Speaking at the opening ceremony of an Indian housing scheme on Sunday, which sees 10,000 homes handed over to the predominantly of Indian origin Tamils in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka's prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe made a point of saying that these Tamils had not called for a separate state like Tamils in the North.

“We launched the Suwaseriya Ambulance service all over the country, while the Mahatma Gandhi Housing Scheme, opened today in Nuwara Eliya, had brought equality to all people in the estate sector. People in the plantation sector did not have villages and a house of their own like other people elsewhere,” Mr Wickremesinghe said.

“However, they have begun to get their own villages and houses today. They did not demand a separate state like some in the North, who were provoked by the LTTE," he was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

“Estate sector Tamils only wanted citizenship and a land of their own. The late President JR Jayewardene granted citizenship to estate Tamils. We have given them the land of their own today.

“However, we cannot stop at that. Therefore, the Government has decided to introduce Advanced Level science streams to schools in the plantation sector and had also planned to take over the dispensaries and hospitals in the plantations in order to upgrade them,” he added.

Speaking via a video message the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi stressed that the housing project was the largest Indian grant assistance project in any country abroad.