We are in the threshold of an autocracy in Sri Lanka: Justice C.V. Wigneswaran

Participating in the general All Opposition Parties’ Demonstration at the Independence Square this afternoon at 3 pm, Justice C.V.Wigneswaran,M.P. Leader of the Thamizh Makkal Tesiya Kootani said to the Press that there is an unwritten agreement entered between the voters and their Representatives to Parliament at the time of an Election in a Democracy.

The voters say we vote for you to make you win and having won you will listen to our woes, our predicament, our problems and take suitable action to alleviate our suffering to the best of your ability and you will not jettison us after winning and ignore us until the next election. The Candidates seeking election promise in return that if they win, they would not ignore their electorate, that they would listen to the problems of all voters in their electorate and take steps to the best of their ability to alleviate their sufferings, not make money out of the sufferings of their supporters but remain in touch with the people of their respective electorates to find out their day to day problems and seek redress for them.

Democracy means all this.

But when those elected prefer to ignore the woes and sufferings of their electors and live for themselves and their footmen, they break the terms of their contract with their voter electors. They turn undemocratic. People have no alternative but to remind their representatives of the promises they made at the time of election. If such demonstrations are to be prohibited and participants taken into custody and harassed, that means Democracy is slowly fading and autocracy is taking over in such a country. Specially so when the civil administration is slowly handed over to retired Military men and women.

We are demonstrating today fully aware that we are in the threshold of an autocracy in Sri Lanka and soon we would be losing all our democratic rights.

Unless our people realize this and take to the streets to din into the hearts of those who are in the governing saddle that they are fast losing touch with Democracy it would be too late. Our All Party Demonstration is to appeal to the conscience of those governing the Country that they must not lose sight of the obligations they owe their people under a Democracy.