The United National Party (UNP) on Wednesday accused President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of breaching diplomatic protocol by personally congratulating newly sworn-in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, saying messages of that kind from a Sri Lankan Head of State are usually reserved for fellow Heads of State rather than for provincial or state leaders abroad.
In a statement issued on May 13, the UNP said it was “surprised” to see the President extend personal congratulations to the Chief Minister of an Indian state. The party also questioned why President Dissanayake had not sent similar messages to other recently sworn-in Indian state leaders, including West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
President Dissanayake had earlier congratulated Vijay on his swearing-in as Chief Minister, noting that Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu share deep historical, cultural and economic ties and expressing hope for stronger cooperation within the broader India-Sri Lanka partnership.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna had also written to Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) earlier in the election cycle, an outreach that drew scrutiny from opposition parties at the time. The UNP’s intervention now reframes the President’s note as a protocol question rather than a partisan one, and joins similar concerns raised in recent days by individual opposition MPs.
The criticism comes only hours after Vijay cleared his floor test in the Tamil Nadu Assembly with 144 MLAs backing the TVK-led coalition, and as the new Chief Minister has already moved on bilateral concerns by writing to Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar over six Sri Lankan fishermen held at the Mandapam camp.
