The Hon. (Dr.) Ramanathan Archchuna

¶ 01 Good evening to everyone!

¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, I expected the Hon. Minister responsible for Fisheries, Hon. Chandraseker, to be present. I was born in Jaffna, the birthplace of our national leader Prabhakaran, and I wish to convey something to him on that basis. Even if we pitch a tent and donkeys or horses come and stand there, we are ready to take photos with them; but no Tamil born in Jaffna will ever accept such “donkeys” as their leader. The Hon. Minister Chandraseker, not born in Jaffna, may sometimes think he can intimidate me. It is laughable to think you can scare someone who follows the path of my national leader who led 44,000 fighters to sacrifice their lives.

¶ 03 Coming to the point: we are still fighting for the liberation of our people; our children; our race that was protected by Ananda; and for the release of our people still not freed from Mullivaikkal. The NPP Government is moving towards protecting the Army that carried out mass killings, without any accountability.

¶ 04 In Jaffna today, there are nearly 3,000 unemployed graduates. Will you take any action? In Tamil, people say “Kattarittottathu veruligal”—in Sinhala, “Kumburé inna bambayó” (useless weeds)—meaning people mistakenly elected three such “weeds.” Have these three done anything in Jaffna? No!

¶ 05 Let me be clear to the Hon. Minister: the LTTE’s Tamil Eelam had an Air Wing, Sea Tigers, and Land Forces—check Wikipedia if you must. It was a de facto state. Our esteemed President went to Valvettithurai, the birthplace of our national leader, and to Chavakachcheri, the hometown of my brother Raviraj who won more votes than you and was murdered by your side, to dance on a circus stage for local government elections—this is the condition our Jaffna soil has created now.

¶ 06 You have now started throttling the voices of Jaffna’s pavement vendors; you have started issues on bus routes. I was supportive of the NPP Government. Because I should not attend DCC meetings, you tracked my mobile phone after the incident on the 23rd, and on the 29th you planned and arrested me. I will respond to this in the coming weeks. Ask Hon. Chandraseker to come if he can. Thank you.