Keeping
the promise alive
A pictorial journey of the 68th Anniversary of
Independence celebrations:
 “We have now the priceless possession of freedom and the opportunity
to make our country one of the happiest spots on earth.” So said D.S.
Senanayake, Independent Ceylon’s first Prime Minister, one year after
the country rid itself of the final shackles of colonial rule. He had
cause for conviction. And why not? The original Eden, Ceylon, it
appeared had it all and the future could only make it better.
Only it didn’t. For 67 years it didn’t. But last Thursday, as Sri
Lanka celebrated its 68th Anniversary of Independence with the kind of
pomp and pageantry that would have done the 1948 celebrations proud –
history records the celebrations as being one of the grandest with
fireworks and fashion shows - the future D.S. Senanayake spoke of,
appeared more plausible than ever before.
Perhaps it was in the symbolism, the rendering of the national anthem
in Tamil, for the first time in a long, long time, which exemplified the
government’s efforts towards national reconciliation and ethnic harmony
that captured everyone’s attention and set social media on fire with
comments like ‘Victory 4 our Coexistence journey’.
Perhaps it was President, Maithripala Sirisena’s speech where he
spoke about “clear and resolute steps to firmly establish democracy and
good governance, the Rule of Law, and a truly meaningful parliamentary
system; to establish a long lasting and stable structure of good
governance in keeping with the mandate given by the people one year
ago.”
Perhaps it was in what the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe,
reminded us when he said, “Just as everyone stood together to set the
country free from the grip of colonialism back then, on January 08th,
Sri Lankans came together to set the nation free from the tyranny of
dictatorship, corruption, nepotism and familial rule; ensuring our
return to the hallowed community of democratic nations that assure its
people freedom and justice,” and urged, “On this Independence Day, let
us strive to understand the challenges before us as a nation and
determine to give of ourselves wholeheartedly to a noble vision of
taking our country forward.
Whatever the reasons, Independence Day celebrations, which began with
the traditional hoisting of the national flag at the auspicious time,
acquired a lustre that spelt more than mere pageantry and show of
military might this year. It was a celebration that kept alive the
dreams of real independence, of real freedom, of national reconciliation
and ethnic harmony, even of a Sri Lanka that D. S. Senanayake envisaged
all those years ago.
(Pictures by Gayan Pushpika, Rukmal Gamage, Vipula Amarasinghe,
Wimal Karunathilake and Saman Sri Wedage)
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