The Hon. Arjuna Sujeewa Senasinghe, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 The Minister said essential goods taxes were reduced—but nothing has been reduced. You are doing what Ranil did. Your boasts: you said you would remove VAT—did not. You claimed to take nothing for yourselves—now you use vehicles, official residences, and the President travels abroad monthly spending crores; MPs and Ministers travel abroad in Business Class more than ever this year. Helicopters too—when asked to switch from choppers? You do all that, but the economy is not developed; there is no real growth; no investments.

¶ 02 Look: 32% of households are going hungry—not my claim, but the Dinamina newspaper. Last year 16%; now 32%. Vegetables are eaten only four days a week. 33% have reduced the number of meals. 20% have pawned gold. For “Dittha” cyclone reconstruction, USD 6.5 billion is needed; only USD 0.17 billion has come.

¶ 03 Your media channels sling mud; even you, Hon. Deputy Chairperson, must laugh. Check the Corruption Perceptions Index: in 2014 Sri Lanka was 85th; 2015, 83rd; 2016, 95th; 2017, 91st; 2018, 89th; 2019, 93rd; by end 2024, under this Government, we fell to 121st; now at 107th, after being 101st in 2022.

¶ 04 You lie and vilify, try to jail the Opposition. What of the Rajapaksas? Is Mahinda in jail? Gotabaya? Basil? You said USD 20 billion would be brought back—did you? No. Anura Dissanayake and Bimal Ratnayake have turned capitalists; now they decry strikes, yet they were among the strike leaders—unlike Ministers like Harshana.

¶ 05 JVP wreaked great destruction—strikes and violence. Now they say strikes confuse the public—who conducted the strikes then? Who shut hospitals? Those four there and the JVP. Many good MPs here did not do that—but JVP did that damage.

¶ 06 The previous Minister—dubbed the “Sura Pappa” Minister—spoke fiction about growth. Where is the growth? From the Research Section: Ranil handed over the country at 5.4% growth. From bankruptcy, Ranil lifted growth to 5.4%. 2025 Q1 growth 4.8%; Q2 4.9%; Q3 5.2%—because vehicles were imported; you sent out USD 1 billion and collected USD 2 billion in taxes to show growth. There is no other growth; no investments; people are struggling.

¶ 07 The dollar is now LKR 309; then it was LKR 290—that is reality. Even if some laugh, this is the truth: 32% of families are hungry. You draw salaries, travel, and live luxuriously; nothing has changed.

¶ 08 The President is today in India. What was done there? Tilvin Silva went to India in a red shawl to meet India’s External Affairs Minister—our Deputy Minister of Digital Economy is upset. Back then the JVP attacked India, and 60,000 died. Now you are India’s best friend; the President and all go to India; secret pacts are signed; you have embraced America—then you didn’t even drink Coca-Cola.