Bimal Rathnayake, a longstanding member of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and national executive member of National People's Power (NPP), claimed remarks made by his colleague and party secretary Tilvin Silva which side-lined Tamil demands for devolution did not occur, as he addressed party supporters in Vavuniya this week.
Silva told a Sinhala TV program that Tamils “do not want devolution of power,” earlier this week.
“We know for certain because we have been to the North that the common man on the street does not want the 13th Amendment,” he claimed referring to a constitutional amendment which calls for a merged North-East and the devolution of police and land powers to the province. For decades, New Delhi has called for it to be implemented, and continues to do so, even though the JVP has been staunchly opposed. Tamils have criticised it for not going far enough in its devolution of powers.
See a video of Silva delivering his remarks here.
However, Rathnayake told a crowd in Vavuniya that "I don't think Tilvin Silva would have said such a thing about Tamils and on devolution".
“The NPP is committed to resolving the ethnic and cultural issues that communities face in the country,” he claimed. “We understand the issues faced by Tamils in the estate and the North-East. We know that they have political aspirations. But I don't think Tilvin Silva said anything about devolution of power."
"We understand that there is no unity among different communities,” he continued. “There was a time when they said Muslims could not grow a beard. This hearsay about devolution is something like that.
"The 13th Amendment was brought by India to Sri Lanka however it made no change in the country. Tamils and Muslims think that endorsing the agreement is sufficient. But we will bring a new political system."
He then went on to claim that Sri Lanka’s new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake is “committed to releasing all political prisoners,” but did not divulge any further details.
