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Deputy Minister Chaturanaga Abeysinghe faced a lot of ridicule on social media after a speech he made at a public rally claiming that US President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze tariffs for 90 days was prompted by the letter sent by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to his US counterpart.

He may not have said so specifically, but given the metaphors and double-speak his party colleagues have now got accustomed to, in office, he was being accused of trying implicitly to mean just that.

After online trolling began, Mr. Abeysinghe claimed what he said had been edited and only a part of his speech had been telecast, thus giving a distorted version of what he actually said. He has since lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime Investigation Division of the Police seeking action against those who have ‘defamed his good name’ (keerthi naamaya), which in turn has led to even more ridicule, with him earning the nickname ‘Keerthi’.

Mr. Abeysinghe is not alone among NPP MPs who have sought police intervention on similar grounds. One thing is clear: being new to politics, they are yet to learn the need to grow a thick skin if they are to survive in politics because if politicians spend their time seeking police action against everyone who criticises them, then the Police will have no time to do any other work but serve their political masters.

Govt. mum on Ravi’s bill

New Democratic Front (NDF) National List MP Ravi Karunanayake has presented a private member’s bill to Parliament to repeal the Online Safety Act.

The bill which has been published in the Gazette seeks to repeal the controversial Act which the Government also says it wants repealed and replaced with another law. However, the government has not said so far if it will support Mr. Karunanayake’s bill.

Non-practising lawyer vs. non- practising doctor

Health and Mass Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, while questioning the real intentions of Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila in becoming legal counsel to Sivanesathurai Santhirakanthan, alias Pillayan, who is in police detention over the disappearance of the Vice-Chancellor of the Eastern University in 2006, said that no one has seen Mr. Gammanpila appearing in court as a lawyer before.

This prompted many on social media to query that while Dr. Jayatissa is an MBBS holder, no one has seen him practising medicine either.

Kandy observes abstinence during the Tooth Relic exposition period

Within the Kandy Municipal Council limits, all licensed taverns and bars were ordered to be closed by the Excise Department during the period of the special exposition of the sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha.

Excise Department officials have been deployed in the Kandy MC area to ensure that there are no liquor sales from April 18 to April 27.

Bengal shares border with Lanka: Mamata fails in geography

Mamata Banerjee

The West Bengal chief of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sukanta Majumdar, has taken a potshot at the state’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over a gaffe in which she claimed Bengal shared a border with Sri Lanka, Indian media reported.

In the clip Majumdar shared, Mamata is seen claiming that “Bengal is the border of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan,
and Sri Lanka”.

Calling Mamata a “failed CM”, Majumdar linked her remark to India’s Supreme Court ruling that upheld the cancellation of the 2016 recruitment of over 25,700 teachers and non-teaching staff for state government schools, saying the selections were tainted beyond repair.

“When the Chief Minister herself can’t tell where her state ends and an island nation begins, is it any wonder qualified teachers are jobless while scams thrive?” Majumdar, who is also a Union Minister, said.

Auditor General flags misuse of funds by Archaeology Department

The Archaeology Department utilised more than Rs. 3.9 million out of Rs. 6.2 million it had been allocated from the Central Cultural Fund (CCF) for the maintenance and management of archaeological sites in 2023 to buy office equipment, the Auditor General has found.

Accordingly, this amounted to 63 percent of the money allocated from the CCF for maintenance and management of archaeological sites, the Auditor General’s Department has noted. It has further been pointed out that although a provision should be allocated from the annual estimate for the purchase of non-financial assets required by the department, it had opted to spend funds allocated by the CCF to purchase office equipment in contravention of this regulation.

The findings have been noted in the Auditor General’s report on the Department of Archaeology’s annual performance report for 2023. It was recently tabled in Parliament.

The Auditor General’s report also contains disturbing revelations of how the country’s archaeological sites and artefacts have suffered irreparable harm owing to shortcomings at the Archaeology Department.

One such example is the fate of the slab inscription believed to be from the 2nd-3rd centuries AD located at the Murunkan Hospital premises in the Mannar District. The slab inscription measuring 160cm in length and 61cm in width, containing weathered Late Brahmi script, was declared an Ancient/Protected Monument via Gazette No. 1868 dated 20th June, 2014. However, no action had been taken to protect the slab, and it was observed that the vulnerable characters on the slab had faded away due to hospital staff using the slab as a seat, the report reveals.

Avurudu: It’s not time for brawl

The Avurudu season is meant to be one where old enmities are ended and friendships renewed.

However, that is not always the case, as evidenced by a massive brawl that broke out between two groups during an Avurudu festival held at Galenbindunuwewa in Anuradhapura this week.

The brawl had broken out between two groups following a verbal altercation in the midst of the festivities. The altercation had then escalated into a full-on brawl, with mobile phone footage of the incident showing a large number of people at the event getting involved in the fighting.

Festival organisers were eventually able to defuse the situation and restore order. Police were not called in, and no arrests were made in relation to the incident.

Thereafter, it was the local version of Auld Lang Syne, where they all drank a cup of kindness and went their merry ways home, having welcomed a new year in the way they know best.

Tuition teacher stirs controversy after she celebrates exam success with police escorts

A high-profile female private tuition teacher is in hot water after the Police launched an investigation into a viral video. It showed she is being given a police escort to an event organised by her to felicitate her students who had passed the Grade 5 scholarship examination with flying colours.

Police Media Spokesperson Buddhika Manatunga said the event was attended by 8,000 students and around 35,000 parents at a conference hall in Colombo.

A video grab of the gala event organised by the tuition teacher

The controversy began after footage of her being escorted to the venue by police motorcycles and vehicles went viral on social media, prompting the Police to announce an inquiry.

SSP Manatunga said the Police may provide officers and vehicles based on specific requests, such as for a film, but this was done after a thorough review of the request. Police officers may also be deployed for public events such as musical shows or other functions, but this is permitted only upon payment of a required fee.

In this case, the teacher had reportedly requested police support for the ceremony but may have misused the police presence to bolster her public image, raising questions over misuse of state resources. Some police personnel too could be docked over the issue if they allowed the deployment of police personnel without proper authorisation. There will be few lessons to be learnt from this incident for the Police and maybe for the teacher as well.

Meanwhile, the tuition teacher has also raised eyebrows after photographs of the certificates she has awarded to the students at the event had listed her as “Hon. Doctor Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka”, noting that she was a dual PhD holder in the UK and the US. There is no mention of the universities in the UK and the US from where she had obtained these doctorates.