Responding to the opposition by some Southern politicians to the National Anthem being sung in Tamil, TNA Parliamentarian M.A.Sumanthiran said that the Tamil version of the Constitution contains a Tamil translation of the National Anthem and it has been approved by the Parliament.

He questioned the purpose of the Tamil translation of the National Anthem in the Tamil version of the Constitution if the National Anthem should be sung only in Sinhala.

The Tamil people will inculcate national consciousness in their minds only by singing the national anthem in their mother tongue. If it is not allowed there is no point of singing the National Anthem, he argued.

Responding to a statement made by State Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena that he be arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), Sumanthiran questioned the reason for him to be arrested.

He said that what he had done was only responding as a Tamil people's representative to a statement by Home Affairs Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon that the National Anthem would be sung only in Sinhala at the next Independence Day.

Mr Abeygunawardena said during a media conference that government had not taken a decision to sing the National Anthem only in Sinhala. But Mr Tennakoon as the subject minister has not denied what he had already said, Sumanthiran observed.

He said that attempting to prevent the Tamil people from singing the National Anthem in Tamil was a symptom of the discriminatory mindset.(Bingun Menaka Gamage)