Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran has called for the immediate resignation of all Tamil members of Sri Lanka’s National People’s Power (NPP), after Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala announced in parliament that an illegally installed Buddha statue in Trincomalee would be reinstated with police protection.
In a sharply worded statement posted on X, Sumanthiran accused the NPP government of capitulating to Sinhala nationalist pressure and abandoning its pledge to treat all communities equally.
“The ITAK is utterly dismayed by the conduct of the government and Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala for tamely giving into the undue pressures of the majoritarian forces,” he wrote.
Sumanthiran noted that when police removed the unauthorised statue from Trincomalee beach on the minister’s orders the previous night, some believed the government was finally acting lawfully and without ethnic bias. “Alas! That was short-lived,” he said, after Wijepala told parliament the statue had only been removed due to “security concerns” and would be reinstalled.
He condemned the announcement as a blatant reversal, stating that the NPP government now stood “exposed as a racist, Sinhala Buddhist nationalist force, no different to any other government in the past.”
The ITAK is utterly dismayed by the conduct of the government and public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala for tamely giving into the undue pressures of the majoritarian forces. Last night when the Police removed the illegally installed statue on the Trincomalee beach on the…
— M A Sumanthiran (@MASumanthiran) November 17, 2025
Sumanthiran went further, demanding that all Tamil members of the NPP, including Trincomalee MP and Deputy Minister Arun Hemachandra, resign from their posts.
The controversy erupted when Sinhala Buddhist monks began constructing a shrine on Trincomalee beach without approval from the Coastal Conservation Department. Police initially intervened, and the statue was removed after a tense confrontation. However, following public pressure from Sinhala nationalist groups, the minister announced that the statue would be returned and receive special police protection.
Tamil political parties and rights groups across the Tamil homeland have criticised the incident as part of a long-standing pattern in which state institutions enable and protect encroachment by Buddhist monks in the North-East. The latest U-turn, they say, shows that the new administration is unwilling to confront Sinhala Buddhist majoritarianism even in instances of clear illegality.
Sumanthiran’s call for resignations marks one of the most direct challenges yet issued to Tamil MPs aligned with the NPP, and reflects growing frustration within Tamil political circles over what they describe as the government’s rapid retreat from its promises of equality, rule of law, and non-discrimination.
