Minister Ramalingam Did Not Attend a Thileepan Commemoration; Purported Statements by Deputy Minister Are Fake

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Every September, commemorations for the LTTE’s Rasaiah Parthipan, better known as Thileepan, reopen old fault lines in Sri Lankan politics. This year two posts poured fuel on them: one claiming a cabinet minister had attended a Thileepan commemoration in the North, and another quoting a deputy minister praising him as a “freedom fighter.” Both spread fast, and both landed in our inbox. Here are the posts.

Social Media Posts – Claim 1

This post claimed that Minister of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources Ramalingam Chandrasekaran had attended a Thileepan commemoration held recently in the North. It read: “It is a minister of this country who is now paying homage to Thileepan, a man who first joined the LTTE’s armed wing and later became an LTTE political leader. So, who are we supposed to blame? Is ‘Punarudaya’ (Renaissance) the one name responsible for ushering in an age where terrorists become heroes and heroes become terrorists?”

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Fact-Check 1

The photo and post circulated against the backdrop of Thileepan’s 39th commemoration, which began on 15 September 2026 with the unveiling of a new bronze statue near Jaffna’s Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil and tributes across the North. Details here, here and here.

No mainstream outlet reported the Minister attending any such commemoration, and no credible media published the photo being shared on social media.

Minister of Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources Ramalingam Chandrasekaran

We asked the Minister’s media secretary directly. He said the Minister had not attended any Thileepan commemoration, that the photo was edited, and that the Minister was currently overseas.

The Photo Was Digitally Edited

To check the photo that said to show Ramalingam at a Thileepan commemoration, we ran a reverse-image search. It confirmed that the picture actually came from a memorial tribute event for Thileepan held at the Jaffna Municipal Council. Other news reports carrying the original photo are available here and here. One of the photos clearly shows that the Minister’s face had been superimposed onto the image.

A closer look at the version circulating on social media also shows it to be AI-generated: the official Gemini AI watermark is also clearly visible on it.

It is therefore clear that the photo claiming Minister Ramalingam attended a Thileepan commemoration is a doctored image.

Social Media Posts – Claim 2

A separate post claimed that Deputy Minister of Urban Development Eranga Gunasekara had called Thileepan a “freedom fighter,” saying, “we live in a country where certain tribespeople are even afraid of Brother Thileepan’s statue.”

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Given how widely this post had spread, we set out to verify it.

Fact-Check 2

The post was built to look exactly like a ‘Newsfirst’ new outlets’ card, logo, and all, yet no such post exists on Newsfirst’s official Facebook page. Newsfirst’s manager confirmed that the card was a forgery, misusing their brand and that they had never published it. Our checks of mainstream media also found no instance of the Deputy Minister making this statement, or any similar remark about Thileepan.

Deputy Minister of Urban Development Eranga Gunasekara

We contacted the Deputy Minister’s media secretary about the post. She said the Deputy Minister had never made any such statement and that the post was fabricated.

Who Was Thileepan, and What Are Thileepan Commemorations?

Rasaiah Parthipan, known as Thileepan, was a member of the LTTE’s political wing. In 1987 he began a fast-unto-death near Jaffna’s Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil, putting five demands to the Indian government. He started refusing food and water on 15 September 1987 and died twelve days later, on 26 September 1987, at a time when India’s role in Sri Lanka’s North and East had grown sharply following the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord. Details here and here.

Commemorations for Thileepan’s 39th anniversary are being held across several parts of the North from 15 to 26 September. This year’s observances opened on 15 September with the unveiling of a newly built bronze statue, at which floral tributes were laid. News websites reported the tributes across Jaffna here, here and here. Media also reported police removing sound equipment during the Nallur commemoration on 18 September, here and here.

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Conclusion

Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekaran did not attend a Thileepan commemoration in the North. The photo shared to suggest he did is a doctored image: the Minister’s face was superimposed onto a genuine photo from a memorial tribute event held for Thileepan at the Jaffna Municipal Council.

Our checks also confirmed that Deputy Minister Eranga Gunasekara never made the statement attributed to him, describing Thileepan as a “freedom fighter” or claiming that “we live in a country where certain tribespeople are even afraid of his statue.” The Newsfirst-style card carrying it was a forgery, confirmed by Newsfirst and by the Deputy Minister’s office.