SJB MP S.M. Marikkar has accused the National People’s Power (NPP) and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of misleading the public during the election campaign.
Speaking during an interview, Marikkar said voters had not simply been misled by the NPP, but had been deliberately deceived by the party.
Commenting on the NPP’s use of social media during its election campaign, he said that while mothers in the past listened to pirith while attending to household chores, middle-aged women now increasingly use TikTok, while older women watch YouTube.
He said the manner in which such platforms were used for political campaigning should therefore be closely studied.
Marikkar said he had warned members of his own party as early as 2021 about the growing use of YouTube and other social media platforms for political campaigning.
He also alleged that different messages had been delivered through platforms such as TikTok at different times in order to attract public attention, and urged people to examine those videos.
Reiterating his claim, Marikkar said his view was not that people had merely been deceived by the NPP, but that they had been deliberately misled.
He further alleged that the hardships and emotional struggles faced by women had been exploited during the election campaign to secure votes.
Marikkar claimed that in some families, husbands had voted for the SJB or former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, while women and their children had voted for the NPP/JVP.
“Definitely. They were not simply deceived; they were deceived deliberately. Lies were told to their faces,” Marikkar said.
“In the past, mothers would listen to pirith while cooking, washing clothes and getting their children ready. Now middle-aged women watch TikTok, while older women watch YouTube. Study that campaign.
“I told people in our party in 2021 that they were preparing around 177 YouTube channels and warned them about what was coming. On TikTok, they would say one thing today and something else tomorrow. Go back and look at those TikTok videos.
“People were not simply fooled — they were made to believe it. In some electorates, the husband voted for us or for Ranil Wickremesinghe, while the wife, together with the children, voted for the JVP. They exploited women’s pain and suffering,” he said.
