Professor Suren Raghavan has criticised recent remarks by Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya about her household pets, saying he expected a more intellectually engaging public message from the country’s third female Prime Minister.
The criticism follows comments made by the Prime Minister at the recent Pet Expo held at the BMICH, where she said that despite holding the country’s second-highest political office, she remains a “servant to four cats” at home. While the remark was a light-hearted reflection on her personal life, Raghavan said the public, particularly the academic community, expected a higher standard of public discourse.
“I expected a more intellectually stimulating social and cultural statement from a PhD Prime Minister,” Raghavan said, expressing disappointment over the Prime Minister’s focus on her feline companions.
Raghavan also argued that such remarks were inappropriate at a time when many young people are facing challenges in the education sector. Referring to students preparing for the GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) and Advanced Level (A/L) examinations, as well as those in universities, he questioned whether the anecdote was suitable, describing it as “a kind of mockery” of students grappling with an education system in crisis.
