COLOMBO: Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), a hardline Sinhalese-Buddhist organisation, said on Thursday that Lankan President Maithri­pala Sirisena’s decision to allow the singing of Sri Lanka’s national anthem in Tamil was unconstitutional.

Galagoda Aththe Gnana­sara, chief of the Sena, told journalists that the Lankan constitution had sanctioned only one version and that was in Sinhalese.

“Any other version will be unconstitutional,” he said.

“If any change has to be brought about, there has to be a referendum.”

In 2010, Sinhalese groups in Sri Lanka had campaigned against the practice of singing the anthem in Tamil.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2015

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