President Sirisena allows singing of Lankan national anthem in Tamil
In a major reconciliatory move, Sri Lankan President Mathripala Sirisena will be sending a circular to all institutions saying that there is no bar on singing the Lankan national anthem in Tamil, the New Indian Express said on Wednesday (18).
He will thus be lifting an unofficial ban existing since 2010, when President Mahinda Rajapaksa let it be known that government will frown on singing the anthem in Tamil. Schools and other institutions, which were using the Tamil version of “Sri Lanka Matha, Apa Sri Lanka” since 1951, stopped doing so.
Sirisena announced his decision to lift the language bar when the leader of the Democratic Peoples’ Front (DPF), Mano Ganeshan, raised the issue at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting here on Tuesday.
“The President said that he would send a circular saying that there is no ban on singing the national anthem in Tamil. He also said that he would have the matter cleared by the National Security Council,” Ganeshan told Express.
It was in 1951 that newly independent Lanka adopted Shantiniketan-trained Ananda Samarakoon’s Sinhalese-language song “Sri Lanka Matha, Apa Sri Lanka” as the national anthem.
Simultaneously, a Tamil version, “Sri Lanka Thaaye Nam Sri Lanka”, composed by the Lankan Tamil poet, M.Nallathambi, was also adopted. For decades, both versions were sung, although only the Sinhalese version had constitutional sanction.
But the victory of the Lankan armed forces over the Tamil Tigers in 2009, resulted in Sinhalese-nationalist parties like the National Freedom Front (NFF) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) demanding a ban on the Tamil version on the ground that countries sanction use of only one language for singing the national anthem.
On December 12, 2010, Home Minister W.D.John Senewiratne introduced a cabinet paper to officially disallow singing the anthem in Tamil. President Rajapaksa, who headed the cabinet, did not officially commit himself to Senewiratne’s proposal, but word went around that his government did not favor the use of the Tamil version. In the Tamil areas, the Security Forces insisted on the use of the Sinhalese version only. The Tamils’ argument that in several countries, including Canada and South Africa, the anthem is sung in different languages, fell on deaf ears.
Latest Headlines in Sri Lanka
- Bribery Commission Director General Kanishka Wijeratne resigns October 7, 2024
- Schoolgirl dies after fall from Lotus Tower in Colombo October 7, 2024
- Nilantha Jayawardena settles compensation for Easter Sunday attack victims October 7, 2024
- World Bank commits additional $200 million to strengthen Sri Lanka’s economic reforms October 7, 2024
- Sanath Jayasuriya appointed head coach of Sri Lanka national Cricket team October 7, 2024
What about the muslims, sing it also in arabic
Many soldiers, people at south shredded their blood and given their lives to protect the land.
Now without any constraints, he is giving authority to sign the anthem in another language.
Take an example from the neighboring country, they have many ethnic groups do they have different anthems?
Tamilnadu people asking to keep their language as national language, did the central government agreed?
There are millions of Tamils are there and in SL how many Tamils are available? How this can be allowed?
This is agreeing to a separate land. People should pull this people out from the power by a struggle now.
If we wait till next election they might do more.
Why not allow NA to be sung in Viridu style and dance baila to its rhythm . PRESIDENT himself can lead the show with his rabana.
Sorry to say that as Muslims we don’t have any aspirations.
Excellent,
Bloggers Ashiq and AUJ say it all.
The Muslims have no aspirations. They need only trade and wealth. According to the Central Bank report, Muslims living in Sri Lanka have ownership of over 40% of all trade in Sri Lanka. There you go. Why go to Dubai to hunt for the Rs 6b when one minority community (the wealthiest) owns more than 40% of the land’s wealth.
Next I go to AUJ. Why not convert the national anthem into a baila tune? That will make it more exciting. Just imagine, at the school prize giving, the band on the stage breaks into a baila and while whole audience and the guests join in, clapping, swinging their hips. That will be memorable.
What if it Remixed?