State Minister of Tourism Diana Gamage has sent a letter to the Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, seeking appropriate action against Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) General Secretary and Opposition Parliamentarian Ranjith Maddumabandara for his alleged use of an inappropriate term targeting her during a recent Parliamentary session.

During the Parliamentary debate on the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 21 April 2019 and related investigations last week, Gamage was making remarks on certain matters pertaining to the period during which Maddumabandara was the Minister of Law and Order. Maddumabandara was then seen responding to Gamage, and he, at one point, had made a derogatory statement.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (27), Gamage, who was elected to Parliament from the SJB's national list, and then joined the Governments led by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, respectively, said that she would definitely take action against the “inappropriate” behaviour of Maddumabandara.

"I will definitely take action against him. I will not let him get away with this nonsense. I have written to the Speaker that he should inquire into this incident. I will also be speaking in Parliament regarding the harassment of female MPs next week and the language that is used by these “men”. It has to come to a stop. I am not going to stop until I make sure that it comes to an end in some legal way," Gamage said.

Speaking further, she claimed that the incident that took place last week was not the first time that she was subjected to harassment, but the third time. "I have faced it three times, and this was the third. It was first with MP Nalin Bandara Jayamaha, the second was with MP Rohana Bandara, and now with Maddumabandara."

There have been several other incidents of female MPs including Gamage, Rohini Kumari Wijerathna Kaviratne, Thalatha Athukorala, and Geetha Kumarasinghe being subjected to verbal abuse in Parliament recently. Almost all MPs who were subjected to such incidents had requested the Speaker to take action against the relevant MPs, but there had not been reports of such action as of now.