Heat over TNA politico taking up Muslim issues in the East

During the Parliamentary sittings this week, some Muslim Parliamentarians allocated a significant amount of their time, even borrowed from others to attack indirectly another MPShanakiyan Rasamanickam from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), who is becoming more popular especially in the east for raising issues the Muslim community faced lately.

All seem to have taken up the position that only Muslim MPs are qualified enough to talk about the issues about their community and that ‘others’ are raising those issues to become popular and gain some votes. When National list MP from Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Marjan Faleel, started reading out his written speech in Tamil, with misspellings and poor context on Thursday, it was Mr Rasamanickam who was at the Presiding Chair. Even Faleel had to borrow two more minutes from fellow MP Diana Gamage who was evicted from Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) this week following disciplinary actions.

Not only Faleel, but even MPs from the All Ceylon Muslim Congress (ACMC) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) who raised their hands in support of the 20th Amendment in the past followed suit.

Another MP from the SJB noted to his colleague in the chambers that it was a shame that those ACMC MPs are not raising issue over the ill-treatment their party leader, Rishad Bathiudden undergoes in jail. Later UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella raised the issue on the basis of parliamentary privileges of the ACMC leader saying he is forced to urinate into bottles and that that no facilities are provided for his prayers in his cell.