His Excellency, the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in an epoch-making visit to the Jaffna peninsula Monday (17) morning, joined hands together with Hindus in Jaffna to mark the National Thai Pongal Day celebrations.
Festivities that began at the Alfred Doraiappa Stadium at the heart of Jaffna town gave pride of place to religious formalities, connected to Thai Pongal rituals in a symbolic ceremony, graced by the President Rajapaksa, a host of other ministerial invitees and members of the public.
Later on, Hindu, Catholic and religious dignitaries invoked blessings on the occasion and paved the way for commencement of day’s proceedings.
President Rajapaksa as Chief Guest on the occasion distributed 41 brand new tractors to farmers in the peninsula as one major item on the day’s agenda. Those tractors given to the government of Sri Lanka by the Indian government would help improve agriculture work in the remote areas. As the second leg of the day’s programme, President Rajapaksa gave away 100 laptops to selected students at the University of Jaffna and assured more such support in the future. President Rajapaksa addressed the gathering both in Tamil and Sinhala afterwards as traditional cultural feats intermittently added colour to the ceremony.
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