The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has decided to boycott the Independence Day celebrations this year, noting that the day will also be declared as 'Black Day'.

The Tamil party stated that the decision was taken due to the fact that the Tamil people have not yet received their freedom in a proper manner.

Commenting in this regard, TNA parliamentarian and spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran said they plan to declare the 4th of February as a ‘Black Day’ and to commence a movement towards achieving that true freedom.  

“Immediately after independence, it was transformed into a majority system under the guise of democracy. That’s why other people living in this country did not get freedom,” he said.

“The Sinhala Buddhist people thought that they got freedom. However, they also now feel that they didn’t get freedom,” MP Sumanthiran said. 

“That’s why when the President is celebrating the 75th Independence Day on February 4th, we would like to declare that no one living in this country got that freedom. That is why when this is celebrated, we will declare this as a black day and we will start a campaign for the country to get its freedom properly.”