Sri Lankans are up in arms against the Labour Party leader for sending greetings only to the Tamil community here on what he called the “Tamil New Year” ignoring the vast number of Sinhala people who celebrate this joint New Year. This one-sided greeting comes three weeks before the British general elections and many Sri [...]

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Miliband’s putthandu faux pas provokes protests

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Sri Lankans are up in arms against the Labour Party leader for sending greetings only to the Tamil community here on what he called the “Tamil New Year” ignoring the vast number of Sinhala people who celebrate this joint New Year.

This one-sided greeting comes three weeks before the British general elections and many Sri Lankans who would normally vote Labour have sent angry messages to party leader Ed Miliband and the party office, saying they will not vote for Labour.

Mr. Miliband’s remark stands out as a faux pas in the light of Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister David Cameron’s greetings on the occasion. He wished both the Sinhala and Tamil communities.

Those who have used the social media in particular to slam Mr. Miliband’s partisan greeting include some from the Tamil community. They have expressed “disgust” at what they have called “Mr. Miliband’s divisive politics” at a time when reconciliation between the Sinhala and Tamil communities is more hopeful.

Several Sri Lankans have written to their recent MPs or Labour candidates at the May 7 election decrying the party leader.

Dai Liyanage, currently vice chairman of the Medway & Kent Sri Lanka Community Association which has members from all communities, said he wrote to Mr. Miliband saying “You have been badly advised by the Tamil Tigers. Do your home work before you leap.”"Ed please don’t be a fool. This sort of statement is not acceptable to decent Sri Lankans working hard to live side by side.” In a message to Labour Party candidate Paul Clark, a former Labour cabinet minister, Mr. Liyanage reminded that “Tamil Tigers are giving Labour millions to be their mouthpieces.”

In hard-hitting remarks Sujith Weerasinghe of the Api Sri Lankan Foundation while condemning Mr. Miliband for his deliberately biased wishes which were an insult to the Sinhala community also criticised the Sri Lanka High Commission here for its inaction.

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