Tamil Daily Gives voice to minorities in Sri Lanka

(August 12, 2010) Christians have praised a Sri Lankan Tamil daily, which marks its 80th anniversary this year, for lending a voice to the minority community in the country. Virakesari “tears off the shroud of ignorance and raises the consciousness of minorities, especially the people of Indian origin brought to work 200 years ago in the plantation sector,” said Father Sritharan Sylvester, head of Caritas Trincomalee-Batticaloa, a Catholic social service agency. These people are surviving “without owning an inch of land,” he said. “Virakesari often spoke for the Church during difficult situations,” said another Tamil priest. Virakesari reports on Sri Lankan and world news in Tamil, a language spoken by about a quarter of Sri Lanka’s 20 million people. Virakesari means “victorious lion” in the Tamil language. Although the country is predominantly Buddhist, the paper covers most religious events with special supplements for major religious festivals. Hence, “it is our duty as Christians to pay tribute to the paper,” said peace activist Jerome Fernando. The paper, which has a readership of about 5 million, was founded in 1930 during the British colonial period. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, parliamentarians, as well as Muslim and Hindu religious leaders have also paid tribute to the country’s oldest Tamil newspaper. Meanwhile, Colombo archdiocese has announced plans to launch its own Tamil-language Catholic monthly.