The Hon. (Dr.) Ramanathan Archchuna
Hon. (Dr.) Ramanathan Archchuna congratulated Mr. Joseph Vijay on his victory in Tamil Nadu and clarified that his earlier Tamil remarks on northern island issues had been misinterpreted, stating he had not called for Sri Lanka or Katchatheevu to be ceded. He highlighted inadequate transport and safety arrangements for people travelling to islands such as Nagadeepa, including reliance on unsafe private boats without lifejackets. He also raised concerns about his personal security, saying he faces attacks without assigned police protection, and requested adequate security for Opposition MPs.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Thank you, Hon. Presiding Member. I wish to congratulate Mr. Joseph Vijay for his unprecedented victory in Tamil Nadu. I spoke emotionally about issues of our islands and services in the North. My words in Tamil were misinterpreted by some media; I did not call to cede Sri Lanka, nor Katchatheevu. My point was to highlight the neglect—no state boat even to Nagadeepa while much is made of symbolic visits; people travel in unsafe private boats without lifejackets. I gave my lifejacket to mothers and children on a boat because I can swim, but who will save them if a boat capsizes? MPs have MSD security; I do not have even a police officer assigned, yet I face orchestrated attacks. If the Government ensures security for itself, it must also ensure the safety of Opposition MPs. Please provide adequate security.
¶ 02 Thank you.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Wednesday, 6 May 2026 ·No. 23541 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/5583
Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Ramanathan Archchuna. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 6 May 2026. No. 23541. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/5583