{"id":98859,"date":"2020-02-09T17:17:09","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T00:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=98859"},"modified":"2020-03-09T17:50:05","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T00:50:05","slug":"singing-sri-lankas-national-anthem-in-tamil-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/02\/09\/singing-sri-lankas-national-anthem-in-tamil-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"SINGING SRI LANKA\u2019S NATIONAL ANTHEM IN TAMIL Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Rev 7.3.20<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those interested in the issue, want to know,\nhow a Tamil version arose. It was due to British rule. The British\nadministration recognized Tamil as a vernacular language, together with\nSinhala. Tamil words were shown on rupees and coins, (e.g.  the 10 cent coin of 1928). There were Tamil\nvernacular schools. Also, Tamil was going to be an official language   after Independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking all this into account, the legislators\nallowed a Tamil translation of the national anthem. But right from the start\nthe Tamil version met with opposition. When it was sung for the first time in\n1949, some members of the audience remained seated. (Lankadipa <\/em>of 5.2.1949)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The national anthem did not feature in the\n1972 Constitution. But the 1978 Constitution included the national anthem in\nits schedules. The anthem was to be in Sinhala only. We can infer that from the\nEnglish translation, which was a transliteration. The Tamil translation came\nabout because   Tamil MP K. Devanayagam\nasked for it, saying the Tamil speaking group wished to sing in Tamil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1987,\nTamil became a national language thanks to the 13th<\/sup> Amendment.  Tamil speakers then became arrogant. Tamil is\nnow a national language, on par with Sinhala, and the Tamil translation\nis no longer an option. It is a must, they said.If\nTamil speaking citizens demand that the national anthem be sung in Tamil the\nother communities have no legal or moral right to obstruct it. Like the Sinhala people, Tamils too take\npride in their language, Tamils love\ntheir language and they must be allowed to sing the national anthem in it  and indeed must never be asked to sing in\nSinhala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These arguments did not carry the weight the Tamils\nexpected. To start with the public was highly critical of the 13th<\/sup>\nAmendment, which made Tamil a national language .the amendment was forced on\nSri Lanka by India and was passed in Parliament under coercion. The public were\nangry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kamal Gunaratne records two demonstrations,\none before and one after the Accord was signed. The first was a massive protest\nmarch from Kolonnawa heading towards Presidents House.  The marchers were aggressive, chanting anti\ngovernment and anti Indian sentiments. Kamal recalls the violent reaction of\nthe crowd, as The army turned them back. they dispersed, \u2018shouting at us in\nfoul language scolding not only us, but also our parents, grandparents and\ngreat grandparents.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation remained tense after the Accord\nwas signed, continued Kamal. A second protest march had started from Castle\nStreet area. The army had to use force to disperse the crowd.  Once again we were subjected to angry, abusive\nlanguage, this time against the President and Government as well as our\nparents. These waves of unrest also spread to other parts of the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamil\nanthem supporters said they needed to sing in Tamil because the Tamils\ndo not know Sinhala. \u2018We can\u2019t sing in a language we don\u2019t understand, they\nsaid. This is not correct. Tamils know Sinhala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Television news show Tamil politicians and\nTamil citizens speaking fluently in perfect Sinhala. These fluent speakers\ninclude Sampanthan and Sumanthiran. Derana news of 14.1.2020 showed a meeting\nbetween Tamil journalists and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Speaking in\nperfect Sinhala, they asked about singing the anthem in Tamil at the next\nIndependence celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total\npopulation of Tamils in the 2012 Census was 2,269,266. Out of this, 392,583\n(17.3%) know Sinhala. This leaves 1,876,683 who do\nnot know Sinhala.  This amounts to less\nthan 2 million, out of a total Sri Lankan population of 20 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Tamils   continued with the argument that they cannot\nunderstand Sinhala. Tamils cannot think of themselves as Sri Lankan when the\nnational anthem is in a language that they cannot understand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018it will be meaningless to force a Tamil to\nsing the National Anthem only in Sinhala, if that person cannot comprehend the\nliterary content of the song, which needs a sound knowledge of the language,\nthey said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018There is greater chance of\ninculcating a sense of Lankan patriotism in Tamil\/Muslim children when they are\nallowed to sing the national anthem in their own language rather than parrot it\nin a language they barely understand,\u2019 said this group. Tamil could understand\nthe meaning instantly when they sing it in Tamil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the opponents of singing it in Tamil\nadvocates is to force Tamils to recite it without understanding it. What good\nwill that do? It would become drudgery and people could refrain from singing it\naltogether. Or worse, compose a song for themselves with different sentiments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 3\nmillion Tamils, all Tamil speaking, and 3 million Muslims, mostly Tamil\nspeaking, whose patriotism is intimately tied up with the use of their mother\ntongue, as much as the patriotism of the Sinhalese is tied up with the use of\ntheir mother tongue. There is nothing romantic about singing the National\nanthem in Tamil, replied the Sinhala group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters of the\nTamil anthem also fell back on a comment by Colvin R de Silva which is treasured\nby the Tamil Separatist Movement. Colvin\nsaid \u2018One language two countries. Two languages one country\u2019. This is an absurd statement and it should be\nforgotten.The correct position is, One language, one country. Two\nlanguages, two countries.\u201d  British\nCanada gave the French language a place after defeating the French .Now Quebec\nwants to secede. Sri Lanka recognized Tamil, now the Tamils wants Eelam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colvin\u2019s statement has been modified by Ryp\nVan Winkle. Ryp said that after the independence celebration of 2020, Eelamists\nhave been given the opportunity of saying \u2018One anthem, two nations. Two\nanthems, one nation.