Colombo, Oct. 8: The Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, to-day promised to hold “fairly early” the by-election to the Kankasanturai parliamentary seat in the Tamil-speaking northern province. She made this promise at a trade union rally held in Jaffna to mark her first visit to the province as Prime Minister.
The seat was vacated by the leader of the minority Tamil United Front. Mr. SJ.V. Chelvanayagam, two years ago, as a challenge to the Government to prove by contesting the by-election, its claim that the bulk of the Tamil community had accepted the 30-month-old Constitution.
The TUF has rejected the Constitution on the ground that Tamil language and non-Buddhist religions have not been given parity of status in it along with the majority Sinhala and Buddhism.
Mrs. Bandaranaike in her speeches, one at the rally and another at the inauguration of the first campus of Sri Lanka University in Jaffna, appealed to the Tamil community to eschew “communalism and sectarianism” and enter the mainstream of politics as equals and partners in nation-building.
Mr. Bandaranaike hailed the Tamil community as “vigorous, intelligent, and patriotic”. The Jaffna farmers were the “embodiment of intelligence, hard work, perseverance and thrift,” she added.
Published – October 07, 2024 12:15 am IST
