The Hon. (Mrs.) Rohini Kumari Wijerathna
Rohini Kumari Wijerathna made a personal explanation under Standing Order 27(8), rejecting as false an allegation made by a Deputy Minister that her father was involved in killing eight people over an election banner in Laggala in 1989. She said the claim had originated on social media and was repeated in Parliament, challenged the Deputy Minister to withdraw it within a month, and not to misuse parliamentary privilege for defamatory statements. She defended her father’s public record, noting his service in Parliament from 1977 to 1994 and his role in agricultural and farmer-related initiatives.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, under Standing Order 27(8), I seek leave to make a personal explanation. I regret that a present Hon. Deputy Minister of this Government, who served with me at the same school—Mantale, Seragama Parakrama Vidyalaya—made a blatant false statement yesterday involving my family. He should know well the precept “Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami.”
¶ 02 He stated that the father of a lady who speaks of democracy today killed eight persons who displayed a banner reading “Win from Laggala.” If my father had killed eight persons for putting up a banner in his favour, he would have been mentally ill. I am saddened that someone who should be virtuous and who served as a teacher would make such a blatant lie.
¶ 03 This was first circulated on social media by the Kotte Mud Brigade, and the Hon. Deputy Minister echoed it here. While it was being spread, I was in Matale city. Groups surrounded me and said that in Kanangamuwa, a former local councillor Sumanasena and seven others, including a government driver, were said to have been killed, and that all valuables in that house were looted. There is no place in Laggala where eight people were killed. Hon. Deputy Minister, I give you a month to come here and withdraw that statement. Do not hide behind Parliamentary privilege to sling mud.
¶ 04 It was also said “to the driver of her father, Mathelan...” My father is not a deity to have a divine driver. I challenge you: my father entered Parliament in 1977 and served until 1994. He earned the people’s love. He introduced pensions for farmers. Hon. Namal Karunaratne, today you can organize farmer associations because they were built during my father’s time as Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
¶ 05 If the Hon. Deputy Minister claims that in the 1989 election eight people who put up a banner were killed, let him come before the Sacred Tooth Relic, or before the statue of Keppetipola, and say it publicly.
¶ 06 I also heard that in May there will be a public exposition of the Sacred Tooth Relic—very good.
¶ 07 Hon. Speaker—
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 25 February 2025 ·No. 1741258607035810 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Mrs.) Rohini Kumari Wijerathna. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 25 February 2025. No. 1741258607035810. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/26599