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Sunny Side Up: The Marie Antoinette syndrome

07 Nov 2021

Minister Chamal Rajapaksa last week emulated former French Queen Marie Antoinette in a response given with regard to the masses struggling over the spiralling cost of living. Marie Antoinette went down in history over her famous statement on how the French people (struggling for survival at the time) should resort to eating cake if they were unable to eat bread. In a similar vein, responding to questions by the media on the shortage of rice and the increasing cost of dry rations, Minister Rajapaksa had said that if there was a price increase in rice, the alternative would be to eat green gram or manioc. “If the cost of rice has gone up, that indicates a shortage of rice. I don’t think that would happen, although there is no rice. Our ancestors ate green gram and manioc. There is a large green gram cultivation in Tissamaharama. There is cowpea in Anuradhapura. The Government will buy that,” Rajapaksa had told the media. He had further questioned the media asking if it was wrong to consume green gram and manioc instead of bread. “Manioc is also good for cancer,” he had added.


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