The 10-day Kandy Dalada Perahara is an event of religious and cultural significance to all Sri Lankans. The Perahara is viewed by thousands of people including foreigners who come to Sri Lanka for especially the event.
It was brought to the notice of the Kandy District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) that the commentaries during the event were carried out only in Sinhala and English. This left out a large group of Tamil speaking communities who came to Kandy from all parts of the country to see the Perahara, which includes performances by Tamil people.
Recognising the need to address the situation quickly, Kandy DIRC members met Chief Minister of the Central Province Sarath Ekanayake and District Secretary S. Weerasekara a few hours before the Perahara began. Mr. Ekanayake and Mr. Weerasekera thanked the Kandy DIRC for having brought the matter to their attention and worked quickly to address it. A running commentary in Tamil was added to the Perahera immediately.
Mr. Ekanayake and Mr. Weerasekera said that they would be happy to support DIRC activities in the future and invited the members for a meeting at a later date to address inter religious and inter ethnic issues in the Kandy District.