The Hon. (Mrs.) Rohini Kumari Wijerathna

¶ 01 I will continue, Hon. Speaker. Please listen.

¶ 02 Hon. Speaker, please allow me to confine myself to the personal explanation.

¶ 03 The names are Ganga, Nilanti, Weerasinghe, Nadika, Mangalika—date 1989-02-08. Five wholesale markets in Kandy were bombed; 156 injuries; nine rifles involved. If the Most Venerable Sirimalwatte Ananda Mahanayake Thero were alive, he would attest. People in Matale know who smuggled weapons under robes to carry out those attacks. I lament that while carrying such a history and selling the Buddha Sasana, some behave like this.

¶ 04 Hon. Speaker, if the Hon. Deputy Minister for Buddha Sasana plans a Relic exposition, I say: do not go under the Bo tree, nor before the Natha and Pattini Devales.

¶ 05 This has harmed my family. My father has passed away and cannot answer.

¶ 06 Regarding my own name: it is a beautiful name given by my parents. It was changed publicly on 1994-05-27, not secretly in the papers. If the Hon. Deputy Minister has issues within his party with young women, resolve them there. Do not use us as a shield. The question I raised pertained to spending Rs. 1 billion for a feasibility study and allocating Rs. 2.5 billion for the Kelani Valley railway—whether that is justifiable.

¶ 07 Thank you to those who stood for me—the Hon. Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Harsha de Silva, the Hon. Prime Minister, and Hon. Kaushalya Ariyaratne.

¶ 08 I also thank the Chief Government Whip, Hon. Nalinda Jayatissa. I did not change my name. There are those here who did—including your President who changed from Aravinda Dissanayake to Anura Kumara Dissanayake. That is not my concern. But, Hon. Deputy Minister Nalin Hewage, raise both hands publicly and show your two thumbs; ask Bindusara of Medawachchiya why one thumb has a reduced pad—he is now a teacher.

¶ 09 Thank you.