I cannot take over the nation now as I am not in Parliament: Ranil
– Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday said that he cannot take over the nation now if needed, as he is not in Parliament now.Mr Wickremesinghe made this remark in response to a question raised by a youth as to whether he is prepared to take over the nation once again. Questions were raised by the youth from the former President during a programme to mark the 120th birth anniversary of the late President J. R. Jayewardene in Colombo.
“I cannot take over the nation now as I am not in Parliament,” Mr Wickremesinghe said.
“Youth should be prepared to take leadership. I don’t know how Gen Z thinks of politics. The thinking pattern of my generation will not help the country now. It is the young generation which have to think about the future of the nation. Sri Lanka will be celebrating 100 years of independence in a few years. The new generation will have to decide where the nation should be and what the nation should achieve during that time,” he told the youth in response to their questions. He said this in response to a question as to what the youth could aim at when it comes to development of the nation.
He reiterated that the country is heading for an economic downturn once again. “People had to spend their savings during the years 2022 and 2023. They had to spend the money they had hidden under their mattresses. Their savings are gone today. Inflation has increased. One has to sell the mattress you sleep on to survive today,” he said, responding to a question on the present situation.
“If no one accepted the responsibility of running the country during the ‘Aragalaya’ in 2022, the future of the nation would have been bleak. We knew that the country could be re-stabilized. Therefore, we took over the responsibility without fear,” he also said in response to a question about his thoughts on the decision to take over the nation back in 2022.
Mr Wickremesinghe revived the memories of President Jayewardene and recalled his encounters with the late leader when he was questioned on his encounters with late Mr Jayewardene and what he learnt from him.
He said, “I introduced a white paper to reform education. Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) launched protests in schools and universities. Late President JR called me and said not to do anything about it. I asked him as to what I should do with the white paper. Then Mr Jayewardene said you can do anything in three months. You could learn patience from JR. He was 70 years old when he became the President. Then you have to learn from your experience and the experience of others. Also, one has to be committed. One cannot achieve victory without defeat. One cannot hold on to victory forever. One has to let go of power and go to opposition in politics. President Jayewardene also told us to be prepared to go to opposition one day. One has to taste defeat as well. There were no mobile phones, no land phones and no vehicles during the time I became a cabinet minister. Owning a cycle was a big thing. Youth were stuck in villages. They had employment opportunities only within the villages. However, the world changed. Economy was developed, and people ended up with money in their wallets. The tourism industry connected Sri Lanka to the world. I did not grow up in such a developed society. We could own a landline phone, as I was living in an urban area during my youth. I had knowledge of the world. However, other young people did not have any expectations during that time. Many dropped out of school after Grade eight. One had job opportunities only in state-owned companies. The biggest state-owned company was the Tobacco Company during my youth. Everything changed during President Jayewardene’s time.
