BATTICALOA — President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Wednesday inaugurated the newly constructed three-storey public library building of the Batticaloa Municipal Council, an event that became the occasion for a pointed public reminder from former MP and ITAK General Secretary M.A. Sumanthiran that meaningful power-sharing remains an unfinished obligation of the state.
The library — a modern three-storey structure funded jointly by the central government and the Eastern Provincial Council — was originally initiated under the administration of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, the former Eastern Province chief minister known as Pillayan, who is now in jail. Construction of the project had been repeatedly delayed and stalled over the years.
President Dissanayake, attending as chief guest at the invitation of the Municipal Council, cut the ceremonial ribbon to declare the building open for public use. He also inaugurated the library's official website, toured the building, held a discussion with council staff, and planted a sapling within the premises. Batticaloa Mayor K. Sivam Packiyanathan, who presided over the ceremony, presented the President with a memento. Among those present were Eastern Province Governor Prof. Jayantha Lal Ratnasekera; Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Sunil Handunnetti, who also chairs the Batticaloa District Coordinating Committee; MPs R. Shanakkiyan, G. Srinesan, Dr. Ilayathambi Srinath, M.L.A.M. Hizbullah, and Kandasamy Prabhu; and the Inspector General of Police.
Speaking at the ceremony ahead of the President, Sumanthiran noted that the Batticaloa Municipal Council — administered by ITAK — had extended the invitation to Dissanayake and that he had fully expected the President to accept it, given Dissanayake's repeated public praise of libraries and reading culture, including a recent address at the Kamban Festival. "I thank him for accepting that invitation," Sumanthiran said.
He then drew a pointed political parallel from the ceremony itself. The President, Sumanthiran noted, had asked him to unveil the commemorative plaque after cutting the ribbon. "In one sense, this is an example of how we can share responsibilities among ourselves," he said. "I think it is also a symbol and precedent for sharing power in this country."
Sumanthiran invoked the President's own words from the previous day. "Even yesterday, the President stated in his speech that he would not allow war to happen again in this country. He comes from a movement that once took up arms. We come from a people who also took up arms. Both sides have now arrived at the conclusion that war should never happen again and that it is not something to be welcomed."
He added: "However, if war is not to recur in this country, meaningful power-sharing must take place. On that basis, I wish to remind the President of the urgent necessity for meaningful power-sharing."
Addressing the gathering, President Dissanayake said he was pleased to see the completion of a project whose construction had long been stalled. He remarked that opening a library was akin to eliminating the need for a prison, and commended the reading culture that Tamil people continue to sustain at a time when it is declining elsewhere in the country. A dedicated section within the new building aimed at introducing children to scientific and technological knowledge was noted as a special feature of the facility.
The ceremony, however, did not pass without controversy. Thilipkumaar Ganeshan, the JVP's Kalkudah organiser, issued a sharply worded Facebook post on Wednesday, accusing ITAK's leadership of travelling from Jaffna to Batticaloa solely for ceremonial visibility, without any genuine record of contribution to the district's development.
"Apart from drawing Batticaloa's youth into armed struggle, using them for the interests of Jaffna-centric politics, bringing a politics of destruction into our district and wiping out an entire generation, and gaining political profit during elections, the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) has no history whatsoever of having done anything to build up our district," Thilipkumaar wrote. He alleged the party had no record of having lifted a finger to improve education, the economy, or the living standards of the people of Batticaloa. "It was the youth of our district who moved mountains for their political interests," he said.
Thilipkumaar concluded that those who had not contributed "even a single brick, a handful of soil, or even one book" to the Batticaloa Library had made the journey from Jaffna merely to be photographed at the opening. "Those who stood in front only to attach their names to it — that is a history worthy of ridicule," he wrote.
Sumanthiran had not publicly responded to the criticism at the time of publication.
