Several politicians representing the plantation areas have said that there is no raw rice for the people of the plantation areas to celebrate the Thai Pongal festival that is falling today.
They say that some shops in the plantation areas are currently selling raw rice at a higher price of three kilos per person, and that the Tamil people are buying rice for that price due to the need to perform Thai Pongal rituals.
Meanwhile, National People’s Power MP Devananda Suraweera, who addressed the media in Colombo yesterday, said that everyone in the country ate rice rice on January 1st and that there is plenty of rice in the shops.
Expressing further views, he said that rice rice is a food culture of special occasions in our country. However, attempts are being made to use those special occasions for the political interests of the opposition.