Head of the Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA), Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri has reportedly given a witty response Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) Chairman, Hudson Samarasinghe on the 9th morning.

Samarasinghe, who presents an analysis of daily news reports at 7 a.m. on SLBC, had connected Devasiri via telephone to inquire about the progress made in the discussions between the FUTA and Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

Samarasinghe had wanted to get Devasiri to say that the lecturers’ strike was to end that it was Basil Rajapaksa’s intervention that has brought about a solution to the strike.

“Isn’t the problem over now professor?” Samarasinghe had asked.

“It is the government that would have to decide if the problem is over or not. We have presented our demands. The government needs to decide if our demands would be met,” Devasiri had responded.

Samarasinghe had then asked, “Won’t you say that the university lecturers’ strike is nearing an end?”

“A moderator would have to bring both parties concerned to a middle ground in order to resolve the issue. It is then that both parties could sit at the negotiating table to discuss the issue. This is what resolving a problem means. But what do you people do? You sit in one corner and fuel the problem. You then shamelessly ask if the problem has been resolved. The manner in which you use the media is very shameful,” Devasiri had said.

Samarasinghe had immediately said, “Right, ok,” and disconnected the line.