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.