May 2026

India to Fund New Four-Story Medical Complex at Mullaitivu Hospital

India to Fund New Four-Story Medical Complex at Mullaitivu Hospital

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka has begun implementation of a major Indian grant-funded healthcare project in Mullaitivu, where a new four-story medical ward complex will be built at the District General Hospital under a 600 million Sri Lankan rupee assistance package from the Government of India. The project follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha and Sri Lanka’s Acting Health Secretary Dr. W.K. Wickremasinghe during Indian Vice President C.P. Radh
May 2026 Monitor Memo
Our Reporter

Our Reporter
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Bars Professor From Academia After University Failed to Act
Prof. W. M. Thilakaratne, former dean of the Faculty of Dental Sciences at the University of Peradeniya, now at the University of Malaya. Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has permanently barred him from any academic post in Sri Lanka after a university inquiry found him guilty of harassing a junior colleague.

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Bars Professor From Academia After University Failed to Act

When the governing council of the University of Peradeniya voted in May 2020 to discard the findings of its own formal disciplinary inquiry, which had found a senior professor guilty of cyberstalking, repeated physical touching and sustained emotional abuse of a junior colleague under his academic supervision, it may have assumed the matter was over. Dr. W. A. M. Udari L. Abeyasinghe, the junior colleague at the centre of the complaint and a dentist and lecturer at the same faculty, had already
JM Exclusive May 2026
Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam
Open Letter to Vijay: Tread Carefully on Sri Lanka

Open Letter to Vijay: Tread Carefully on Sri Lanka

Dear Vijay, Heartiest congratulations on becoming the chief minister of Tamil Nadu! Now that you start governing one of India’s biggest and economically most developed states, plenty of problems, small and big, will crop up. You already mentioned the state’s fiscal mess after taking the oath of office. Unlike most chief ministers in India, you will be confronted now and then by matters affecting or involving a neighbouring country: Sri Lanka. This is where you need to exercise extreme cautio
JM Exclusive May 2026
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
Gajendrakumar Urges Vijay to Declare May 18 as Mullivaikkal Genocide Remembrance Day

Gajendrakumar Urges Vijay to Declare May 18 as Mullivaikkal Genocide Remembrance Day

CHENNAI — Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, leader of Sri Lanka’s Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), has formally urged newly sworn-in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay to declare May 18 as Mullivaikkal Genocide Remembrance Day through an official resolution in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Mr. Ponnambalam sent the letter following Mr. Vijay's swearing-in on May 10 as Tamil Nadu's ninth chief minister — the first to lead a government formed by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, the party Mr.
JM Exclusive May 2026
Our Reporter

Our Reporter
Vijay’s Religion Didn’t Win or Lose Tamil Nadu — Governance Will

Vijay’s Religion Didn’t Win or Lose Tamil Nadu — Governance Will

By M.R. Narayan Swamy One day, dozens of children from a convent school flocked to the Kamakoti Peetam at Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu to take the blessings of the now late Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, undoubtedly one of modern India’s greatest and most revered Hindu saints. The Mahaperiyava, as he was addressed, gave each student, boy or girl, a banana as prasadam or holy offering. He later told his aides that many of the students were Christians, and it would not have been correct to offer
May 2026 OP-ED
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
Vijay sworn in as Tamil Nadu CM, promises “new era” in governance

Vijay sworn in as Tamil Nadu CM, promises “new era” in governance

By M.R. Narayan Swamy Just 824 days after he took to politics, Tamil superstar Vijay, nee C. Joseph Vijay, on Sunday, took oath as Tamil Nadu’s new chief minister amid cheers and wild whistling by thousands of supporters, and immediately vowed to provide “a new era” to one of India’s biggest states now saddled with a huge debt. As a packed Jawaharlal Nehru stadium roared in approval, Vijay, 51, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, who, until
JM Exclusive May 2026
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy
Jay Shah, Modi, AKD Named in Alleged Behind-the-Scenes Cricket Board Overthrow

Jay Shah, Modi, AKD Named in Alleged Behind-the-Scenes Cricket Board Overthrow

COLOMBO — A senior Sri Lankan opposition parliamentarian has claimed that the recent removal of the country's cricket board leadership was orchestrated through a behind-the-scenes agreement among President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and International Cricket Council Chairman Jay Shah. Dayasiri Jayasekara, a Samagi Jana Balawegaya lawmaker and former Sports Minister, made the allegation during an appearance on the political talk show Derana 360 last week, sayi
May 2026 Monitor Memo
Our Reporter

Our Reporter
Bruised Vijay Clears Final Hurdle in Tamil Nadu

Bruised Vijay Clears Final Hurdle in Tamil Nadu

By M.R. Narayan Swamy After five days of tense, suspense-packed drama, Tamil superstar Vijay on Saturday was finally on the path to becoming the new chief minister of Tamil Nadu as he marshaled majority support before Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar. But Vijay supporters admitted that the 51-year-old actor-turned-politician had learnt some invaluable lessons in politics as his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) desperately scouted for support since May 4 after falling short of a legislative m
JM Exclusive May 2026
M.R. Narayan Swamy

M.R. Narayan Swamy