Memes

July 27, 2026 – August 2, 2026

This week’s memes:

(The memes published by MPA are presented as objects of analysis and documentation. Their inclusion does not imply endorsement of the views or positions expressed within them, but serves to examine how such narratives circulate in the public sphere.)

Meme 1:

• Successfully saving the bus trapped in the Kala Wewa reservoir [during Cyclone Ditwah]
• Intervening in the Asian Cup and bringing about regional peace
• Transporting railway carriages to Peradeniya via land
• Controlling the Negombo Prison riot
• Resolving the conflict among the Kavadi dance troupes

Meme 2:

That brave leader Ranjan Wijeratne, who held the Dalada Perahera (the annual Esala procession of the Template of the Tooth Relic, Kandy) and participated in it himself, despite the JVP having informed the diyawadana nilame (lay custodian) that all dancers and owners of the elephants would be killed if the procession was held in 1989. 

Context: Ranjan Wijeratne was the minister of state for defence in 1989.

Meme 3:

It is not easy living as a dobi (meaning laundry worker, the term is used as a disparaging reference for individuals who indiscriminately support the government, especially over social media)….

Top:

News report: “The Kavadi dance item of the Devinuwara Esala Perahera cancelled” – The IGP informs the district secretary

Caption: A good decision..It is the intelligence services who have said it, isn’t that so? Really proud of the vote we gave.

Bottom:

News report: The discussion on the Kavadi at Devinuwara comes to an end. All troupes granted permission [to perform].

Caption: A super decision..It should not be stopped out of fear for anyone now, should it? This is how governments should be

Meme 4:

News report: The discussion on the Kavadi at Devinuwara comes to an end. All troupes granted permission [to perform].

Caption: What are the dobis, who compared the removal of the Kavadi item with the Easter attack and justified it, saying now? They are humiliating themselves and humiliating you all as well.

Meme 5:

Not a single procession was stopped even during the war…

Meme 6:

The Devinuwara Kavadi dance item

Honourable Kanjipani and the president, who are committed to co-existence without any consideration for race or religion, are a boon to this country.

Honourable Kanjipani had no intention of putting a stop to the Kavadi dance item of the Devinuwara Perahera (procession).

His only request was that an opportunity be provided for his dance troupes too.

The president, who is fair to everyone, has now granted that request.

Meme 7:

Mother Nature, you do make things difficult..

Mahinda Rajapaksa: Separatist wars

Ranil Wickremesinghe: Aragala (struggles), economic crises

Anura Kumara Dissanayake: Kavadi issues in a procession

Meme 8:

Left: Maithripala [Sirisena], who did not give a tuppence even when intelligence services had issued warnings 97 times, allowed Sunday masses to proceed

Right: Anura Kumara, who put a stop to the Kavadi dances of a devalaya’s (a temple dedicated to a god) procession, after being alarmed by just one intelligence report.

Meme 9:

“Elderly judges are mature” – Harshana Nanayakkara

What must Mahinda [Rajapaksa] Seeya (grandfather) and Ranil [Wickremesinghe] Seeya be feeling now?

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