Colombo: For the first time since 2016, there will be no Tamil national anthem at the 72nd Independence Day celebrations in Sri Lanka and it will only be rendered in Sinhalese, the government said on Monday, demonstrating the administrationu2019s priority for the majority Sinhala community.
The then Sri Lankan government in 2015 started including the Tamil national anthem as a means of achieving reconciliation with the Tamil minority community. This will be the first time since 2016 that there will be no Tamil national anthem at the Independence Day celebrations in the country.
The national anthem will be sung only in Sinhala, officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs said on Monday.
Sri Lankau2019s Constitution provides for the singing of the national anthem in both Sinhala and Tamil.
u201c The national anthem in Tamil is not just another song but the Sri Lankan identity of the Tamil speaking community,u201d said Mano Ganesan, a Tamil politician who was the former minister of national integration and was responsible for the Tamil version being accommodated during the previous Independence Day celebrations.
Muslims make up nearly 10 per cent of Sri Lankau2019s over 21 million people, who are predominantly Sinhalese Buddhists. About 12 per cent of the population are Hindus, mostly from the ethnic Tamil minority. Agencies Sri Lanka drops Tamil national anthem from 72nd I- Day celebrations This is first year since 2016, when the Tamil anthem wonu2019t be sung. PIC/ AFP Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who describes himself as u2018 a rebel with a causeu2019, earlier served as the countryu2019s president from 2005- 2015, a period which was mired by allegations of human rights abuses, especially against the Tamils 2015 Year Sri Lanka introduced Tamil national anthem
