Namal Rajapaksa attacks the rice loan relief scheme, saying the government has failed to answer Sri Lanka’s real cost-of-living crisis.
Namal Rajapaksa has accused the government of offering rice loan relief while failing to address the deeper economic problems hurting ordinary Sri Lankans.
The SLPP National Organizer and Member of Parliament made the remarks while addressing a public meeting in the Puttalam area.
He strongly criticized the government’s rice distribution programme, saying the maximum relief the current administration can provide is 20 kilograms of rice on credit to state employees.
He described the programme as a laughing matter and warned that people could ultimately be punished if they fail to repay the loan amount.
“If they don’t pay the loan amount for this rice, what will happen in the end is that they will come and take away the rice pots from people’s homes. But these people are well practiced in breaking into homes and taking away rice pots,” he said.
Rajapaksa said the government came to power after making grand promises, but has now reached a point where even state employees have been turned into debtors.
He claimed the current administration has failed to provide answers to the country’s real problems.
“This is a government that came to power by telling unlimited lies. Not only did they come to power by lying, but they have also become a government that lies while in power. We saw the other day when the President came to Parliament. We expected the President to speak about reducing the cost of living, about the farmers’ fertilizer issue, about paddy prices, about how to face the economic crisis with factories closing. No, the President came to Parliament and did the job of the Police Media Spokesperson. The Police Media Spokesperson must be thinking right now what he’s going to say at the press conference. Never mind. When the government can’t work, what does the government do? It suppresses people to hide its incompetence.
No one says don’t conduct investigations; they should be done. They should investigate the coal ship, the substandard coal that was imported. They should investigate why oil was bought at the highest price in the world. They should investigate why rice was imported from abroad when the farmer’s paddy is being harvested. They should investigate the 323 containers that were pushed out of the port. They should investigate all of that. But while investigating those, they must also provide answers to the people’s problems. What is the government’s plan? What is the government’s plan to bring the people’s cost of living to a bearable level? Because of your substandard coal and expensive oil, electricity bills keep increasing. Petrol and diesel prices keep increasing. The people can’t bear it. Food prices keep rising, essential commodity prices keep rising. But the government doesn’t intervene to provide relief for any of this. The maximum relief they can give is to give 20 kilograms of rice on credit to government employees. If they don’t pay back the loan, they’ll have to take away the rice pot. But these people are well practiced in breaking into homes and taking away rice pots. When we were young, the elders know, that’s where they jump to. They came promising a car for 12 lakhs. They came promising a developed country, a prosperous country. Now in the end, they’re trying to ruin the innocent mother and father’s rice pot in the village. This is their politics—no plan, no program.”
Rajapaksa also accused the government of attempting to create disharmony among communities and claimed that the President and the administration are trying to divide and rule the people.
He alleged that intelligence services and national security are being weakened while factories close and jobs disappear.
“On one hand, they are trying to create disharmony between communities in this country. The President and the government are systematically trying to divide and rule the people. They are weakening intelligence services, weakening national security. Factories are closing, jobs are being lost. What is the alternative to the jobs being lost? What are the government’s plans to generate new employment?
With the current fuel prices, fishermen cannot go out, catch fish and make it work, and the fishing community knows that. But what is the government’s alternative? Will they give a concession for the fishermen’s fuel? We expected the President to come to Parliament and speak about the problems of the fisheries, about the farmers’ protests happening all over the country, and that the President would have a plan to give relief to the fishermen’s fuel. No. The government has no concern for those issues.
Now, the A-Level students are under immense mental stress because their exams were brought forward. The A-Level students, their parents, and the youth know that. What is the government doing about this? What is the government’s plan? Will they intervene, will they listen? Today, there is no one to listen to the people’s problems. No one to listen.
The A-Level students are under mental stress because of their exam dates. Who in the Education Ministry is listening to this?”
He also criticized the government’s dengue response, saying action was delayed until patient numbers rose sharply.
