Terror in the House

Wednesday 22nd November, 2023

The SLPP MPs have demonstrated once again that they are beyond redemption. They threw Parliament into chaos for the umpteenth time, yesterday, preventing Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa from asking a question based on last week’s Supreme Court judgement anent the economic crisis. Pandemonium broke loose while Premadasa was prefacing his question with a statement, which the ruling party members took exception to. They accused him of insulting former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Premadasa kept on reminding the misbehaving MPs that there were schoolchildren in the public gallery of the House, but the protesters continued to act improperly.

You cannot reason with a bunch of rowdies, can you? One can only hope that children will not emulate the so-called people’s representatives when they participate in school debates.

Having failed to shout down the Opposition Leader, yesterday, a group of SLPP MPs led by Sanath Nishantha darted across the well of the House and encircled him menacingly in a bid to intimidate him into silence, but when they failed to do so, Nishantha snatched a file from Premadasa, and Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena suspended the sitting. It was a sad day for Sri Lankan democracy or what remains thereof! Unfortunately, the government leaders looked on while their MPs were on the rampage.

Former President Rajapaksa, speaking in Parliament, yesterday, rejected the allegations levelled against him in respect of the economic crisis. His reference was obviously to the Supreme Court judgment, which has said, inter alia, that he, his brothers––Gotabaya and Basil––and several others contributed to the economic crisis. Anyone can agree or disagree with judicial decisions and even comment thereon without causing affronts to the dignity of the judiciary.

Only those who are intellectually challenged to the extent of being unable to defend themselves or their leaders or their parties in a civilised manner by presenting counterarguments resort to violence to suppress dissent. The despicable behaviour of the SLPP MPs in the House yesterday was a testament to their intellectual bankruptcy besides their propensity for violence.

Yesterday’s wild scene in Parliament reminded us of a remark made by the late Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara when a group of unruly UPFA MPs surrounded him and grabbed a file from his desk; he called it an act of terrorism. How can a country where the Opposition Leader is mobbed by the ruling party MPs in the parliamentary chamber itself and prevented from raising a question be considered a democracy?

Among the SLPP MPs who went berserk yesterday were some of those who assaulted their Opposition counterparts in Parliament during the 52-day government in 2018, prominent among them being MP Prasanna Ranaweera, who threw chilli powder at the Yahapalana MPs. No action was taken against them, and they have not mended their ways. They are a disgrace to the national legislature, and no wonder the people are asking all 225 MPs to go home though there are some good men and women among them. Hence the need for the Speaker and the party leaders to take deterrent action against the rowdies in the garb of MPs on both sides of the House.

Speaker Abeywardena suspended SJB MP Ajith Mannapperuma for four weeks following an incident where the latter tried to remove the Mace, last month. He was right in adopting such stringent measures to maintain order in the House. It will be interesting to see what action he will take against MP Nishantha, who accosted the Opposition Leader. What’s sauce for the goose is said to be sauce for the gander as well.

Speaker Abeywardena faulted the MP who had released a video of yesterday’s incident in the House to social media. He warned the MPs not to do so in future. His concerns should be appreciated, but we think the public has a right to know what their representatives do in Parliament so that they can make informed decisions when they vote.

Given the aggressive manner in which the SLPP MPs suppress the Opposition Leader’s freedom of expression in Parliament, one dreads to think what will happen in the case of elections that the government cannot afford to lose. The strange bedfellows in the current administration have a history of unleashing election violence and stuffing ballot boxes. Old habits are said to die hard. Absit omen!