The International Hindu Religious Federation (IHRF) told heads of Tamil political parties not to get misled by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya’s defiant acts.
The Federation’s Secretary, Ramachandra Kurakkal Babu Sharma said yesterday that the Speaker is bound to face serious consequences in the future, for defying Presidential gazettes and interpreting the President’s decisions according to his whims, contravening the Constitution and those permanent rules under which procedure, debate and the conduct of Members in the House are regulated, and which are known as Standing Orders.
“Moreover,” he said, “ Members of the Tamil National Alliance will not be able to fulfill the aspirations of its people without the blessings of the President, who is elected by the people represented in all electorates of the country, and his office is the fountain of all powers from which all other powers are derived from.”
“The Parliament too is his House , where the members are expected to carry out their duties and roles to fulfill his mission for the country and the Speaker is a part of that mission. The Speaker is held responsible for keeping order in the House, a duty in which he has failed consistently ever since he went against the President’s gazette by firing the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe , the leader of his political party, the United National Party (UNP),” he pointed out.
The Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is expected to abide by the President’s decision . But his recent conduct has implied that he was setting the tone for an agenda of his political party, after President Maithripala Sirisena had appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister to replace Wickremesinghe.
“The Speaker proceeded to make statements implying that he does not accept the President’s appointee Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister, and that he accepts the status quo prior to that, whereas he is not supposed to make such statements or go against the President. As the Speaker, he should remain strictly non-partisan and renounce all affiliation with his former political party when taking office for the duration of his term,” he said.
“He can of course give his resignation to the President in the event, he finds it difficult to preside over the House as the Speaker with Mahinda Rajapaksa taking the seat of the Prime Minister, as per the President’s gazette he had lawfully received, “he said.
“The Tamil National Alliance must reflect on their political achievements under the previous government, whether they could get lands freed from the military to be given to the Tamil public, jobs for Tamil youth, political solutions to their issues and protection of rights of their people,” he said.
“The United National Party’s political agenda will be of no use to them without the President’s backing to execute their plans to serve their people on a pragmatic footing,”he said.
If the President says go for a general election, they may do well to support the President for the future of their politics which I believe is at a critical juncture, with C V Vigneswaran recently leaving their party.
“All in all, it is best to go for an election, after the situation created by the Speaker who has been acting as if the power of the Executive was with him,” he said and added,” Who can say no to an election in any democracy?’”