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Malwatte Mahanayaka Thero expresses displeasure over Opposition leader's blasphemy against Buddhist MonksBy Walter JayawardhanaSri Lankas foremost Budddhist monk , the Head of the Malwatte
Chapter of the Siamese Sect regretted the recent statement of the leader
of the United National Party Ranil Wickremesinghe calling Buddhist monks
a corrupt company or Dussila Samagama and said no service
could be expected out of such leaders to the country, the religion and
the Buddhist monks in the future. Some leaders who do not know the value of Buddhist monks over
a simple matter publicly call Buddhist monks a Dussila Samagama
and I regret such words being used against the Buddhist monks,
said the most Venerable Thibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala, head of the Malwatte
Chapter of the Siyam Nikaya in an obvious reference to Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The statement was broadcast by the state owned Independent Television
Network. The statement was condemned by the Venerable Ellawela Medhananda, the
leader of the Jathika Hela Urumaya , a political party mostly represented
by Buddhist monks. In retaliation , the United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe
called those Buddhist monks a corrupt company that became
a hornets nest in form of demonstrations, protest meetings and
public statements all over the country. He said those monks need
Mercedes Benz to travel along the noble eight fold path, ridiculing
their alleged life style. The party calling it libelous said it would
sue the UNP leader for his uttering in a court of law. The statement issued by the Head of the Malwatte chapter is considered
very politically damaging in a majority Buddhist country in which the
majority of Buddhist temples and the learning centers called pirivenas
belong to that chapter. Among the approximately 50,000 Buddhist monks
in the country not only majority of them belong to about the six chapters
of the Siamese Sect but even the other sects respect the opinion of
the head of the Malwatte chapter. The most Venerable Thibbotuwawe Sumangala in a further obvious reference
to Ranil Wickremesinghe said, I doubt very much from such leaders
any service to the country, the religion or the Buddhist monks could
be expected. Ranil Wickremesinghes statement has already created controversy
in his own party and the treasurer of the party, Thilak Karunaratne
has already tendered his resignation citing the statement about the
bhikkus as one of the reasons for the resignations. |
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