Uproar in House

Pandemonium broke out in the House on Friday (December 11) when some UPFA rebel MPs attacked UNP Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahman who attempted to refer to the death of national Rugby player Wasim Thajudeen and alleged that some of those responsible for his killing had been elected to Parliament. MP Rahman was speaking during the Committee Stage debate on the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

During his speech MP Rahman attempted to blame the former Government for the death of Thajudeen and said that the killers would be identified soon. However, UPFA rebel MPs who registered their protest drew the attention to the Chair that the matter could not be debated in the House as it was sub judice. This led UPFA rebel MPs to create havoc in Parliament and three UPFA MPs Johnston Fernando, Sanath Nishantha and Indika Anuruddha rushed towards MP Rahman aggressively while he launched his verbal attack against the previous government.

The 'drama' reached its climax when MP Indika Anuruddha hit MP Rahman with a book while other UPFA MPs surrounded the latter. The UPFA MPs continued their protest demanding MP Rahman to withdraw the controversial remarks by him. The uproar led the presiding member Edward Gunasekara to abruptly suspend the sittings for ten minutes.

When the sittings resumed with Speaker Karu Jayasuriya presiding there was a heated exchange of words between the Government and Opposition members. MP Johnston Fernando was locked in a heated argument with Plantations Minister Naveen Dissanayake. They raised their arms in a threatening manner. UPFA rebel MPs led by MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardena walked towards the Speaker and demanded that sub judice matters of MP Rahman's speech should be expunged. MP Rahman alleged that UPFA MP Johnston Fernando threatened him. At that point, MP Fernando also demanded time to speak because his name had been wrongly used.

Video footage

Speaker Jayasuriya said that he could not give a ruling on the matter but promised that he would do so after scrutinizing the video footage of the recordings. He sought the cooperation of MPs to proceed with the debate and called the names of MPs listed to speak. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that there had been many occasions in the past where MPs fought with each other. We have had instances of MPs even resorting to fisticuffs, but it was the first time in the Parliament's history that an MP was hit while he was speaking. However, when the UPFA MPs walked down to the Well of the House and shouted against the Government, the Speaker suspended sittings again around 4.45 p.m. When the House resumed sittings around 6.10 p.m, the Speaker told the House that he scrutinized the video footage and found that MP Rahman had not mentioned the name of any MP, but ordered to expunge the reference by the MP to 'some of those responsible for Thajudeen's killing had been elected to Parliament'.

In the backdrop of heated arguments and uproar during the Committee Stage debate on the Budget, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who joined in the debate on the Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations on Thursday (December 10) said that a few demonstrations by politically-motivated trade unions would not deal a blow to the Government elected by the votes of the people. The Premier questioned whether the ongoing strike action is a part of a trade union struggle or a political struggle and said that only the people could change the Government and not the bankrupt Opposition.

Hard-hitting speech

The Premier in his hard-hitting speech was critical of the irresponsible conduct on the part of certain trade union leaders and questioned as to why they made a big hue and cry and what were their demands? Do they need to increase the prices of essential goods which were brought down by the Budget, the Premier asked.

Several Government and Opposition MPs during the debate on the Women's Affairs Ministry votes aired their views on the issue of a Sri Lankan housemaid to be stoned to death in Saudi Arabia. MP Dinesh Gunawardena who condemned this called upon the Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment Ministries to intervene to rescue the Sri Lankan housemaid.

Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake blamed the Saudi Embassy for their lack of understanding of this incident. JVP parliamentarian Vijitha Herath said that the decision to stone the housemaid to death was a slur on Sri Lankan's dignity and questioned as to who is responsible for lowering our social system to such a deplorable level.

Certain controversial remarks by UPFA MP Indika Anuruddha condemning former UNP leaders compelled Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to give him a harsh reply.

The Premier warned young UPFA MPs not to speak ill of the political leaders who rendered a yeomen service to the country in the past. MP Anuruddha challenged the government to do some meaningful work without blaming the Rajapaksas for all the ills. He said "There is no point in repeating that the Rajapaksas were crooks. We can also talk about the frauds and corruption during the times of Jayewardenes and Premadasas". Losing no time Prime Minister Wickremesinghe got up and said. "It was President J.R. Jayewardene who built this Parliament and the services he rendered to this country are unparalleled. The Premier recalled how the late President Jayewardene donated 50 acres of his Manelwatte Estate to the Malwatte Vihara.

It was he who made Gampaha a district. He never exploited public funds. President Ranasinghe Premadasa also developed the country and built one million houses for the poor. He never stole public funds. The Premier called upon new MPs to learn history.

Double standards

UNP Gampaha District MP Harshana Rajakaruna who joined in the debate launched a scathing attack on the conduct of the UPFA rebel MPs who claim themselves to be the Joint Opposition. Condemning their double standards he challenged them, to quit the UPFA and function as Opposition MPs, if they have guts to do so. MP Rajakaruna alleged that the UPFA rebels want to be in both the Alliance and the Opposition. Instead of resorting to these double standards, UPFA rebel MPs should clarify their position whether they would like to be in the UPFA accepting the leadership of President Maithripala Sirisena or quit the UPFA and function as Opposition MPs.

Government legislators shouted at UPFA MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara when he used the word 'Padaththalaya' (swollen-headed) to address a young UNP MP in the Chamber on Thursday (December 10) during the Committee Stage debate. He lost his temper when UNP backbencher Chandima Gamage continuously interrupted his speech during the debate. MP Nanayakkara told the newly elected MP that they won the election by soliciting votes on various promises and questioned whether they could deliver what they had promised? Nanayakkara told the MP that he could play the leading role in the drama, 'Broken Promise' (Kadawuna Poronduwa).