Sri Lanka Marxist party suggests building a Sri Lankan identity to resolve the ethnic issue

Sri Lanka's Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) says the ethnic issue could be resolved by building a Sri Lankan identity. JVP politburo member K.D. Lalkantha said that the proper solution to the ethnic issue is to build one identity in the country without identifying people based on their ethnic groups. He told  that
the 13th Amendment to the Constitution or a solution that goes beyond it would not resolve the issue. "The issue cannot be solved by 13 or 13 plus or minus. It has to be done by building on identity - a Sri Lankan identity," he said. However, he noted that the ethnic issue and the 13th Amendment are being used by the capitalist government to deviate from addressing the key issues faced by the people. "All these are issues of the capitalist governments and political parties and would not solve the issues of the underprivileged," he explained. According to Lalkantha, the government needed to stop hiding behind the issue of 13 plus and address the real issues of the people. "The working masses should not allow the government to deviate from addressing their grievances," he added.