Harin brings battery powered torches to go to the washroom in Parliament

Amidst a crippling energy crisis, the antics of people’s representatives in Parliament continue to reach the heights of absurdity. On Thursday MPs from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya ( SJB) staged a protest over the daily power blackouts. They held up placards condemning the Government’s handling of the crisis and demanded that the Government should resign and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should also go with it. They also brought small battery powered torches into the Chamber to highlight the blackout.

The bringing of the torches caused tempers to flare. Leader of the House Minister Dinesh Gunawardena raised issue, telling the Speaker that a heated argument had broken out between Police and SJB MPs after several prohibited items an MP was bringing into the Chamber were discovered. He claimed that contents of such items could be subjected to a chemical reaction when mixed with other elements and posed a danger to the entire complex.

SJB Parliamentarian Harin Fernando acknowledged that the incident involved the Police finding three torches in his possession.

“I brought the torches because of the power cuts. It’s not wrong to bring them. How can I go to the toilet if the power goes out?” he asked.

The excuse is ludicrous; Parliament is one of the few places in the country that is assured of uninterrupted power no matter what happens. Even in the unlikely event that power fails, the backup generators will kick in instantly.

Of course, Mr Gunawardena raising concerns over MPs bringing prohibited items to the Chamber is rather rich. It was MPs from his group, then in the Opposition, who smuggled chilli powder into the Chamber and threw it in the faces of Parliament's Police officers during the disgraceful events witnessed inside the Chamber at the height of the 2018 Constitutional Coup.