The Hon. (Mrs.) Deepthi Wasalage

¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, first, there is no “President of the Sinhalese,” “President of the Tamils,” or “President of the Muslims.” To the Opposition doing politics on ethnic lines, I urge: do politics properly. I strongly condemn those Opposition MPs who do not understand humane relationships between people and only resort to crude insinuations.

¶ 02 Listening to this debate, I realized many Opposition MPs here have been in government. When the National People’s Power formed a Government in 2024, we inherited a bankrupt country. If they had done what they now preach, we would have inherited a developed nation, not one humiliated before the world. We are ready to debate ideologically and accept correction, but we will not be intimidated by vulgar attacks targeting our women MPs.

¶ 03 On 27 November, after speaking in Parliament, I travelled to Matale. Roads were blocked; electricity was out across the District; of 25 RDA roads, 16 were affected; communications in 14 zones were down; most tragically, 29 lives were lost. Four MPs represent Matale: Deputy Minister Gamage Dissanayake and I among them. We focused on restoring normalcy.

¶ 04 On 28 November, the President declared a national emergency. Today we debate extending it. The most affected electorates were mine and that of Hon. Dinesh Hemanta, with large populations of Tamil estate workers. We worked for all our innocent people—without ethnic, religious or caste divisions.

¶ 05 We set an example of public representation. Hon. Ruwan Mapalagama, Hon. Sapumal Ranwala, Hon. Prageeth Maduranga, Hon. Ruwanthilaka Jayakody and many local authority members and chairpersons from Gampaha and Kalutara came to assist. I thank them. Hon. Ruwan Mapalagama stayed overnight in a temple in Matale with our people. Local members brought rice and gas cylinders to help manage the crisis. People said they had never before seen such public representatives. The Opposition is anxious because they know this people-centred Government works on the ground, and so they try to manufacture dissent. We still go to estates, meet Tamil communities lovingly, and discuss solutions. We do not see hostility rising against us.

¶ 06 The Water Board’s 8 of 10 projects in the District failed during the disaster, but within ten days we restored normal life to a great extent. Still pending: restoring the Alkaduwa–Ukuwela road; re-establishing the Bambarakiri Ella water project; relocating the landslide-destroyed Gammaduwa Hindu National School. State officials must be protected to take necessary land acquisitions and development decisions to complete recovery.

¶ 07 The Opposition asks, “If the disaster is managed, why Emergency?” We have not used Emergency against any democratic process. If you can, name one instance. Do not predict the future; the people have already decided to journey with us. We fear nothing; only wrongdoers fear. We will rebuild better lives and realize our vision of a prosperous country and beautiful lives. Thank you.