-By LeN Political Correspondent
(Lanka-e-News -28.Aug.2025, 11.00 PM) A social media storm has erupted following a mock-statement circulating online that lampoons the Unified Opposition (UW) for its reaction to the arrest of Kehelbaddara Padme and several associates. The viral note, dripping with satire, casts the opposition’s outrage as nothing more than hollow theatre.
The controversy comes in the wake of the dramatic remand of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, accused of misappropriating over 160 million rupees in public funds within the space of just two days. Wickremesinghe, already ejected from power in the last elections in humiliating defeat, was taken into custody and placed on remand prison orders earlier this week. His allies in the so-called Unified Opposition immediately declared the move a “fatal blow to democracy.”
Critics have pounced on the irony. If Wickremesinghe’s arrest for alleged corruption is, by the opposition’s reasoning, an assault on democracy, then the detention of Kehelbaddara Padme and his associates—likewise accused of unlawful activity—should also qualify as a “fatal blow to democracy.” The satirical commentary spreading online points out this contradiction with biting humour.
While the true author of the viral post remains unknown, many have expressed gratitude for the sharp wit. “If the opposition leaders actually read this, they should lock themselves in the bathroom and stab their bellies with knives until they bleed,” the commentary jeers, citing the sardonic phrase of Rukshan Bellana, a well-known social critic.
Despite the ridicule, the Unified Opposition did release an official communiqué, denouncing what it called an “unlawful and anti-democratic arrest.”
“The detention of Mr. Kehelbaddara Padme and five others is a stark manifestation of the government’s despotic, anti-democratic control,” the statement read. “These individuals are not only distinguished entrepreneurs and philanthropists, but also devoted supporters of our coalition, reflecting the cultural and social fabric of contemporary Sri Lankan society. Their arrest is nothing short of an attempt to weaken and suppress the opposition at a time when the government faces unprecedented challenges.”
The statement went further, calling upon “all patriotic and nationalist citizens” to mobilise. Opposition leaders urged supporters to stage protests at the airport upon the group’s return to Sri Lanka and to “struggle until their freedom is restored.”
What began as a tongue-in-cheek Facebook post has now morphed into a political talking point. The document circulating online mocks the Unified Opposition by parodying its very language. In a final twist of ridicule, the statement lists the supposed signatories of the “UW underworld convening committee” as a roll call of colourful pseudonyms:
Patholage J.J. Al
Julampitiya Namal
Sinduwāge Gothasiri
Chuttan Wajee of Galle
Thummulla Wimale
Nindāge Petti Siripala
The fake names—half street-thug, half comedy skit—underscore the claim that the opposition has been reduced to a caricature of itself.
The arrests are playing out against a broader backdrop of instability in Colombo. The government insists that both Wickremesinghe’s detention and that of Kehelbaddara Padme are rooted in legitimate investigations into corruption and unlawful financial dealings. The opposition, meanwhile, accuses the administration of weaponising the law to silence dissent.
Yet the satire that now trails the Unified Opposition may be doing more damage to its credibility than the arrests themselves. Once seen as a coalition capable of holding government to account, the UW increasingly looks like a faction struggling for relevance, mocked both on the streets and online.
Whether the public buys into the opposition’s narrative of democracy under siege, or the satirical portrayal of a party stabbing itself in the gut with its own contradictions, remains to be seen. But what is clear is that in Sri Lanka’s turbulent political theatre, irony is proving just as powerful a weapon as law or protest.
-By LeN Political Correspondent
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by (2025-08-28 18:10:43)
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