Following backlash, ‘Jaffna’ restored in India-built Cultural Centre’s name in northern Sri Lanka

The ‘Jaffna Cultural Centre’ was renamed ‘Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre’ at an event held last week.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A strong backlash from politicians and intellectuals in Jaffna, over the renaming the India-built Jaffna Cultural Centre as Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre, has prompted Indian authorities to put up yet another name board, now calling the facility “Jaffna Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre”.  

On January 18, the Indian High Commission announced the renaming of the Jaffna Cultural Centre as ‘Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre’, “in honour of the great Tamil poet-philosopher Thiruvalluvar”.  High Commissioner Santosh Jha and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs Hiniduma Sunil Senevi jointly unveiled the new name at a special event held in Jaffna.

Following the ceremony, which coincided with Pongal celebrations marked by Tamils that week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar posted on social media platform ‘X’, welcoming the renaming. Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi termed it “another milestone” in Mr. Modi’s “continued efforts to celebrate and propagate the pride of Tamil language and culture worldwide”.  

The newly installed name board at the Cultural Centre in Jaffna reads ‘Yazhpanam [Jaffna] Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

PM Modi laid the foundation stone for the Jaffna Cultural Centre in 2015, while marking an Indian Premier’s maiden visit to Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna city. The Cultural Centre was built with a $ 12 million-grant from India. Following its construction, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar virtually inaugurated the building during his visit to Colombo in 2022. It was dedicated to the people of Jaffna in February 2023, in the presence of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The 11-floor structure has been promoted as a state-of-the-art facility, with a 600-seating capacity auditorium, a conference hall, an amphitheatre and a digital library.  It was constructed on land belonging to the Jaffna Municipal Council , near the iconic Jaffna Public Library.

Amid concerns over the municipality lacking funds to run the facility, India offered additional financial and administrative support for five years. The Centre has been periodically hosting shows of local artistes, as well as cultural performances and talk shows of artistes and scholars from India. All this while, New Delhi has used the original name and its abbreviation “JCC” in its official statements.

While neither the Indian nor Sri Lankan government has officially clarified who decided to change the name, or what prompted it now, enquiries with multiple sources — they requested anonymity citing ‘sensitivities” — pointed to New Delhi. According to diplomatic sources, the name of Thiruvalluvar, “the great Tamil philosopher, poet and thinker” celebrated and respected by Tamils all over the world, was considered for naming the facility, “in view of the nature of the project”.  The Government of Sri Lanka “had no objection”, a diplomatic source told The Hindu.

All the same, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Fisheries Ramalingam Chandrasekar, who represents the northern Jaffna district in the legislature, told Jaffna-based media that he was unaware of the name change until the day of the event, in which his Cabinet colleague Mr. Senevi shared the dais the Indian High Commissioner. Observing that he had no objection celebrating Thiruvalluvar, Mr. Chandrasekhar said omission of the word “Jaffna” from the name was a cause of concern, as was giving the Tamil language the “third place” on the display board, after English and Sinhala. He was echoing a position many senior Sri Lankan Tamil politicians, across party lines, have since voiced.

As the controversy spiralled in Tamil media in Sri Lanka and social media platforms, with many attacking India for the omission of the name ‘Jaffna’, acting president of the well-known political party Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) handed over a letter to the Indian Consul General in Jaffna, expressing the party’s surprise and anguish at the sudden name change, without consulting Tamil political representatives or the people.

“We revere the saint poet Thiruvalluvar here [in Sri Lanka], we have installed several statues of his. We do not oppose him. But the removal of the word “Jaffna” (from the Cultural Centre’s earlier name) amounts to insulting us,” the letter signed by acting President C.V.K. Sivagnanam said, underscoring the “pride” and “identity” that “Jaffna” symbolises for Sri Lanka’s Tamils.

Further, the party urged the Indian authorities to review and rectify the matter. “The Indian authorities were receptive to our suggestion. I am happy that they have now installed a nameboard calling the building Jaffna Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre as a compromise,” Mr. Sivagnanam told The Hindu on Friday (January 24, 2025).