Did Anura Kumara Avoid a Foreign Journalist Due to Poor English Skills?

As the presidential election approaches, the candidate from National People’s Power (NPP), Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has increasingly become a target of misinformation and disinformation campaigns. These efforts to spread falsehoods appear to intensify as the election draws near, aiming to undermine Dissanayake's reputation and mislead the public.

Social Media Posts

A viral video circulating on social media claims that Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the National People’s Power (NPP) presidential candidate, avoided a foreign female journalist at a political rally because he could not respond to her question in English. The video suggests Dissanayake's reluctance to engage with the journalist highlights his poor English proficiency.

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Given the widespread nature of this claim, we decided to investigate the matter.

Fact Check

Investigating the Video Claim

To verify the authenticity of this claim, we conducted reverse image search of the video footage. Our search revealed that the background setting of the viral video closely matches a clip uploaded by the BBC on its official YouTube channel titled “Why Sri Lanka’s election is so pivotal”.

The video features Samira Hussain, the BBC's South Asia correspondent, covering the upcoming Sri Lankan presidential election. In the BBC clip: Samira reports on all the major presidential candidates, including Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

The video shows a brief interaction between the journalist and and Dissanayake just moments before a political rally. She asks the NPP presidential candidate, “Are you going to win?” to which Anura Kumara responds confidently, “Yes... 100% sure, okay.”

No Evidence of Avoidance

Contrary to the viral claim that Dissanayake avoided the journalist’s question due to his inability to speak English, the BBC video clearly shows that he engaged with the journalist and answered her question.

The viral video shows a few more exchanges between the BBC's South Asia correspondent and Anura Kumara before addressing a particular gathering.

We contacted NPP media regarding the incident, and they stated that Anura Kumara briefly answered the journalist as he was in a hurry to go to the meeting stage to address the gathering and added that the viral video has been selectively edited to mislead viewers into believing Dissanayake intentionally avoided the journalist.

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Conclusion

The viral video claims Anura Kumara Dissanayake avoided a foreign female journalist’s question due to poor English proficiency is misleading. The BBC footage shows that Dissanayake did engage with the BBC journalist and confidently responded to her question about his chances of winning the election. The edited viral video misrepresents the situation, leading to misleading narrative.