by Saman Indrajith

The government had tabled the Batalanda Commission report because its main element, the JVP, would otherwise have faced a debilitating split, TNA MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam told Parliament on Saturday.

Participating in the third reading debate on Budget 2025, Rasamanickam said he believed that there would be further action in respect of the Batalanda report.

“The problem is that all these reports, when tabled, rarely lead to any action. The Paranagama Commission report was tabled. The Udalagama Commission report was tabled. What actions did the previous governments take? This government has also had enough time. The President has been in office for six months. If his position was to take action on these matters, or investigate them, he would have started by now. But nothing of that sort has happened,” the MP said.

The government had to table this report due to the pressure it was facing. The government finally tabled it because of pressure within the JVP itself. “If the government had not tabled it, Kumar Gunaratnam of the Frontline Socialist Party would have caused at least 10 divisions, within the JVP. Fearing that split, the government finally tabled the report in Parliament,” Rasamanickam said.