{"id":159364,"date":"2016-03-18T02:10:49","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T20:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=159364"},"modified":"2016-03-19T02:17:17","modified_gmt":"2016-03-18T20:47:17","slug":"jailing-me-and-my-family-wont-stop-my-fight-for-the-people-mahinda-rajapaksa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/jailing-me-and-my-family-wont-stop-my-fight-for-the-people-mahinda-rajapaksa\/","title":{"rendered":"Jailing Me And My Family Won’t Stop My Fight For The People: Mahinda Rajapaksa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> declared today that even if the government jailed him and his entire family, he will continue to fight for the rights of the people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they think they can intimidate me and get me out of politics by arresting my children, then they are mistaken. Even if they jail my entire family, and me, we will continue our fight for the people. We won\u2019t give up and no one can stop us,\u201d Rajapaksa declared while addressing a large gathering at the joint opposition rally held in Hyde Park, Colombo this evening.<\/p>\n

\"Mahinda<\/a>Rajapaksa went on to say that at the time he gave over the country to the new administration after his nine year rule, he had made it among the strongest in Asia, only second to China. \u201cToday see the state our country is in. They give excuses saying I took loans, but for all the loans I took I ensured that development took place,\u201d Rajapaksa noted.<\/p>\n

Listing out the loans he took during his tenure as President, Rajapaksa said, \u201cI took a US $ 190 million loan for the Mattala Airport, which was done, I took US $ 426 million for the Hambantota Port, which was also done. I took US $ 1340 million for the Norochcholai coal power plant and that was done. Then I took US $ 630 million for the Colombo \u2013 Matara expressway and US $ 248 million for the Colombo \u2013 Katunayake expressway and those were completed too.\u201d<\/p>\n

While emphasizing that he had taken the above amount as loans over a period of nine years, he accused the current administration of obtaining loans to the tune of a staggering US $ 6361 million in just one year. \u201cHow the record?,\u201d he asked, while demanding the government to show the people even a single canal they may have built from these loans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say I took loans, and that I hid it. You try to go to a shop and ask for a loan and see if they will give you a loan without recording it?,\u201d he told the mass gathering at the rally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand what the big problem is, if I took loans on the sly and there is no record, then they don\u2019t even have to pay it back, so why are they screaming about it if there is no record of such transactions, which means then they don\u2019t have to pay it back,\u201d he declared amidst loud cheering. (By Munza Mushtaq \u00a9 Colombo Telegraph)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n