COLOMBO — Congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the BJP-led NDA's "historic" achievement of securing three consecutive victories in the Lok Sabha elections, Sri Lanka's Opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa on Wednesday reaffirmed support for India's permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
Making a special speech in the Lankan Parliament, Premadasa emphasised that India, with its status as the world's most populous country and a significant global economic and military power, deserves this recognition.
"This is of utmost importance as India has the largest population in the whole world. Also, when you examine the world's economic, security power configuration, I feel that this representation of India in the UNSC must be achieved and must be promoted," said Premadasa.
"We as parliamentarians, all 225, in this august assembly would like to propose that India be made a permanent member of the UN Security Council. I think it is long overdue and it should be implemented as quickly as possible," the Opposition leader said, expressing his confidence that the current permanent members of the UNSC would acknowledge India's rightful place in the global power structure.
"I am pretty sure that the five members who are there right now would have no objection to establishing this world power reality in the UN structure," he stated.
Premadasa also acknowledged the strong bilateral relationship between Sri Lanka and India and expressed gratitude for India's significant financial support including grants, loans, and other financial aid totaling approximately six billion USD.
"We have seen the brotherly neighborhood relationship between the two countries as India is the largest single donor to Sri Lanka with around $6 billion in grants, loans and financial support. We appreciate the support that India has provided to us when Sri Lanka has been suffering from a variety of challenges including economic bankruptcy," said Premadasa.
Hailing his visionary leadership, practical policies, and effective governance, the Lankan leader highlighted that Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to accomplish the feat of leading the country for the third time.
"Prime Minister Modi has been a remarkable person who commenced his work from humble beginnings. He came from a small family and didn't have a huge family background. He did not have a power base to commence work. But during his stint as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and later as the Indian PM, he has exhibited stupendous energy, charisma, hard work and the singular determination to make India number one in the world. This is at a time when most of the countries in the region are going through sluggish economic growth," said Premadasa while praising PM Modi's achievement.
"We see India as a unique country that also extricated itself from the Covid-19 catastrophe. India has been a shining example of how you get out of desperate situations, despair and economic catastrophe and how you transform and translate a bad situation into a better one. I would like to congratulate honourable PM Modi on his remarkable achievement in almost all states. Of course, there have been states where he has done very well and there are certain states where the BJP-NDA is yet to make its imprint," he said in his speech.
The Lankan Opposition leader also reiterated his commitment to maintain cooperation between the two nations to ensure mutual prosperity and benefits.
"We would like to continuously have a very close relationship with India, our great and brotherly neighbour. We would like to have a strong productive and constructive relationship with them," he stated.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe also congratulated PM Modi on NDA's victory and re-election for the third term.
"I extend my warmest felicitations to the BJP-led NDA on its victory, demonstrating the confidence of the Indian people in the progress and prosperity under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. As the closest neighbour, Sri Lanka looks forward to further strengthening the partnership with India," President Wickremesinghe posted on X.