Claim: Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga said that current President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya cannot save the country.
Fact: The claim is misleading. Kumaratunga does not comment on Dissanayake’s or Amarasuriya’s ability to save the country. She says that her father’s work in 1956 has helped people like them enter politics today.
A video showing former President Chandrika Kumaratunga speaking to the media about the current President and Prime Minister is going viral on video sharing platform TikTok.
The Sinhala text superimposed on the TikTok reads, “Here’s the selfish opinion of Chandrika: Anura and Harini cannot save the country. People from the village (like Anura) can do politics today because of the 1956 revolution.”
The viral video insinuates that Kumaratunga expressed her doubts about the abilities of Dissanayake and Amarasuriya to bring the country out of the economic crisis. The comments were supposedly from September 26, 2024, the death anniversary of her father and former Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, when Kumaratunga was leaving after almsgiving.
Newschecker decided to check the authenticity of the viral claim since the video went viral soon after major news outlets reported that Kumaratunga had sent Dissanayake her good wishes on his new endeavour after he was elected on September 23, 2024. A few reports can be seen here, here, and here.
Fact check/Verification
Upon listening closely to Kumaratunga the Newschecker team noted that she was referring to her father’s political work back in 1956, and how it created a political culture with people being able to join politics without a family legacy or generational wealth. “It would be great if Anura and Harini can build the country knowing that 1956 happened,” she can be heard saying.
Newschecker team further did a keyword search of the words ‘President’, ‘Anura Kumara Dissanayake’, ‘Harini Amarasuriya’, and ‘Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’ both in Sinhala and English.
We came across a press briefing she had done on September 30, 2024, where she clarified that her words on the president and the prime minister were being misinterpreted. 50 seconds into the video, Kumaratunga says that she would never speak badly of people from rural and impoverished backgrounds and further adds that her point was to merely highlight her parents’ contribution in empowering people of such backgrounds to enter politics in 1956. She further said that she wishes the President and Prime Minister her absolute best for their new offices.
Conclusion
The TikTok claiming that Ex-President Chandrika Kumaratunga said that Current President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya cannot save the country is misleading.
Result: Missing Context
Our Sources
News report on Lankadeepa, dated 25 September 2024
News report on SL Leader, dated 25 September 2024
News report on Lanka Truth, dated 25 September 2024
Hiru News reportage of press conference, dated 30 September 2024
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