Inquiries indicate it to be an isolated instance
A statue of Mahatma Gandhi was vandalised late on Thursday in the east Sri Lankan town of Batticaloa, the headquarters of the Tamil-dominated Eastern province. Three other statues were also desecrated.
India has taken up the issue of desecration and requested that the Gandhi statue be rebuilt. Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok K. Kantha spoke to Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary K. Amunugama. Conveying India's concern, he requested urgent investigations into the incident. The High Commission has also taken up the issue with the Chief Minister of the Eastern province and the Inspector General of Police.
Second instance
Initial inquiries indicated it to be an isolated instance, and not the work of an organised group. This is the second time in a year that a statue has been desecrated. Sometime ago, a Vivekananda statue was targeted.
The other three statues are of Tamil scholar Swami Vipulananda, poet Periyathampi Pillai and Scouts Movement founder Baden Powell. The statues of Gandhi and Powell are located near the city centre.
In a release, the Sri Lankan Ministry of External Affairs said: “It has been brought to the notice of the Ministry of External Affairs that several important statues in the Batticaloa town have been vandalized...The Inspector General of Police has been instructed to carry out an immediate and thorough investigation into these incidents to identify motives and culprits behind these acts of vandalism.”
Keywords: Gandhi statue desecration, vandalism, India-Sri Lanka ties
Tamil people in Sri Lanka are half Indians. Many of us have relatives in Tamil Nadu. We consider Tamil Nadu as our mother land. India need to do what ever possible to ensure safety of tamils in Sri Lanka
India should be a protector of Tamil people since the connection between tamil people of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu (part of India) is much closer than the sinhalese and rest of the Indians.
India had been traditionally considered as the protector of Sri Lanka
through the centuries as Sri Lankans consider India to be their "mother"
country. However, quite unexpectedly, with the latest US sponsored UN
resolution at the UNHCR, India decided to vote against Sri Lanka at the
last moment, becoming a traitor in the eyes of the Sri Lankans. So is
this a big surprise? It's unimaginable that India joined the west
against Sri Lanka even though Sri Lanka had fulfilled all its
obligations!
But many Sinhalese believe this was done by tamils to create a division between North Indians and Sinhalese since city of Batticloa is 99% tamils.
Most Sinhalese have utmost respect for Mahathma Gandhi. This cannor be
done by Sinhalese.
Indian government is equating Gandhi with a statue.
They have completely forgotten the values for which Gandhi lived and died.
Passing of Janlokpal bill, and ending corruption, would be the greatest tribute 'the
father of the nation', rather than token protests from the MEA.
The Indian Navy and Coast Guard have investigated many of these fisherman incidents and most of them are actually untrue and fabrications of the Tamil radicals to keep up the Sri Lankan issue.
The desecration of the statues is not merely about "stataues" but about the anti-India sentiment that the Sinhalese are trying to display after their victory over the LTTE. The fact that these incidents were carried out in East Lanka implies that they are trying to pin the blame on Tamil radicals and trying to create a further rift.
Obviously the Sinhala are simple minded people who believe such petty tactics will be successful.
Indian fishermen cannot forever take refuge under fishing practices followed over centuries under the expanding chola and pandya influence by claiming unique fishing rights over territorial waters of a neighboring country if as a nation India cannot extend similar quid pro quo rights to the citizens of that neighboring country. Who are we kidding? The politicians and vested interests on both sides are guilty of trying to keep the pot boiling ... the youth of both nations aspire to be global citizens who understand the value of preservation of fluara and fauna of the sea. At least that is being followed well by Sri Lanka who value their natural resources unlike the politicians in India who connive with thieving business men to loot and plunder the nation and deprive the next generation of the wealth they deserve to have.
Very odd incident. Batticloa is a predominately Tamil and Muslim ethnic town. You would have thought they would be pleased with India's recent efforts to try and force Colombo to devolve powers to the northern and eastern provinces. Apart from a few peaceful protests in Colombo, there have been no public demonstrations of any kind in Sri Lanka in reaction to India's vote at the UNHCR. Very odd...
It's interesting to note that India wants an explanation when this happens in Sri Lanka, and yet when Tamil ethnic protestors decapitated a Ghandi statue in London, New Delhi simply accepted their cock-and-bull explanation that the head of the statue simply fell off (apparently it chose that very moment, with tens of thousands of angry Tamils around it, to fall). Talk about double standards...
''If Srilankans are not objecting to these why we should worry.Are we having in our country statues of great leaders including Lanka? Are we having statues of Mahatma in every nation in the world? We ourselves do not know the teachings of Mahatama and have no real admiration for Gandhi.let the external affairs ministry try to rectify these tendencies,other countries would automatically respect our leaders.
These instructions to the Inspector General is a routine affair. The
perpetrators end up elevating their social status, as was the case of
the naval rating who attempted gun-butt smashing Rajiv Gandhi in
Colombo. For those vandals, Gandhi remains a symbol. How many times
Jaffna rebuilt the statue of Gandhi in the market square during he past
30 years?
Does it really make sense to "seeks rebuilding of statue" if they can not be protected, GOI must first take care of status in India..Taj is in danger due to pollution. Public Parks are getting vanished from Urban cities...GOI need to wake up and first put home in order...
Government of India's immediate response to the deface of a statue shows that the life of a statue is more important than the life of Indian Fisherman and Srilankan Tamil. The Indian Government was not showing any sign of reaction to the killing of Indian Fishermen & Srilankan Tamils.
Sinhalese are anti-Hindu and anti-Indian. It is shame that the current Congress govt.did not really understand the nature of the Sinhalese and their leadership.
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