Heated clashes at meeting between President and Tamil politicians
THE SUNDAY TIMES LK – COLUMNS
23/07/23
Ahead of his official visit as Head of the State to New Delhi one year after he assumed duties as the Executive President last July, President Ranil Wickremesinghe met Parliamentarians of Tamil political parties on Tuesday at the Secretariat.
The meeting came days after those parties–some collectively and individually–wrote to the Indian Prime Minister urging him to pressure the government for full implementation of the 13th Amendment.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent meeting with Tamil Parliamentarians at the Secretariat
At the meeting, the Tamil National Alliance led by Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) out rightly rejected President Wickremesinghe’s proposal of implementing the law without Police powers. The meeting saw some heated arguments–particularly when TNA leader R. Sampanthan expressed his disappointment with the government which, he alleged, came up with several assurances and deadlines to resolve the ethnic conflict but no solid steps were taken with genuine political
willingness.
On his part, President Wickremesinghe recalled the past when his previous government came up with a devolution package which was opposed by both Tamil parties and hardline Southern outfits.
“Remember what I offered you in 2005 and you rejected, do not make the mistake again. That is all I can say to you,” he said.
When TNA Spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran intervened to put the context of past successive governments’ assurances to both India and the international community–particularly by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to “implement the 13th Amendment and plus”, the President responded by saying he is Ranil Wickremesinghe, not “Ranil Rajapaksa”–a term coined by Opposition parties to criticise dependency on the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) for his political survival.