“I saw in recent days they were cleaning around the President’s Secretariat, the President’s House, and the Beira Lake because of dengue. They waited until dengue patients reached 50,000 to clean it. They waited until 50,000 dengue patients to clean it. The President’s Secretariat couldn’t clean its own office. They remembered only after 50,000 dengue patients. Today, hospitals are overflowing with dengue patients.
When you talk to some local councils under the JVP, they say at least ten patients are needed to fumigate. What is the responsibility of a local council and the government? To reduce the number of patients. If they know there is even one patient, they should protect the other children. No, they wait until ten more people get sick to go and clean. Imagine if the COVID pandemic had come while these people were in power.”
Rajapaksa said the problem is not only incompetence, but also a lack of will.
He alleged that when medical students, doctors, fishermen and farmers raise issues, the government responds by attacking them.
“Today, it’s not just their incompetence, but they have no desire. There is no need for this. There is a problem with medical students, the government doesn’t intervene. When the government intervenes in doctors’ issues, when they are asked, what do they say? “Doctors are thieves.” When fishermen raise their issues, they say, “Those are thieves, not fishermen.” When farmers raise their issues, they say, “Those are illicit liquor brewers.” They are systematically attacking the venerable Maha Sangha. The government is trying to distance the people from religion. There is a systematic effort to distance the younger generation from religion.
In this process, even if the entire society, country, nation, and religion are destroyed, it doesn’t matter, they are trying to rule by force. That’s why they say, “We won’t go for twenty years, we won’t go for fifty years.” But they don’t do anything even for this year.
“The hope is to stay for twenty years, the hope is to stay for thirty years. But they don’t do any work for this year. That’s why we tell the government, even now, you’ve been in power for nearly two years. Do something now. Something. Do some work. Come to the villages.”
He said the younger generation has hopes for the future, while village parents want to give their children a good education and build lives connected to technology, business and entrepreneurship.
However, Rajapaksa claimed the economy has deteriorated to the point where parents are struggling even to educate their children.
“The younger generation of this country has an understanding and hope for the future world. The mothers and fathers in these villages want to give their children a good education. To build a society integrated with technology. You want to make your children businessmen and entrepreneurs. Today, let alone making your child a businessman or entrepreneur, the economy has reached a point where you can’t even afford to educate your child.
Factories are closing, and those factories are being moved to other countries. These villages have coconut-based industries. During Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government, exports increased to nearly a billion dollars. Today, the government has been unable to take it further. An unlimited tax burden—people can’t bear it. What is the government’s alternative day by day? They go to the IMF, they tell our problems, they say the people are in great difficulty, and when they come back, they increase taxes. They come back and increase taxes.
What does the government mean by showing state revenue? They are increasing taxes day by day.”
He further accused the government of failing to help families affected by economic hardship and recent disasters.
“On the other hand, the government does not intervene to provide relief to the people facing economic hardship. More than 35,000 families from the recent Dithva cyclone are still living in temporary shelters or rented accommodation.
They need to start. The government has been unable to show them alternative land. To build roads, to build bridges, to build temples—the government has no plan at all. No plan at all. Therefore, my dear mothers, fathers, friends, we tell the government, please do something now. Let’s come together.”
Rajapaksa called for a future-focused political force rooted in villages and accessible leadership.
He said the country needs leaders who understand village life, rather than those who travel to Colombo, sit in air-conditioned rooms and mock rural communities.
“There are many here who voted for us in the past elections, and many who didn’t. Let’s look to the future. We can build a political force that works for your children. Let’s create political leaders from the villages who you can meet and talk to.
We need political leaders who walk on the ground in this country, not those who go to Colombo in KK and CAB vehicles, sit in AC rooms wearing ties and coats, and mock the villages. Let’s create a political group that knows the villages and lives with the villages.
I am happy that our chairman, the central chairman, as a young chairman, we placed power in several councils during the recent elections. One council is Puttalam. They are working for the people. Because our party members, those who were with us, all of us are used to working. We have it in our blood, the need to do something. Even if the government doesn’t do it, let’s do it through the council—there are people with the mindset and willingness to work.”
