Take a leaf out of Indian Opposition's book- President Rajapaksa
R K Radhakrishnan
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa wants the Opposition political
parties in the country to emulate the behaviour of the main Indian
Opposition parties when national pride was at stake.
Addressing a meeting at Matara, the President said that however much
divided the Opposition parties were in India, once they stepped out,
their national pride took over. They not only refrained from criticising
the conduct of their government when in foreign soil; they even actively
defended some of the actions.
The President recalled an occasion when the Leader of the Opposition
in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, met him and said that the stature of Ms
Swaraj grew in his eyes because of the manner and passion with which she
spoke about India and the functioning of its Parliament.
He wanted the main Opposition in Sri Lanka to take a leaf out of this
and project Sri Lanka in a positive light when abroad. He regretted that
this was not the case in many instances.
Pointing to the Indian example, he said that the leaders of the same
political parties which spoke about India in such glowing terms abroad
had serious differences with the ruling party and had often made the
point in the Indian Parliament. But this politics never spilled from the
country to the outside, he noted and added that Opposition leaders had
the responsibility to refrain from constantly speaking ill of their own
country while abroad.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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