Exclusive | Sri Lanka crisis: Govt trying to hold on to power, cricket icon Arjuna Ranatunga tells WION

Arjuna Ranatunga, legendary Sri Lankan cricketer and former minister, spoke with WION's Dasuni Athaudain an exclusive interview, sharing his thoughts on the worsening economic and political crisis in the country. He slammed the government for claiming that the recent protests were politically motivated, and accused it of attempting to "hold on to its power." He also praised India for its help at this time of need for its neighbour.

Sri Lanka is in the midst of a severe economic crisis, with food and fuel shortages affecting a substantial portion of the population. For the last two years, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's economy has been in free fall.

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Faced with a crisis that is continuously getting worse, the people of Sri Lanka have taken to the streets demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. However, Rajapaksa refuses to step down.

Referring to the Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Ranatunga said that "it's all about hanging onto power for them".

"The people who are in power, they talk about how they can hold the power. Go to the opposition, they're talking about how they can get into power...that is not what we need at the moment".

When asked about the protests and the heavy borrowing that the island nation has done from countries like China, the former minister said that he's not an expert but "they (the government) should've gone to the IMF and discussed with IMF".

"I feel that they were addressing too many things, trying to build highways...courts... airports rather than use the money for essential items for the people."

Talking about friendly nations and the assistance they've offered, he said that India has been very helpful to Sri Lanka for a long period.

"I think India has been very graciously helping us for the last so many years, even now they have allocated something like 2.5 billion, it's not a easy amount and luckily they identified the issues we had. It's all about medical area and even Diesel and petrol those are the major issues we face in the country."

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"I think there's a huge shortage of medicine in the country and I'm glad and happy that India put a foot into it and tried to help us, like they did in the last so many years."

As the nation faces its worst economic crisis and people take to the streets, those in power have alleged that these protests are politically motivated. However, Ranatunga says that is not the case. He said that this is a "wrong tag".

"It's a wrong tag attributed by the government. This is organic movement."

He added that these people are not arrogant, but peaceful and that the few elements who have been "creating ruckus like burning buses etc" could have been planted by the government as a way to jeopardise the people's movement.