Today is indeed a historic day. It is also a special day in the history of a great people, with a history of over thousands of years. Mr Speaker this Constitution is designed to end the ethnic war which totally destroyed the lives of the people of this country... Though anybody may hoot or howl like jackals, we shall go through with this.... Mr. Speaker, we are doing this regardless of the number of votes we will get.
Quoted by Tamil Nation, "Chandrika's 'Devolution Proposal'", August 7, 2000.