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It is common on social media to misrepresent statements made by politicians, as well as to attribute statements that were not made by them. Here, we looked at one such instance targeting an SLPP member.
Social Media Posts:
A post was shared, citing a statement made by a member of the SLPP, saying, “When Namal steps down in 2039 after serving two presidential terms, Limini (Namal’s wife) will take over the country for the next 10 years and then, Kesara (son of Namal and Limini) will be a mature leader to take over the country after Limini.”
This series of notes was also shared on social media from a satirical angle, as follows.
We took steps to verify the accuracy of this.
Fact Check:
First, we checked to see if a person named Pasan Kasthuri, a member of the SLPP, had made the above-mentioned statement on the SLPP’s political platforms or elsewhere; we were unable to find any such news.
We took steps to verify whether such a post had been published on the “News Lab” Facebook page, as indicated in the above social media posts. However, there is no statement on that page either.
It was seen that another statement made by the SLPP member, which states, “Even if aliens come and invade, Anura will not be allowed to step down from his chair without proving the allegations made against the Rajapaksa family”. This statement had been altered to make a false attribution targeting Pasan.
Pasan Kasthuri made these remarks during an interview, as seen here.
However, Pasan Kasthuri had stated that the SLPP has shown rapid growth in recent times, that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna will win the next elections, and that Namal Rajapaksa will be the next President.
He also posted on his Facebook account stating that the post, which went viral on social media, was false.
Furthermore, when we inquired, Pasan Kasturi stated that these notes are false and that a false version made by certain political parties is being circulated, claiming that he made a statement that he did not make.
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Conclusion:
Our investigation shows that the posts circulating on social media claiming that a member of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna made a statement saying Namal Rajapaksa would serve two back-to-back presidential terms, and as he steps down, his wife Limini and subsequently their son Kesara would rule the country are false and were created by falsely editing a post containing another statement.
Title: Statement by an SLPP member about future presidents in Sri Lanka? Find out the truth…
Fact Check By: Pavithra Sandamali
Result: False
