The Hon. Mano Ganesan

¶ 01 Thank you for the opportunity, Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees. I am pleased to speak during the debate on the proposal presented by Hon. Asitha Niroshan Egodawithana at the time of adjournment.

¶ 02 First, yesterday when the Hon. Prime Minister OSH Amarasuriya replied to Hon. Chamara Sampath Dassanayake, I courteously sought clarification from the Chair about the Clean Sri Lanka programme. However, for reasons unknown, the response I received from the Hon. Prime Minister was not appropriate. Hon. Ajith P. Perera also referred to this. Our role in the Opposition within parliamentary democracy is to seek clarification from the Government. The Hon. Prime Minister instantly said, “Do not come to teach me how to conduct parliamentary debates.” I have no such intention or time; I have other responsibilities.

¶ 03 In the last Parliament, when we were in Opposition, the present President Anura Kumara Dissanayake sat across from me; I too sat nearby. We fought the same battles in Opposition. I considered her my political friend and still do. Perhaps she has forgotten. It is fine. She also said the Opposition cannot bear it and feels unhappy. I am not unhappy about her answer. I represent communities living under very difficult conditions; therefore, regardless of party colour—green, blue, or red—we always feel their pain.

¶ 04 Our citizenship is not complete; there are legal issues. Let me stop that there and send this message to the Hon. Prime Minister: I understand your anger; I will not respond in kind. I have the maturity; I have been in Parliament since 2001, while she entered only the last Parliament. I wish her well. But I am saddened by the way she responded. Her social media then said, “Our Prime Minister gave Mano Ganesan a hard answer; he begged.” I did not beg. Please do not handle matters that way.

¶ 05 We accept Clean Sri Lanka as a concept. We support it fully; it is good. We have seen such concepts in Singapore, from India’s Prime Minister Modi, and before in Sri Lanka. It is good—do it well. But the concept should not be only environmental; it should also change people’s attitudes.

¶ 06 On plantations, the main issue is wages. I proposed a minimum daily wage of Rs. 2,000. Some on the Government side told me outside the Chamber to be patient. If you raise State sector salaries at the Budget, then raise the daily wages of these workers too. To increase State salaries while asking these workers to wait is unclean.

¶ 07 My friend Hon. Harshana Rajakaruna said there are no political prisoners. We are saddened; this was said even during the Yahapalana Government. We fought within Cabinet over this. After the war, we released the largest number of Tamil political prisoners—not all, but many. To say there are none is painful, especially from the NPP/JVP which waged an armed struggle and knows the meaning of “political prisoner.” Even if not officially recognized, such persons exist in that sense. Please release them. Some are on Detention Orders; some have charge sheets; some have convictions—the President can grant pardons to those convicted; DOs can be withdrawn; for others, the Attorney General’s Department can withdraw cases. Release them. That is the true cleaning; otherwise it is unclean.

¶ 08 Also, you came to power pledging to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act. It has not been repealed. Please repeal it and give us a fully clean answer. I conclude. Thank you.