Who says Gota is anti-Muslim?
Feb 05, 2017
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is a key accused among those blamed for Mahinda Rajapaksa’s defeat at the 2015 presidential election. The accusation is based on his having an anti-Muslim stand in cohorts with Bodu Bala Sena to deny Muslim votes for Mahinda. However, an investigation by Lanka News Web did not found anything to support that accusation. Rather, we found evidence to the contrary.
Given below is how he showered his generosity on the ‘suffering’ Muslim multimillionaires during the period he was the secretary to the ministry of defence and urban development:
1. Handing over a two-acre plot of land from near Galle Face Green in Colombo for the construction of Shangri-La Hotel. The local agent for the Shangri-La international hotel network is a Muslim businessman by the name Sajad Mowjoon.
Something has to be said of this Mowjoon. Until 08 January 2015, he was Sajad Mowjoon ‘Rajapaksa’, but from then on he became ‘Sajad Mowjoon ‘Samaraweera’. That is – he had not even answered a telephone call by Mangala Samaraweera during the Rajapaksa regime, but was at the foreign affairs minister’s Bolgoda home on the morning of January 09. Now he is the right hand of Samaraweera and whenever the minister makes a trip overseas, he is already there as the advance party.
2. Granting of an eight acre plot of land from Slave Island to Tata Lifestyle Company. The recipient of the land is a ‘suffering’ multimillionaire Muslim businessman Sampras.
3. Handover of valuable plots of land from Bambalapitiya for Pearl Grand and Pearl City Hotel, owned by the Muslim businessman Faris. Presently, a five-star hotel is under construction in one of those plots of land. Furthermore, permission has been granted to interconnect three of his hotels with flyovers (construction of such flyovers is prohibited in Sri Lanka)
4. Granting of three plots of land extending over 30 perches at Kollupitiya, Colombo 03 facing Galle Road, to the Muslim businessman Miswar, where a hotel, Mandarin, is under construction.
Many more examples of Gotabhaya’s generosity to Muslims can be given. But, that will only lengthen the list. Whatever the self-proclaimed anti-Muslim Sinhala stooges believe, that is how Gotabhaya’s anti-Muslim policy works. Gota might have come out in the open with the likes of Gnanasaras, but on the sly, he had cohabited with Sajads, Sampras, Faris and Miswars.
What we wonder about is the UDA not getting even a cent for the plots of land given to these multimillionaire businessmen. Therefore, what Gotabhaya had practiced with state assets was not ‘give’, but ‘take.’
