PM calls for unity and ethnic harmony
Deepavali programme at Temple Trees
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called for unity among the ethnic and religious groups and to thus take the country away from darkness to signify Deepavali which was celebrated by Hindus all over the world yesterday.
Speaking at the National Deepavali programme held at Temple Trees yesterday, the Prime Minister said a bright light was lit on January 8 this year to take the country away from darkness. This he said was after a small lamp was lit by late Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera when the country was plunged in darkness.
“It is unfortunate that the country had lost a monk who had taken a giant step towards ushering the country with light and I am sure the late Thera would have never called for the stoppage of Deepavali festivals or any other festival had he been living today,” he said.
“Significant steps are being taken today to bring all communities and religions together,” he also said while mentioning that the Minister of Posts who is a Muslim had issued a stamp to mark Deepavali festival, giving life to another significant event on a day a Hindu religious festival is held.
Minister of Rehabilitation and Resettlement D. M. Swamynathan who also expressed same the sentiments said yesterday was a happy occasion for Buddhists as well as Emperor Asoka of India who became a Buddhist on a Deepavali Day.
Further he said President Maithripala Sirisena had decided not to participate in the national Deepavali festival because of the demise of Ven. Sobitha Thera.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror learnt that a black Deepavali was held in Vavuniya with an initiative by the TNA yesterday despite the government’s call for unity. A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP said a black Deepavali was held in Vavuniya as the government had failed to release the Tamil inmates in prisons as promised. According to the TNA those who are to be released today are LTTE combatants who were arrested during the final stages of the war. However, those who TNA wants to be released are the ones who were kept in prisons for more than a decade.