State Education Minister V.Radhakrishnan said some politicians are trying to form a psychoneurosis in the country over “the Diaspora.”
“But,” the minister said, “to have such a hang-up would be stupidity because people who they call the Diaspora are a section of people from this country who have settled in foreign lands.”
“Therefore, there is no need to have any fear over the Diaspora- or the people of your own who are living abroad,” he said.
“For example, Shabheshan Welayudan, a man lived in Jaffna who left the country for England during 1983 riots, having done well in that country, came Monday to Sri Lanka and offered help to some 1,200 children affected by the recent floods in the Yagama Ratnapura area,” Radhakrishnan said .
“Welayudan distributed supplies worth Rs 1.2 million among these children because he thinks as a Sri Lankan,” he pointed out.
“We have to advocate cordial relations with the Diaspora, instead of creating a phobia over them in the minds of the public,” he said.“We have to embrace their goodwill support in order to progress as a country,” added Radhakrishnan.