Picture : Twitter / ANI
Former Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya lauded the Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sending help to the island nation as it battles the worst economic crisis since independence.
“As a neighbour and a big brother of our country, India has always helped us. We’re grateful to the Indian government and PM Modi. For us, it is not easy to survive because of the current scenario. We hope to come out from this with the help of India & other countries,” he said, reported ANI.
As per ANI report , India has supplied over 270,000 MT fuel to Sri Lanka so far to help ease the power crisis in the island country which is witnessing acute power cuts. 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.
Earlier, Another cricketer, 1996 World Cup winning skipper and Minister Arjuna Ranatunga had 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.
