Did Sajith Premadasa Say, "This is the First Step of the Journey to Make the Country More Bankrupt"?

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As the presidential election in Sri Lanka draws closer, an increasing amount of altered and misleading content gets created, especially targeting key candidates. The opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, has been at the receiving end of many such manipulated content. These false narratives are part of a growing trend aimed at discrediting him during this critical period.

Social Media Posts

A viral social media video indicates that, during the official launch of the Samagi Jana Sandhanaya (SJS), the opposition leader and the presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa purportedly stated that "this is the first step of the journey to make the country more bankrupt"

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The claim was also viral among WhatsApp users, as seen below.

Archived

Fact Check

What Happened?

A video clip circulating on social media allegedly shows Sajith Premadasa, the opposition leader of Sri Lanka, saying, "This is the first step of the journey to make the country more bankrupt." This claim is linked to a speech he delivered at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium during the establishment of the Samagi Jana Sandhanaya, a new political alliance led by his party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB).

Verification

Upon examining the original, unedited footage of Sajith Premadasa's speech, it was found that the viral video's claim was fabricated.

Premadasa stated, "This is the first step of a harmonious journey of developing the country." His speech focused on the launch of the Samagi Jana Sandhanaya, emphasizing its role in bringing positive change and development to the nation. Video link here. (1 hour 3 minute mark)

In another part of his speech (1 hour 5 minutes mark), Premadasa discussed the need to change the current political system, which he criticized for contributing to the country's economic issues due to "jealousy, hatred, and greed for power."

However, these remarks were manipulated by selectively cropping and editing the video to falsely suggest that Premadasa intended to further bankrupt the country.

Below is a comparison between the altered video clip and the original clip.

Read in Sinhala : සමගි ජන සන්ධානයේ ආරම්භක රැළියේ දී “රට බංකොලොත් කිරීමේ ගමනේ පළමු පියවර මෙයයි” යනුවෙන් සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස කීවාද?

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Conclusion

The viral social media video claiming that Sajith Premadasa said, "this is the first step of the journey to make the country more bankrupt," is misleading and has been edited to distort the original speech. The correct context shows that Premadasa was actually speaking about beginning a journey to develop the country, not bankrupt it.