Lal Kantha did NOT say that NPP would nationalise the top private businesses under their government!

Lal Kantha, a leader of the National People's Power (NPP), has consistently made controversial statements. However, it's important to note that some of his statements have been misrepresented or altered by social media users, leading to misinterpretations of his intentions or views.

This highlights the potential for misinformation to spread rapidly in online spaces and underscores the importance of verifying sources and understanding context before drawing conclusions from social media content.

Social Media Posts

Social media posts based on a video say Lal Kantha, a prominent figure in the NPP (National People's Power) and JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna) political bureau, stated in an interview that if the JVP comes into power in the next election, it will nationalise all major-scale businesses in the country.

Twitter | Archived

By carefully examining the viral Twitter video, identified that it consists of cropped parts from the original interview with Lal Kantha.

Fact Check

We first reviewed the full 25-minute original interview with Lal Kantha, which was uploaded to YouTube in November 2023. It is clear that Lal Kantha did not make any statement claiming that JVP would nationalise all major-scale businesses if they came into power. In fact, Lal Kantha explicitly mentioned that they would not take large-scale private businesses under government control, contrary to the claim being spread on social media.

In the original discussion, Lal Kantha clearly mentions that it is a misconception presented by some that the NPP would take all large-scale private businesses under government control if the NPP came to power.

Lal Kantha emphasizes the importance of large-scale businesses and also discusses the need to involve all parties, including producers, distributors, and consumers, in the economic framework, promoting sustainable expansion.

Furthermore, he addressed the issue of controlling unfair businesses or mafia activities. Lal Kantha indicated that their approach to dismantling such mafias does not necessarily require direct government intervention. Instead, they have identified individuals prepared to target and eliminate these obstacles without directly involving the government.

Lal Kantha also says that the moment the people give the government and state powers to the National People's Force, they will be used by the people so that everyone can get their share and have equal opportunities.

Also, Lal Kantha acknowledges that they had already identified potential regressive personnel. However, he states that this has not been done out of hatred and that once the public gives NPP the power, it will be used according to the public's will.

Below is the complete video of Lal Kanta's speech, including the full discussion in the above misleading video circulating on social media. (12.42-17.52)

https://youtu.be/Xg3yc-7ntqs?t=763

Read in Sinhala: ජාතික ජන බලවේගය ආණ්ඩුවක් යටතේ, ව්‍යාපාර සහ කර්මාන්ත ජනසතු කරන බවට ලාල්කාන්ත ප්‍රකාශ කළා ද?

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