Claim: An NPP minister used profanity during the 2025 budget.
Fact: This is false. The video in this claim is from December 2022, and the minister in the video is not a member of the NPP but of the SLPP.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake presented the NPP government’s first budget on 17th February 2025. Since then, there have been many discussions on various aspects of the budget, with the public sharing their thoughts on social media.
In this context, a video of a parliament member using obscene language in the floor of the house was shared on Facebook, with a Sinhala caption reading, “NPP අචාර්ය වරු….. හොරො ට වඩා බයානකයි බොරැ කියපු උන්…සදාචාරය (NPP professors…..Those who lie are more dangerous than thieves.. Morality).”
Others also shared similar posts on Facebook expressing outrage at the purported remarks. Such posts can be seen here and here.
Factcheck / Verification
To confirm whether the video circulating on social media is true, we checked recent mainstream news reports about the incident during the 2025 budget. However, we found no such coverage.
Through reverse image search of the keyframes in the video, we found that the original video was posted by the Newscenter.lk facebook page on December 4, 2022. The caption in Sinhala reads: “අයවැය අතරතුර රාජ්ය ඇමති කියූ කුණුහරුපය,” which translates to “State Minister’s rubbish during the budget.”
This original video was also shared by Mawrata News in a news article on December 4, 2022, which reported: “State Minister Thenuka Vidanagamage was seen using obscene language and abusing the opposition during a recent parliamentary meeting. The opposition demanded that the offensive words be removed from the Hansard, which the Deputy Speaker agreed to.”
We checked the transcript of MP Thenuka Vidanagamage’s speech on December 3, 2022, included in the Hansard, and confirmed that the “obscene language” was removed.
Additionally, we confirmed that Thenuka Vidanagamage is no longer a current Member of Parliament and is not affiliated with the NPP party. He was a former MP during the eighth and ninth parliaments of Sri Lanka, elected through the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Party. He was the State Minister of Urban Development and Housing in the previous government. The official website of Parliament states that his academic qualification is up to Advanced Level (A/L), not a PhD.
Conclusion
The video claiming that a member of the NPP government used profanity during the 2025 budget is false. The video was actually captured during a parliamentary session on December 3, 2022. The minister in the video is not affiliated with the NPP and is not a current MP. He is a former MP who was elected through the SLPP Party and served as the State Minister of Urban Development and Housing in the previous government.
Result: False
Our Sources
Original video from the Newscenter.lk Facebook page, dated 04 December 2022.
News report featuring the original video in Mawrata News, dated 04 December 2022.
Former MP Thenuka Vidanagama’s speech transcript, as included in the Hansard, dated 03 December 2022.
Gazette Notification of Appointment of State Ministers, dated 14 September 2022.
Education qualifications of the former MP, published on the official website of the Sri Lanka Parliament.
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