Bilingual policy: Latest victim is former Minister of national languages

Implementation of the Government’s bilingual policy took a back seat despite criticisms from various quarters. The latest victim is none other than Mano Ganesan, former Minister of National Integration, Reconciliation and Official Languages.

When the Kohuwela police tried to hand over a summons issued by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) in Sinhala, he refused to accept it saying he would only accept it if it is in Tamil.

Issuing a response in Tamil to the Commission by e-mail, he explained why he could not accept the summons by indicating Constitutional clauses with regard to language and finally stressed that if he is to appear before the Commission, his testimony should also be recorded in Tamil.

The situation in the North is no better. Early this week, TNA parliamentarian S. Shritharan had to walk out of a District Development Committee meeting presided by Northern Governor Jeevan Thiyagarajah complaining there was no Tamil translation of discussion between officials in English.

During the meeting, Treasury officials had to be connected through Zoom technology and the discussion went ahead for some time between the Governor and officials, in English. The Governor assured that a brief summary of the discussion will be provided in Tamil but after a short time, the agitated MP walked out of the meeting saying "there is no place here for Tamil therefore I’m leaving".