Former Sri Lanka skipper and Minister Arjuna Ranatunga on Wednesday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping Sri Lanka amid its ongoing economic crisis. Sri Lanka is battling a severe economic crisis with food and fuel scarcity affecting a large number of the people in the island nation. The economy has been in a free-fall since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"PM Modi was very generous to give the grant to start Jaffna International Airport. India has been an elder brother to us. I am glad that they are monitoring the situation rather than giving money to Sri Lanka. They are looking at our needs like petrol and medicines and I am sure that these are things we will be lacking in a couple of months. India has been helping us in a big way," Arjuna Ranatunga told media.
"My major worry is that I don't want a blood bath. I am very scared and don't want people to start another war, which we suffered for years. Some of the politicians in the government are trying to show that the disease was created by Tamils and Muslims and by doing this they are trying to divide the country," he added.
Regarding the ongoing protests in the country, Ranatunga justified the actions of the general public and said that the government did not handle the COVID-19 pandemic properly.
"The general public came out to ask for very basic things such as rice, petrol, food, etc. I don't agree with the violence that is happening, it should not happen. But the country has gone into a major mess in the last two years. The government can give the excuse that it is COVID but other countries also went through that. These people did not handle things properly and were overconfident that they can get away with anything they do. They even got rid of their court cases and that's the reason why people came on the road," said the former cricketer.
Sri Lanka is also facing a foreign exchange shortage, which has, incidentally, affected its capacity to import food and fuel, leading to the power cuts in the country. The shortage of essential goods forced Sri Lanka to seek assistance from friendly countries.
On Sunday, 26 Sri Lankan Cabinet Ministers resigned en masse from their positions amid rising public anger against the government over the economic crisis. All 26 of them signed a general letter, Daily Mirror reported.