"Sinha le" flag,  the flag which has become a fashion among the neo-fascist thugs was the flag of the very same Sri Vikrama Rajasinha of Nayakar descent, said Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

 

"When the Sinhala dynasties came to an end, our ancestors did not hesitate to import their kings from India. Prince Kannasamy, crowned King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha - the last King of Kandy - and generations of Kandyan kings before him were of South Indian Nayakar descent, as were many scions of the Kandyan aristocracy. The language of the Kandyan Court was also Tamil, so much so that when the Kandyan Convention of 1815 was signed, all but one of the eleven chieftains signatory to the Convention signed their names in beautiful polyglot of Tamil, Sinhala and Malayalee characters," Samaraweera said delivering a speech on 'Indo-Lanka relations in the 21st century" at the Sri Lanka-Indian society on Sunday.

 

"As Professor K.M. de Silva points out, the Indian origins of many Sri Lankans, particularly the low-country Sinhalese, are relatively recent, with waves of immigration continuing well into the 18th Century. Even the royal families of Sri Lanka were no exceptio. For as you know, many kings’ consorts were Indian princesses," the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister also added.

 

"These neo-fascists seem to see an Indian under every busy and live in eternal fear of Indians swarming into Sri Lanka. Whenever a bridge over the Palk Straits to connect our two nations is proposed, they get into a paranoid frenzy that all of India is waiting drive over that bridge and make Sri Lanka their home, when trade agreements are discussed they see swarms of Indian doctors and barbers coming across to flood the Sri Lankan market. Now they claim that their IT specialists are all waiting to come and take the jobs of Sri Lankan engineers. This is when Indian IT engineers are some of the most sought after in the developing world.," Samaraweera said alluding to the Information Technology agreement expected to be signed between India and Sri Lanka.

"This insecure, reactionary and muddled thinking does not do justice to the Sinhalese race’s great and long history, nor does it do justice to the gentle, compassionate and moderate majority of this country whose quiet observance of the Five Precepts and the best of Buddhist values in their daily lives is an example to the entire world. The Sinhalese, over the years, have had the courage and resilience to preserve the teachings of the Buddha in their most pristine form by having the wisdom and flexibility to change with the times and assimilate other cultural and religious influences into society as a whole - thus creating our island’s vibrant cultural diversity. Instead of being an example of hate, ignorance and violence as the neo-fascists would like Sri Lanka to be, we must be a shining example of the Eight Fold Path in a violent world that contains so much injustice and also a grand celebration of ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity," the Minister added.