India, Lanka enjoy unbreakable bonds, says Indian envoy

India and Sri Lanka are linked by an unbreakable historical bond as they share a common religion in Buddhism, the Indian High Commissioner here said today.
Y K Sinha was addressing a gathering at the opening of the Indian Gallery at the Temple of Tooth, the foremost place of Buddhist religious worship in the central town of Kandy today.
Sinha's comments on Indo-Lanka friendship come amidst prevailing heartburn in Sri Lanka over the decision by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stay away from the CHOGM summit held here last month.
"Perhaps the greatest son of the Indian subcontinent and India, Lord Buddha binds our two countries together - our religious ties, our ethnic ties, our linguistic ties are unbreakable, perhaps unmatched in any other part of the world," Sinha said.

Sinha said the man who brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka, Arahat Mahinda were born in Patna in Bihar.
India-Sri Lanka ties have been further cemented by Arahat Mahinda's Janmabhoomi (land of birth) and Karmabhoomi (land of work) which was Sri Lanka, he said.
The majority Sinhalese are unhappy that Singh had stayed away from coming to Colombo owing to domestic political compulsions in Tamil Nadu with Sri Lanka under international pressure over its human rights record during the last phase of the brutal three-decade civil war in 2009 in the island's Tamil-dominated north.