The Hon. Kitnan Selvaraj

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, today under Standing Order 19, this Adjournment Motion taken up as a matter of urgent public importance is very welcome. We thank Hon. Radhakrishnan for bringing this motion.

¶ 02 It is May—the month that crowns the world’s working class. Why do we say that? In 1838, when the British ruled the world, Chinese labourers working as “contract labour” in Assam’s tea estates in India fought for wages befitting their labour. Thereafter, the global working class won rights for themselves in this sacred month of May. In this May too, across the Malaiyaha, we hear the slogans “Land ownership! House ownership!” being raised in struggles. In that context, NGOs, together with Opposition alliances, Malaiyaha stalwarts, Malaiyaha intellectuals, the country’s intelligentsia, and workers together have raised the call “We need land rights! We need housing rights!” Therefore, May is indeed a month that crowns the working class.

¶ 03 We also know that in 2023, we in the National People’s Power (NPP) issued the “Hatton Declaration” in the city of Hatton. In it, our leader and comrade Anura Kumara Dissanayake made three proposals. First, “Under our Government, we will identify and crown with dignity the Malaiyaha community living in the plantation sector.” Second, “Under our Government, we will secure land ownership and house ownership for the plantation people.” Third, “We will secure for the Malaiyaha community all the concessions and rights available to other communities in this country.” He emphasized these three in the Hatton Declaration. The person who chaired and endorsed that then is today the President of this country—Hon. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Therefore, as we begin our work from there, when you bring this excellent motion on Malaiyaha people to this House and say “We agreed in the past, we wrote these, they are in documents, implement them,” we, being in Government, say we are ready not only to continue from where you left, but even to start from the beginning if needed; the NPP Government is ready.

¶ 04 When we look back at the past, this is a community that has been within an open prison for seven generations—confined in line-room prisons. From that community, for four generations, stalwarts have ruled the Malaiyaha and they still sit in this Parliament—that is the painful fact, Hon. Presiding Member. I will not name them. For four generations they have adorned Parliament, while for seven generations another class has toiled. Those who toyed with the toiling class for four generations should be ashamed to bring such a motion under today’s Government. Grandfather was a Minister, father was a Minister, another relative and he himself were Ministers—today that very person shouts in support of this motion and against us. But we, who come from the working class, are ready to implement these. We are happy that our comrade Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who also comes from that class, is President of this country.

¶ 05 As such, today land ownership in the Malaiyaha is discussed. We are ready to secure land and house ownership. In the past, to secure lands, Mahakavi Bharathi fought the white rulers. Today there is no need to fight like that—because a Government of the working class has been formed in this country. Therefore, under our Government we will advance all programs to grant lands. We are ready to breathe new life into this motion. When, in India, lands of workers were taken by the white rulers, Bharathi sang for land rights and rallied workers. Today, in Sri Lanka, we have a leader comparable to Bharathi—the President, Hon. Anura Kumara Dissanayake—who is ready to secure land and housing for the Malaiyaha and estate workers. Yet those stalwarts who have represented Parliament for four generations, who kept Malaiyaha people subjugated for seven generations, now lecture us—that is saddening.

¶ 06 Go see the houses of that four-generation ruling class in the Malaiyaha—mansions! Then see the houses of the estate workers of seven generations—line-rooms, line-prisons. Therefore, my dear estate workers, as you prepare to change your conditions and step into national politics, the stalwarts of regressive and racist politics in the Malaiyaha have been rejected by the working class there. At this time, we approve this motion brought by our esteemed Hon. Radhakrishnan, and we say we will further revive it and implement it. In Sri Lanka, “President Anura Kumara Dissanayake” is not merely a name, Hon. Presiding Member—it is the history of the future. We will implement that history under Comrade Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s Government. I conclude my brief speech. Thank you.