Sixty-one years ago on September 25, 1959 Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (SWRDB) the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka known as Ceylon then was shot and seriously wounded by a Buddhist monk. Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike succumbed to his injuries and passed away the following day. Therefore September 26, 1959 got etched as an important date in the post-independence history annals of Sri Lanka.
The “Mathiya Seyal Kuzhu” (central working committee) of the Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK) also known as the Federal Party will be meeting today (Aug 29) in Vavuniya. The committee is generally referred to as “Mathiya Kuzhu”(Central committee). The Central Working committee is the key representative body of the ITAK. It comprises representatives elected by each district as well as ex-officio members. The ITAK is the premier political party
The long awaited 2020 Parliamentary Elections has concluded with a 71% voter turn out despite the difficulties imposed by the COVID -19 Pandemic threat. Appropriate health procedures were followed by the authorities with enthusiastic cooperation of the people.
The Rajapaksa regime is all out to get a two-thirds majority in parliament through the forthcoming elections on August 5. The avowed objective of such a steam-roller majority is to promulgate a new Constitution or enact Constitutional amendments unilaterally.
The hills of Nuwara Eliya are vibrantly alive with the hectic sounds of parliamentary electioneering! Nuwara Eliya district with its picturesque landscape and salubrious climate elects eight members in the 225 member parliament of Sri Lanka. 577,717 registered voters in the district are eligible to cast their ballots at the forthcoming elections scheduled for August 5.
inayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias “Karuna Amman” a.k.a. “Col” Karuna has got himself into hot water by shooting his mouth off at an election meeting in the East. Currently Karuna Ammaan is the chief candidate on the Amparai District list of the ‘AhilaIlankai Thamizh Maha Sabha’ (All Ceylon Greater Tamil Council). With an intense election campaign being conducted, political party speakers and propagandists are engaged in banter and riposte with ea
Former Jaffna District Parliamentarian and Spokesperson of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Illankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran is currently in the eye of a political storm. The YouTube interview given by the 56-year-old President’s Counsel cum politician to the “Truth with Chamuditha” show conducted by senior journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama is the reported cause of the controversy.
The Elections Commission has scheduled June 20 as the new date for the postponed election of April 25. Eight Fundamental Rights petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court regarding the holding of elections on June 20.
“May you live in interesting times” is a saying that is believed to be an ancient Chinese curse. Many writers and speakers often use this expression or phrase and attribute Chinese origins to it. In spite of the widely-held belief about Chinese links, recent studies by etymologist scholars and linguistic researchers have revealed that there is no evidence of this saying having a Chinese origin.
The political landscape of Sri Lanka seems gloomy and desolate. Most of the actors who strut about the political stage posing as visionaries and leaders are in actuality empty vessels devoid of substance. Proverbial wisdom tells us empty vessels make most sound.
This is my third and final column in the trilogy of articles about the singing of Sri Lanka’s national anthem in Sinhala and Tamil languages. I would have very much liked to write about hot topics like Ranjan Ramanayake’s voice recordings or President Gotabaya’s policy speech or internal troubles of the UNP,
2020 has dawned! Greetings for the new year to all readers. My article in this column last week about moves being contemplated to forbid the singing of Sri Lanka’s national anthem in Tamil at the 70th Independence Day event seems to have been received well, judging by the positive responses I have been getting from readers this week. What makes me most happy is the fact that an overwhelming number of these responses have been from Sinhala reade
The news item appearing in Dailymirror last week was like a bolt out of the blue. It said the national anthem would be sung in Sinhala language only at the forthcoming celebratory event of Sri Lanka or Ceylon gaining full independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. The practice adopted since 2016 of singing the anthem in Tamil too would not be followed. This is what the news item penned by Sandun A. Jayasekera said:
December 18, 1949 was a red letter day in the political history of Sri Lankan Tamils known as “Ilangaith Thamizhar” in their mother tongue. On that day, a group of sixty Tamils including two parliamentarians and two senators launched a new political party with the avowed goal of establishing an autonomous State for Tamil-speaking people of Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was known then) within a united island. The new party was named in Tamil as “Illankai T
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