• Stresses they want to be recognized as Sri Lankans not as Indian Origin Tamils  
• Emphasizing they are Lankans and that all Sri Lankans have some Indian origin in their history

MP Mano Ganesan’s Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), which pledged support to opposition leader Sajith Premadasa in the upcoming presidential election yesterday says that they want to remove the ‘Indian Origin’ label from upcountry Tamils.

“We want to be recognized as Sri Lankans not as Indian Origin Tamils,” Ganesan told reporters in Colombo. “We are of recent Indian origin. We want to move away from that fact as we want to be more Sri Lankan,” he added.    He stated that he did not want to carry that label, emphasizing that they are Lankans and that all Sri Lankans have some Indian origin in their history. He also mentioned that they are of recent Indian origin and expressed a desire to remove that distinction, describing it as a progressive move. “We want to live with Sinhalese, Tamils in the North and East, and Muslims as Sri Lankans,” he added.