D. Lalkantha, a member of the National People’s Power (NPP) National Executive Committee, said that although the Galle Face protests were successful in deposing Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the attempt to channel the uprising towards a parliamentary change was unsuccessful, making the movement ineffective.Lalkantha said that the former leader J. R. Jayewardene had built a robust legal system instead of depending on military rule.
“After Gota was removed, we attempted to reroute the uprising towards Parliament”
with a despotic executive presidential system that rendered Parliament a moot point.”It’s not worthy of the name parliament; a dog would be more helpful.” The Parliament has devolved into a pointless entity, he declared.He went on to say that after a leader is chosen for a five-year term, nothing can be done until that time. People cannot continuously protest to remove a leader, unlike how Gotabaya was removed or how leaders in Bangladesh are removed.
After Gotabaya was removed, Lalkantha admitted that there was a chance to turn the people’s revolt at Galle Face into a movement towards Parliament.”The so-called Galle Face leaders who emerged from the dispersed people’s struggle blocked our attempts to refocus the uprising towards Parliament.” He concluded, “The collapsed tower was rebuilt by the remaining Parliament, making Gotabaya’s removal meaningless.
