Jaffna MP Archchuna Ramanathan highlighted the racist double standards in how Tamil and Sinhala leaders are treated and condemned the ongoing political manipulation of ethnic tensions on the island, in a speech to parliament last week.
“Our brothers and sisters, nearly 55,000 of them, died by coming through our own communities. They came through our people and did not drop down from above. So that makes us terrorists,” he told the house.
“When 86,000 died and a bomb occurred in Dalada Maligawa, then you are not terrorists. Your Rohana Wijeweera is not a terrorist, but our Prabhakaran is. There is only one reason: we are Tamils, and you are Sinhalese.”
"Your Rohana Wijeweera isn't a terrorist, but our Prabhakaran is," MP Archchuna Ramanathan says the label of a terrorist is influenced by ethnic identity. pic.twitter.com/hElVxHNpWE
— NewsWire 🇱🇰 (@NewsWireLK) February 25, 2025
His remarks pointed to the hypocrisy in how the Sri Lankan state treats its past conflicts. While Tamil fighters who fought for an independent Tamil Eelam are labelled terrorists, Sinhala figures responsible for decades of violence, including Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Rohana Wijeweera, are not subjected to the same condemnation, he said.
“But our generation does not think like that. I don't. You all come to eat with me in parliament, and I never behave this way with you,” he continued.
Ramanathan also reflected on how generations of Tamils and Sinhalese have been raised with distorted perceptions of each other, fuelled by racist narratives that have contributed to divisions and violence.
“In 1983, I had not seen a single Sinhalese person. We were told the Sinhalese are people whose stomachs can be flattened and eaten. At the same time, you may have also been told that Tamils are those who detonate bombs and murder people. This might have been the way you had been thinking.”
“After 2009, after our ethnicities came together, we now have a better understanding. Take this parliament, for example. Whether you are in the opposition or in the ruling faction, look at how they talk to you. They are very polite.”
“But when we go back, we try to provoke ethnic tensions. They say that Tamils should be killed.”
Ramanathan went on to take a swipe at fellow Tamil parliamentarians from the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) and Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), claiming that they too are trying to stir ethnic tensions on the island.
He claimed that he told Sri Lanka’s president Anura Kumara Dissanayake not to allow the destruction of the controversial and illegal Thayiddy vihara in Jaffna, where Tamils have been protesting for months.
“I told the president not to allow this to happen,” he claimed, speaking about the call for the vihara to be dismantled from Tamil lawmakers.
“Now they are not here,” he said, speaking of his fellow Tamil parliamentarians. “They don't turn up on days like these. They are trying to play a game with you. They came and told the Tamils that they will somehow bring and acquire the Tamil Eelam. Meanwhile, Sinhalese politicians go and tell their people that they will live in a united country, that they will stop the Tamils.”
“Today, if you look at a Tamil man, no Tamil intends to break up this country into two. We don't think like that.”
Reflecting on the challenges faced by Tamil MPs in Sri Lanka’s parliament, he warned of the frustration caused by the systematic suppression of Tamil voices in political spaces.
“It has been 77 days since I came to parliament, but if I am not given an opportunity to speak, then I am to think like a terrorist.”