Do not degrade Sinhalese and make racist statements in Parliament – Fonseka

Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) Gampaha District MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka reacting to a previous statement made in Parliament by TMTK MP C.V. Wigneswaran warned him that degrading the Sinhalese and making racist statements undermining the Sinhalese in Parliament will get him nowhere and will not be tolerated.

Participating in the debate on the Vote on Account in Parliament yesterday, Field Marshal Fonseka said, “It is sad to observe MP Wigneswaran making such a statement undermining other communities with the help of MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam. I would like to let them both know that we consider it an insult to us.

Denigrating the Motherland in this House is a violation of the honour of this August Assembly. According to Wigneswaran, the oldest language in this country is the Tamil language. That means according to him, the Sinhala people came to this country after the Tamils. I would like to remind him that we would never bow our heads to anyone who attempts to undermine the Sinhala nation and any such attempt to undermine the Sinhala nation would fail.

Anyone who does so would not be able to exist in this country. Wigneswaran must remember that there were people in the past too, who tried to undermine the status quo of the Sinhalese. There was A. Amirthalingam who was in Parliament who instigated the Tamil youth against the Sinhalese. Finally, he got a bullet from the very same Tamil youth. Then there was Prabhakaran who thought that he could create a separate state in this country.

You saw what happened to him. Unfortunately, despite his attempts, Wigneswaran cannot be Prabhakaran as he is too old to emulate Prabhakaran; he has no time left for it. Hence, I urge him to be satisfied with what he has and never try to undermine the Sinhalese. If you try to do that you’ll face unpleasant consequences and you will repent for your folly,” Field Marshal Fonseka warned.

Participating in the debate Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said the media has gone on a rampage with the controversial statements made by MPs C.V. Wigneswaran and Selvam Adaikalanathan.

“There is an enormous public displeasure against what they had said. There is no need to repeat those racist sentiments. It is sad to notice that this MP too made a statement sanctioning what MP Wigneswaran said. I request them not to make such provocative statements which would pave the way for another communal conflict in this country.

We have no need to experience another war in this country again. The hope of this government and the President is to create an environment where Sinhala, Muslim, Tamil, Malay and other communities could live as one nation and each citizen enjoys their individual rights irrespective of their communal identity.

We have no hope of favouring any specific community or to discriminate against any community. We know that you are making these explosive speeches to rouse communal feelings among people in your electorates and to portray yourself as the defender of your community. But those statements would result in disharmony among communities at a time when these communities are working together,” Minister Amaraweera said.

(Source: Daily News – By Sandasen MARASINGHE, Camelia Nathaniel and Amali Mallawarachchi)