MR to lead ‘Jana Satana Paada Yathrawa’ next week

By Chamodi Gunawardana

The Joint Opposition yesterday said that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa would lead the ‘Jana Satana Paada Yathrawa’ next week. 

The Opposition claims that it will be the largest protest march organised so far and will be staged on 28 July.

Joint Opposition Leader Dinesh Gunawardena told the media that the march would start in front of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy at around 9.30 am with the participation of 17 registered political parties, civil society groups, professional bodies, religious organisations and trade unions. 

“This will be the biggest gathering against the Government but it will be a peaceful and weaponless march,” he said.

Gunawardena outlined that the ‘Jana Satana Paada Yathrawa’ is being organised to raise Opposition resistance against the Government’s moves to postpone Local Government polls, increase the tax burden, curtail fertiliser subsidies, sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Economic and Technology Cooperative Agreement (ETCA) and arrest politicians of the former Government.

Representing the organising committee, Mahindananda Aluthgamage stated that the ‘Jana Satana Paada Yathrawa’ would travel through Mawanella, Nelumdeniya, Nittambuwa and Kiribathgoda towns on its first two days. He said that it was supposed to reach Colombo at around 3.00 p.m. on 1 August. 

“Within this week all 51 MPs of the Joint Opposition will conduct 2,000 pocket meetings in rural areas to tell people about the march,” he noted.

In response to questions about where the ‘Jana Satana Paada Yathrawa’ would end in Colombo, Parliamentarian Dallas Alahapperuma said that this would be revealed later to prevent the Government from stopping it.

“If we reveal the exact place that we are planning to conduct the final meeting the conspiracy groups of the Government will definitely destroy our plan,” he claimed. 

When reporters asked him if the arrest of former minister Basil Rajapaksa would have an impact on the ‘Jana Satana Paada Yathrawa’, Alahapperuma said that the Joint Opposition would not be discouraged by this development.