of the people which we won for them,” he added.
Mr. Wijewardene recalled that the UNP was able to introduce programmes such as Enterprise Sri Lanka, Suwaseriya, Gam Peraliya, Langama Pasala Hondama Pasala and was able to reduce the prices of 50 medicines, “These were achieved amidst many challenges. The party was able to achieve these amidst the challenges such as snatching of the government and forming an illegal 52-day regime in 2018,” he said in this regard.(Yohan Perera)