By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

The evil trio Sambandan/Sumanthiran/Wigneswaran who fervently desist the people’s victory in the presidential election and look at everything cynically and matters to defame and and discredit the government and thereby project Sri Lanka as a nation of discrimination, suppression and a despotic country have taken up National Anthem as their latest punching pad.  Their cohorts, the foreign based diaspora scribes, the pro-UNP Tamil/NGO elements and surprisingly the ignoramus and nincompoop Tamil Nadu politicians such as Stalin, the current leader of DMK (inTamil this party is known as Thi Mu Ka and some people say it represents for Thirutta Mudiyatha Kaluthaikal {The donkeys that cannot be tamed} as well have joined the chorusexpressing their objection to singing the National Anthem only in Sinhala at the forthcoming Independence Day on February 4^th.   

Before proceeding further it is important to say a few words to this Tamil Nadu fellow that he should keep his politics confined to Tamil Nadu and not attempt to meddle with Sri Lankan affairs and if he has any guts and gumption launch a demand to sing the Indian National Anthem of Bengali language Jana Gana Mana” in Tamil in the next Indian Independence Day.  If he made such a demand then this stupid will get a real and unforgettable treatment of cow dung bath from the ordinary street folks in Chennai, before the Indian government take appropriate action against him.

There are nearly 200 countries in the world and in all these countries, countries even with multiple official languages suchas India the National Anthem is sung by only in one language and in some countries it is sung by a language other than the official language of that country.

For instance :

In India  – in Bengali Language although the official language is Hindi.

In Singapore – in Malay language

In Malaysia – in the Indonesian language, Java

In Sri Lanka prior to 1948 the British National Anthem God save the King/Queen” was sung at official functions.  The Cabinet formed by the Prime Minister D.S.Senanayake in 1948 had a quandary of selecting an appropriate song to be sung at the 1949 first independence day.

Minister J.R.Jayawardene then suggested to use the Namo Namo Maatha” song sung by Mr. Ananda Samarakoon and his chorus at the National Congress of Sri Lanka in 1934.  However a Cabinet Sub-committee under the chairmanship of E.A.P. Wijeratne was appointed to select an appropriate song and Messrs. J.R.Jayawardene, G.G.Ponnambalam and C,Sittambalam served as members of thar Committee.  The Committee summoned Mr. Ananda Samarakoon and suggested some minor changes for which Mr. Samarakoon agreed. 

Accordingly Namo Namo Maatha” became the official National Anthem of Sri Lanka.  Many linguistic scholars objected to the term Namo Namo” saying that it is inauspicious and it was the reason for the sudden death of D.S.Senanayake and many other unexpected bad omens around that time and accordingly Namo Namo Maatha” was changed as Sri Lanka Maatha”. It is stated that Mr. Ananda Samarakoon was highly annoyed about this change and it contributed to his suicide.

A terrorist diaspora scribe has written in one of his articles that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government did enact several constructive achievements favourable to Tamils and chief among them was the climate of ethnic amity and harmony it brought about. A key factor in this was restoring the practice of singing the national anthem in Tamil again. This change was best illustrated by the singing of the national anthem in Tamil at the annual day of independence celebrations. It has been the practice from 2016 to 2019 for the national anthem to be sung in both Sinhala and Tamil at the freedom day event. The ceremony began with singing the anthem

In 2016 the Tamil and terrorist diaspora servile government which blatantly and shamrlrssly igmore and neglect the aspiraions of other people created an unwanted controversy through singing the National in Tamil as well from 2016 Independence Day Celebrations. This stupid and myopic government believed that by singing the national anthem in Sinhala and Tamil, the country would step towards ethnic reconciliation.The question ewmains unanswered as to how does singing the national anthem in two different languages bring two ethnic groups together? On the contrary, it helped them to move further away from one another by singing the anthem as two separate groups?

As per a foreign based diaspora scribe thefirst Tamil political leader to react against the contemplated move to sing the National Anthem only in Sinhala was former Cabinet minister and Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader (the Indian descendent) Mano Ganesan. This Indian Origin Tamil (IOT) MP has expressed his criticism through posts on Facebook and Twitter. More importantly, He has also written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa protesting against the proposed move and released the contents of the missive to the media. Ganesan has pointed out that Tamil was enshrined in the Constitution as an official and national language and urged the President to desist from such a course of action. He also reminded the President that sidelining Tamil was contrary to the pledge Gotabaya made at his swearing in where he said he would function as the President of all Sri Lankans. This nincompoop should be reminded that in his motherland India there are 22 constitutionally recognized lamnguages but their National Anthem is sung only in Bengali although Hindi is the all Indian official language. 

Ganesan followed up his letter to the President by participating in many meetings and televised programmes and expressing strong criticism of the proposed move to abolish the singing of the NA in Tamil at the Independence Day event. He has also been posing the question as to whether the government wanted to set up a Sri Lankan Rajya” or Sinhala Buddhist Rajya.” 
The main reason for Ganesan’s concern over the national anthem issue is perhaps due to the fact that the TPA leader played a constructive role in restoring the rightful status of the national anthem in Tamil. In fact, it was Mano Ganesan who started the ball rolling in gaining recognition for the NA in Tamil after the 2015 regime change. 

Media reports appeared in early March 2015 that Mano Ganesan – who was not evenan an MP then – had raised the issue of the national anthem being sung in Tamil at the National Executive Council in ehich he was member, and the then President Maithripala Sirisena had responded positively and reiterated the constitutional position that there was no bar on the national anthem being sung in Tamil. He had guaranteed that the NA would be sung in Tamil too. Now this IOT may be dreaming that he could manipulate President GR as well like he kept shameless and spineless Sirisena/Ranil under his hackboot.  He should understand that President GR has no obligation at all to listen to him and he is rightfully obliged to fulfil the aspirations of the people who worked and toiled day and night and under sun and rain to make him victorious in the election and to put an end to the foreign and terrorist servile neo-liberal government of Ranil Wickremasinghe..

