Sampathan welcomes national govt, frowns on jumbo cabinet

by Saman Indrajith-September 3, 2015

Delivering his first speech as the leader of the opposition, the TNA MP Sampanthan said he would make full use of the post to find an acceptable solution for the Tamil national question.

 "It is our primary duty to find a solution. Why can’t we have three to five regions in this country taking a good example from our giant neighbour? Despite all diversities they have been able to stay together thanks to their form of governance. Rather than having so many ministers in the centre why can’t we have three to five regions in this country vested with substantial powers of governance? There are many young members of parliament who could be ministers, chief ministers in those regions. Give those regions maximum power, and allow those various parts of the country to be ruled in such a way that the people themselves are best served. In India there are 29 such states. The country is united. The country stays together because people’s aspirations are respected, honoured and implemented by the states which have been constituted in such a way as to preserve linguistic interests, cultural interests, religious interests and so on. That is what we need."

Sampanthan thanked people of the North and East for having elected the TNA and his party for electing him the parliamentary group leader. "I am greatly humbled at bestowing this exalted position on me," he said.

 The former TNA Leader said the Opposition would support the government but would remain an effective and efficient one when it came to national issues. "We will support the government in its endeavours if they are justified and are for the betterment of people. We’ll work closely with other parties of the Opposition to ensure that we together are an effective opposition. We would not hesitate to work together and fight for the cause of the opposition whenever it is required. Long pestering Tamil question we would like to work closely with everyone to find an answer for this question. While we shall be loyal to this country and to the people of this country I must emphasise that it is also our primary duty to ensure that there should be an acceptable solution to the Tamil national question.

"With regard to the debate on increasing the number of ministries it does not conform to the principles of good governance. It would have been better had the two parties been able to come together without increasing the number of ministries which would be a burden to the country. But, unfortunately we have a culture in this country which has become deeply entrenched in recent times resulting in the increasing number of ministries to buy over the members of parliament. I think that we should end this culture. We must not forget in our neighbouring country – India there are only 65 ministers, 27 cabinet ministers including the prime minister and 31 ministers of state with independent charge. There are no deputy ministers there. This number is for 1.2 billion people. We have here only 20 million of people. It is something we should bear in mind. The desire for increasing the number of ministries is against the ational interest. It is not consistent with the needs of the country. A national government could be a need of the hour. But the increasing the number of ministers is not good. People of this country would not respect that for too long."