\u2019  I will show, later\non in this essay, that it is \u2018two anthems, two nations\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamil anthem supporters heavily criticized\nthose who did not want to hear the national anthem sung in Tamil. \u2018nationalists want to ram the Sinhala national\nanthem down the throat of our Tamils speaking brethren\u2019, said one critic.\n \u2018People who insist that Tamil speaking people\nshould be forced to sing the national anthem in Sinhala wish to demonstrate\ntheir superiority to the numerically weaker Tamils. It shows\nSinhala dominance\u2019 said another.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2018the loud mouths Wimal Weerawansa and Bandula Gunawardena,\nto name but two opponents, were recently heard denouncing the very thought of\nallowing the national anthem to be sung in Tamil. One dares to ask what high\nqualifications Wimal Wee and Bandula Gee possess to so vociferously deny the\nTamils also that bit of expressed respect to our common motherland.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters of the Tamil national anthem\nsaw nothing wrong in singing in Tamil.\n\u2018What is wrong in letting them sing the national anthem in Tamil to the same\ntune?  They would understand and sing\nwith the same feeling.  For this land is\nas much theirs as ours. We must give the Tamils back their dignity.   It is only the racists, who object\u2019 said one\nsupporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A national anthem is meant to\nunite and that doesn\u2019t mean singing it in one language in a multi language\nsociety where diversity is recognized and accommodated in the constitution.\nAccommodating the linguist diversity of our people increases loyalty, a sense\nof belonging and strengthens unity rather than threatens it. Accommodating\ndiversity strengthens unity,\u2019 said another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2018The singing of the national anthem in Tamil\nwas a very significant act of the government to make the Tamils feel equal and\na sense of belonging to the state.\u2019  \u2018It will also help chauvinistic Sinhalese to\nremember that there are people other than the Sinhalese living in this\ncountry,\u2019 concluded this group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these divisive times, when there are clear\nindications of certain forces hell-bent on widening the rift, isn\u2019t it a short-sighted\nand reckless move to exclude the National Anthem from being sung in Tamil \u2013\nparticularly after it had been sung in that language for a number of years\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tamil anthem supporters spoke\nstrongly. the country is\nalready divided and by singing the National Anthem in Sinhala, it will divide\nthe country further.  \u2018The Sinhala only national\nanthem was designed to divide rather than unite, to widen the psychological\ngulf the majority and the minorities and drive home the lesson that minorities\nare not so welcome interlopers in a Sinhala country,\u2019  they said.. We must voluntarily learn the\nnational anthem in each other\u2019s language, so we can all sing it together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 2020\nthey said, the cancellation of the Tamil language national anthem is not a mere\nprocedural adjustment. It involves an important policy change carrying serious repercussions,\ntaking the country back 60 years to the disastrous ‘Sinhala Only Demand’ era.\nWhat we face now looks very much like a Second ‘Sinhala Only’ demand, carrying\ndisastrous consequences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 TNA MP Sumanthiran said When the Sirisena\/Wickremesinghe\nadministration came to power in 2015, the national anthem was sung in Tamil at\nthe Independence Day for the first time. I took part in the Independence Day\ncelebration with TNA leader, R. Sampanthan. It was the first time that ITAK\nrepresentatives attended an Independence Day celebration in decades. If\nthe  present government wants the Tamils\nnot to sing the national anthem, we will be glad not to sing it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters\nof the Sinhala anthem point out that singing the national anthem in Tamil does\nnot help unity. some\npeople think that singing the national anthem in Tamil will promote national\nreconciliation. how does singing the national anthem\nin two different languages bring two ethnic groups together? On the contrary,\nare we not moving further away from one another by singing the anthem as two\nseparate groups,\u201d they asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singing the\nnational anthem in the Sinhala language does not affect peace and harmony among\ndifferent communities in the country, either, Jaffna Tamil Buddhist Association\nPresident Ravi Kumar said.  Whether we sing the anthem in Tamil or\nnot, Sinhala is considered the prominent language, because it is the language\nof the majority, said others.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The national\nanthem of Sri Lanka is not a mere song to be judged musically. A national anthem is a symbol of unity.  It should be a \u2018national anthem\u2019 not a\ncommunal anthem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do the Sinhalese or the government stand\nto lose by singing the National Anthem in Tamil? asked the Tamil supporters,\ndetermined to push the issue. No damage has been done to the sovereignty of our\npeople or the unitary state of our country as a result of singing the national\nanthem in both official languages, they said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That statement cannot be accepted. Much damage\ncan be done by singing the national anthem in Tamil today. That is because\nsinging in Tamil reinforces separatist tendencies and there is a growing\nseparatist movement in Jaffna today. There are clear indications of this. The\nEzhuga Tamil march (Rise up Tamils\u201d)\nrally drew huge crowds. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 had attended. The rally\nwas supported by the university and the civil society groups.\nThe Ezhuga movement wanted\nthe merger of\nNorth and East.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northern\nProvincial Council unanimously adopted a resolution in 2016 that asked for the\nmerger of North and East into one state, with its own Parliament. TNA also\nwants a merger of North and East provinces. TNA leaders Sumanthiran and\nSampanthan spent the full Yahapalana period, (2015-2019) telling foreign\nvisitors that the Tamils are separate nation, the north and east is their\nhomeland and they are entitled to self-determination.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today the north is all\nTamil, and they have with all impunity sung the national anthem in Tamil, said Sarath\nWeerasekera in 2016. At the opening of the Jaffna\nInternational airport in Palaly, on 17 October 2019, the national anthem was not\nplayed in Sinhala.\n(CONCLUDED) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Rev 7.3.20 Those interested in the issue, want to know, how a Tamil version arose. It was due to British rule. The British administration recognized Tamil as a vernacular language, together with Sinhala. Tamil words were shown on rupees and coins, (e.g.  the 10 cent coin of 1928). There were Tamil vernacular schools. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98859\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}