 It is pertinent to ask this IOT that if he is so concerned about the National Antham Sri Lanka Matha why he remained silent and tongue tied when his swimmingpool paetner megalomanuiac Prabhakaran banned singing this National Amthem and instead sing songs praising and glorifyting terrorism and terrorists.  This IOT should also be reimded the Supreme Court rejection of the petition filed by his Colombno machan Pakyasothy Sarawanamuttu in 2016 pleading to declare tht NA should be sung in Tamil as well.   

The megalomaniac Prabhakaran in 2005 banned Sri Lankan Independence Day and decxlared it as a day of mourning and invited bards and Minstrels to write a national anthem” with patriotic flavour glorifying and extalling the Tamil liberation struggle and submit it to him within one month.  He said that the proposed national anthem should symbolise the history of their struggle and victories, and it should have a maximum of 18 stanzas in “immaculate Tamil.”

Further it was stated that the lyrics should extol the “virtues of those who sacrificed their lives in the Tamil struggle, celebrate the unique qualities of exclusiveness and resourcefulness of the Tamil homeland, and manifest the resoluteness, dedication and the aspirations of the Tamil people for freedom and dignity.”

Many extremely pro-terrorists, including the terrorist poet Kasinathan submitted their songs and they were feroxiously against war heroes, Sri Lankan securityforces, condemning the countryand calling thr Tamils to rise up against to destroy Sri Lanka. 

Accordingly from 2005 upto 2019 until the terrorists were vanquished it was only terrorist songs that were sung in the North and East and these songs were even distributed in foreign coubntries and why they have suddenly become Iinteresred in Sri Lanka Maath” national anthem and their demand to sing it Tamil as well is a well calculated ploy to disrepute the country internationally and hence the government should stand firm and unwavering in its decision. 

Prof. Sandagomi Coperahewa, Head of Department of Sinhala, University of Colombo opined that there may be two official languages, but the national anthem is one symbol and should carry the national significance of a country. If it is sung in another language there has to be a Constitutional Amendment as well. He further statedd that even in countries that have more than one language there is only one National Anthem. Take India for example, it has Hindi and English as official languages but its National Anthem is highly Sanskritised Bengali. It’s not even Hindi, but all Indians sing it. In Singapore there are Tamil, English, Malay and Chinese people, but their National Anthem is sung in Malay. Translations could be there for the purpose of understanding or interpreting, but everybody should sing it in one language,”. 

 Dr. Kalana Senaratne, Senior Lecturer, Department of Law, University of Peradeniya said it is clear that singing the national anthem in Tamil during the past few years hasn’t improved national reconciliation. It is also good to remember that whether we sing the anthem in Tamil or not, Sinhala is considered as the prominent language, because it is the language of the majority. Therefore, singing the national anthem in Tamil is simply a symbolic act, which is immaterial to the advancement of national reconciliation in Sri Lanka. 

Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thero enphasising that it is our foremost duty to protect the independence and sovereignty of the country said that the political parties in the North have deliberately started the demand for singing the National Anthem in Tamil to create chaos in the country to undermine the firthcoming elections. The Ven. Thero further stated similar to we jiuned to gether to get the independence abd similar to we joined together to liberate the country from the terrorists we must join together against these threats as well and explained that disgrunbntled foreign elements are behind these threats.

Rear Admiral Sararath Weerasekera said that the denabd for singing the National Anbthem was not something that originated from the Tamil o rMuslim in the North. It was something floated by racist politician and something that would violate our constitution.     It os a new attempt to create rivalry among the communities.  There should pme nayipnal anthem for a country.  In India swaspite they havng a large population and a large number of communities and languages they sing only one national anthem and that is also in NBengali langiage. He said that this is an unwanted stupid problem created Tamil amd foreign servile Sirisena/Ranil government.

Thw terrorist proxy Sumanthiran whose concerted efforts together with his rterrorist grandpa to segregate the country with theblessings of Ranul flopped has saiud that the attitude of the present gocwenment has become abn obstruction doenational reconciliation and the barrier imposed to sing the National Anthemin Tamil is one such example.  He has reminswsrhar rhey attended the Independence day celebeations in 2015 after several tears because that government made arrangement to sing the Anthem in Tamil as well.  He says the governmwnr promised to provide equal treatment to everyone and it is now being changed. Hehasfuerhwe stated that if the government says that the Tamil people should not sing the National Anthem theywould happily ewdeain from doing so. Going to his eacist and separatist agenda he has said that the main communitysidelined the Tamils several years ago and if that situation is to be changed there should be devolution of power amd then omly you could live in Sri Lanka as equal citizens.

The leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya MP Udaya Gammanpila has said that in Clause 7 of the constitution it is stipulated as to what our National Amthem is and singing the Anthem in the Tamil language will violate the constitution.  Accordingly the National Anthem of the Republic of Sri Lanka is the song Sri Lanka Maathaa” . The verses and the nusic are stipulated in the 3rs subchedule.  If verses other than what is stipulated in the 3^rd sub-schedule was considered as the National Anthem it becomes a violation of the constitution.  Hence singing yhe Anthem as Sri Lanka Thaate” will become a gross violation of the constitution..If the change to be done is a simple change it can be changed by a simpke majority in the Parliamentvut a fundamental change like this requires an approval in the parliament ratified in a eferendum.

Continued………………………….