Sri Lankan Minister defends Hitler comparison as 'personal opinion'

 

 

16 April 2021

Responding to concerns raised over a government Minister’s call for Sri Lanka’s President to act more like Hitler, government spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella defended the Minister’s statement as a “personal opinion” and maintained that they should not be taken seriously.

In his statement, Dilum Amunugama, Sri Lanka’s Minister for Transport, claimed that;

“6.9 million people who voted for Gotabaya Rajapaksa wanted him to be a Hitler”, when speaking about the Sri Lankan president’s 2019 election victory”.

He added that “when he [Gotabaya Rajapaksa] fails to do so, they criticise him”.

The minister’s comments come following the increased harassment and intimidation of Tamil and Muslim civil society members which have been described as “fascist” in nature by Tamil parliamentarians. His remarks raised concern from Germany’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, who tweeted “let me remind those voices that Adolf Hitler was responsible for human suffering and despair beyond imagination, with millions of deaths”.

Read more here.

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