Old Video Misleadingly Shared As PM Harini Amarasuriya Criticising NPP Government

A TikTok post circulating on social media shows an image of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) alongside a video of Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya speaking to the media in Sinhala. The post implies that she is criticising her own government by stating that “people are not important to this government.”

The video is being shared to suggest divisions within the current administration and is being presented as evidence that senior members of the government are speaking against their own policies.

Evidence

To verify the claim, we conducted keyword searches using combinations of terms related to Harini Amarasuriya, the quoted statement, and the current government. However, we found no recent credible news reports indicating that she had made such remarks about the present NPP administration.

We then carried out a reverse image and video search using keyframes from the viral clip. This led us to a video published on the M P Lanka YouTube channel on January 5, 2024, with the Sinhala caption: “ආචාර්ය හරිනි අමරසුරිය සහෝදරිය | අද පැවති ජාතික ජන බලවේගයේ මාධ්‍ය හමුවේදි,” which translates to “Dr. Harini Amarasuriya | At today’s National People’s Power press conference.”

Based on this finding, we reviewed videos published on the official National People’s Power (NPP) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) platforms and located the original footage from an NPP press conference held on January 5, 2024.

The original video confirms that Harini Amarasuriya was criticising the government led by then-President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The remarks were made several months before the NPP formed a government and therefore cannot be interpreted as criticism of the current administration.

Context

The current NPP government has faced criticism in recent months over fuel price increases, cost-of-living concerns, and questions regarding promises made during the election campaign.

Amid these debates, older videos and statements made before the NPP assumed office have frequently been reshared on social media without their original context. In several instances, such content has been presented as recent commentary, creating the false impression that government members are criticising their own administration.

In this case, a video from January 2024 has been misleadingly circulated as if it were a recent statement directed at the current government.

Verdict

A viral post claiming that PM Harini Amarasuriya is criticising the current NPP government by saying that “people are not important to this government” is misleading. The video was recorded on January 5, 2024, during an NPP press conference when she was criticising the government of then-President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The footage predates the NPP administration and is unrelated to the current government.

FAQs

Q1. Is Harini Amarasuriya criticising the current NPP government in the viral video?
No. The video was recorded before the NPP came to power and refers to the government that was in office at the time.

Q2. When was the video actually recorded?
The footage was recorded on January 5, 2024, during a National People’s Power press conference.

Q3. Which government was Harini Amarasuriya criticising in the video?
The video was recorded on January 5, 2024, when Sri Lanka was governed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Our Sources
YouTube video published on January 5, 2024, by M P Lanka.
Press conference video published on January 5, 2024, on the official NPP YouTube channel.