On Saturday, October 24, 2026, Sarvajana Balaya leader and MP Dilith Jayaweera and former minister Prof. Channa Jayasumana attended a Muslim religious festival on Old Moor Street, Colombo 12. The next day, October 25, was Vap Full Moon Poya Day. For two politicians who often speak about Buddhist values, the timing was an easy target. Within hours, a video was circulating that accused them of “handing out a lorry of beef before Poya”, crafted to stir the religious feelings of Buddhists.
At the center of the story was a ‘kidu’ meal. ‘Kidu’ (from the Tamil ‘kidugu’) refers to woven coconut fronds, and a ‘kidu sahan’ is a rice meal packed in a container woven from them and shared at Muslim religious festivals. Here are the posts that turned that meal into a “beef lorry”.
Social Media Posts:
On the night of October 24, a series of posts shared a video carrying the words, “Dilith and Channa’s fake Buddhism. They handed out a lorry of beef before Poya. Buddha’s rays on the lips, beef in the belly.” The caption claimed that the Young Muslim Association was a “fake” organisation set up for the occasion, that Dilith Jayaweera bore the entire cost, and that “five cattle were slaughtered at dawn” and the meat was wrapped in leaves and handed out. The post was shared more than 8,700 times.
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Claim Under Review: Dilith Jayaweera and Channa Jayasumana distributed beef from a lorry on the day before Vap Poya (October 24, 2026).
Fact-Check:
The lorry carried the Young Muslim Association’s 51st Mohideen Mawlid ‘kidu sahan’ parcels
On October 24, 2026, the Young Muslim Association at No. 287/A1, Old Moor Street, Colombo 12, organised a free ‘kidu’ rice distribution for 1,300 people to mark its 51st Mohideen Mawlid anniversary. A regional Tamil Facebook page had reported the day before, on October 23, that it would be held at around 12.30 p.m.
The invitation published on that page named Dilith Jayaweera as chief guest and Prof. Channa Jayasumana as special guest. The organizers named were Rushdy Nizar and Rilwan Tajudeen.
The same news page also posted an eight-minute video of the event that day. It showed parcels woven from coconut fronds being handed out from a lorry, with Dilith Jayaweera also handing over parcels.
‘Kidu’ is a rice meal served in a container woven from coconut fronds
‘Kidu’ comes from the Tamil word “கிடுகு” (kidugu). One of its meanings is woven coconut fronds, known as Cadjan, as shown in a Tamil dictionary here.
‘Kidu sahan’ meals are common in Muslim areas of Sri Lanka. For example, a ‘kidu’ meal distributed in August 2024 to raise funds for the development of a mosque in Akurana included chicken devilled, beef Kurma, brinjal, and Maldive fish Sambol, as posted here. A ‘kidu’ meal can therefore contain beef as well as chicken. That alone, however, is no evidence that beef was handed out on this occasion.
The photos in the viral video were altered
The cover photo of the video was a photo Channa Jayasumana posted on his Facebook page at 4.18 p.m. on October 24. In the original photo, none of the people standing near the lorry wore a cap. In the video, white Muslim caps had been added to the heads of three of them.
The image at the end of the video, showing Dilith and Channa cooking meat in red aprons and caps, had also been edited.
The organizers and guests say only chicken was used in the ‘kidu’ rice
In a post on his official Facebook page at 4.18 p.m. on October 24, Prof. Channa Jayasumana said that “a few extremists have made up a story that this was a distribution of beef, and it is a baseless lie”, and that “there was no beef even among these dishes”. This shows the beef story was already spreading by that evening before the video above was posted.
Rushdy Nizar and Rilwan Tajudeen of the Young Muslim Association, which organised the event, also denied that beef was distributed. They told us that, considering the high price of beef in the market and that chicken was easy for everyone to eat, only chicken was used in the ‘kidu sahan’ meal prepared for 1,300 people.
Dilith Jayaweera’s media unit also said that he and other party representatives attended as invited guests, that the ‘kidu’ meal was rice cooked with curries including chicken, and that no beef was distributed in any form.
Through the organizers, we also reached several people who attended the event. They said that although last year’s meal at this festival contained beef, this year the ‘kidu’ rice was made with chicken.
What was inside the parcels cannot be independently confirmed
We could not find any photo or video that directly showed whether the ‘kidu’ parcels handed out that day contained chicken or beef once opened, and the organizers could not provide any either. We searched Facebook, YouTube and TikTok using Sinhala, Tamil, and English keywords, and also asked several shops in the area where the event was held. According to them, and in all the footage we saw, only closed parcels were visible. A video of the distribution is below.
We therefore cannot independently confirm that only chicken was used in the ‘kidu’ rice. At the same time, those claiming that beef was distributed, or that “five cattle were slaughtered”, have produced no evidence either. The only footage they offered was the altered photos and the closed parcels described above.
Cultural reality: a tradition no one can fault
At a traditional Sufi Muslim festival such as the Mohideen Mawlid anniversary held on Old Moor Street, Colombo 12, it is normal to prepare a meal (‘kidu’ rice) containing either beef or chicken.
Serving food with beef or chicken at a religious event of Sri Lanka’s Muslim community is not against the law. Although a proposal to ban cattle slaughter received Cabinet approval in September 2020, it was never implemented, as shown here.
The same event was used as a political weapon from both sides
Sinhala posts compared the event with Dilith Jayaweera’s and Channa Jayasumana’s statements on Buddhist culture and compassion for animals and accused them of “double standards”. Channa Jayasumana was a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP and State Minister of Pharmaceutical Production from 2020 to 2024 and is now deputy chairman of Sarvajana Balaya.
Tamil-language posts and videos, on the other hand, voiced the Muslim community’s displeasure at the two being invited to the festival at all, and recalled the policy of forced cremation of bodies during the COVID-19 pandemic (here). The same event was thus portrayed on one side as a “betrayal of Buddhism” and on the other as “deceiving the Muslim community”.
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Conclusion:
It is true that Dilith Jayaweera and Channa Jayasumana handed out food parcels from a lorry on October 24, the day before Vap Poya. But it was a pre-announced distribution of 51st Mohideen Mawlid ‘kidu’ parcels organised by the Young Muslim Association of Colombo 12, and the viral video that called it a “beef lorry” used altered photos. Channa Jayasumana, Dilith Jayaweera’s media unit and the organizers all said chicken, not beef, was used.
Despite our efforts, we found no clear photo or video showing whether the parcels contained chicken or beef once opened, and those spreading the beef claim produced no evidence either. If we receive credible photos or footage of what was inside the parcels, we will verify them and report the result. Until then, all we can do as an independent fact-checker is place the event and both sides’ statements before the public.
