Rathana Thera’s protest swept main issues under carpet: Ven. Gnanasara
Posted on June 4th, 2019
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Because of the hunger strike launched by Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera outside the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, the main issues that should be focused upon have been swept under the carpet, Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thera said.
Speaking to the media at the BBS Headquarters today, the Venerable thera explained that Ven. Rathana Thera went to Kandy to launch the fast-unto-death campaign without even discussing the issue with them.
“Ven. Rathana Thera should not take the prevailing issues into his own hands merely because of his political bankruptcy. He should have sought a common solution after holding discussions with others. The solution should be found to the real issue,” he said.
The Karaka Maha Sangha Sabha was to meet and discuss the prevailing situation last Saturday (1). However, Venerable Rathana Thera had already started a fast by then, the prelate said.
“If I did not go to see Ven. Rathana Thera during the fast people might have blamed the BBS saying that I had been released by the President with conditions,” Ven. Gnanasara Thera said.
“I do not trust any politician but only the Buddha. We do not have any agenda or political motive. We would like to have an open debate with Muslim community leaders. My agitation is to control the people if those leaders cannot take control of their people. But not to assault or kill,” he said.
“The Jamiyyathul Ulama Council should come for an open debate. I do not have any conditions to defeat Muslim extremism. I would stand with anyone who has the capability of defeating extremism,” he said.
There was no need for several programmes to defeat extremism. Buddhist monks should have only one agenda, which is the national agenda at this time.
Therefore, we will not allow anybody to handle extremism in the country. This should be conducted under one leadership.
Because of Rathana Thera’s actions, the influence to control Muslim politicians has been concentrated in the Ulema Council. Earlier, there were many groups that controlled Muslim politicians,” the Thera said.
“But it is unfortunate that the main chapters are still unable to group all Sinhalese politicians into one camp.
We urge politicians who do not agree with the national agenda to pack their baggage and go home. Because the country had been awakened and Buddhist monks are now united.
We urge the people not to fall prey to the trickery of politicians,” he said. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)
June 4th, 2019 at 3:51 pm
Ven Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thero is absolutely spot on. All that Ven Athureliye Ratana Thero did was to boost up his sagging popularity or rather abject rejection by the masses of his idiotic push to bring a so called Yahapalanaya with a set of known crooks and knave as the ‘common candidate’.
Ven Maduluwawe Sobhita Thero was another one such character always looking for an opportunity to grab the stage and be prominent. In his lust for power, he was used by cunning foxes of the UNP led by Ravi Karunanayagam and Nirmal Dewasiri to undertake the Saadharana Samajayak project with hints that he could even be the Common Candidate for Presidency. All know what followed that ended with his untimely – but in hindsight a timely exit for a vain individual ignorant in the ways of the very forces that were inimical to the Sinhala Buddhist interests he claimed to advance.
Ven Ratana is no different. By his ‘fast unto death’ farce he took the good fight against the Wahabbis to a corner and may very well have scuppered the ship of public opinion out of focus. He may have gained some visibility but his character and what he will do in the future will once again expose him for the naive person he is. For the good of the nation, he should be kept well ‘shielded’! from self-harm as well as harm to the nation.
Patriotic forces will have to pick up what is left over – all over again and move on!
June 4th, 2019 at 5:57 pm
I totally disagee.
Ven Rathana achieved one of most successful political outcomes in 10 years by his fast.
What did Ven Gnanasara achieve through his media conferences and speeches? Nothing.
In fact Ven Gnanasara went to Ven Rathana and showed support! He even gave a speech. Now he is singing a different tune. Why?
Voters elected Ven Rathana in 2004 and 2010. He could have won in 2015 too. But Ven Gnanasara failed to get elected with a very small number of votes. So the two are not comparable. Ven Rathana is an elected leader whereas Ven Gnansara has been unable to win voters’ confidence.
Creating divisions within the Sangha is not a good move. All must desist it.
June 4th, 2019 at 6:49 pm
He took it to his own hand and went into the Death Fast because he was feeling guilty due to the disaster brought forth to Mother Lanka in all aspects by his Yahapalana Team. He knew he was responsible for that. His declaration before getting into the Ambulance saying that he now has no regrets is not in debt to the country anymore proves this point.
He had no followings in the country and he was waging various lonely wars against Glyphosate etc but he was suffering internally with his guilt.
One good thing happened to him was joining a Christian gentleman and a War hero + TNA MP in Batticaloa, which brought the attention to his action. People started feeling for him and due to the hatred, everyone has on the ruling opportunists, the whole nation felt that he was fighting their own war against the corrupt regime. Talks by several monks further triggered the National feeling of most of the people who went ahead and closed their businesses and taking people to the road in supporting Ven Rathana Thero.
It was only a partial win as two Governors resigned. Badiudeen and the other muslim ministers cheated the public by resigning temporarily. Their ministries are all under their control and their YO men are still running the show.
Finally, Ven Ratana thero got his name back but no justice done to the people who died as UNP are now laughing.
As BBS monk rightly said, there is more to this issue and I have a strong feeling that they are putting together a new constitution with the help of patriotic professionals and then planning to put it to the table for next candidates to accept and declare as their election promise.
If that is what they are trying to do, then it is a clever idea as the new presidential candidate will get the mandate of the people to implement the newly proposed election system, one law for the whole country, no religious or communal political parties, good bye to 13A and preferential system of voting etc etc.
As patriots, we have a duty to send our proposal to them as an urgent matter.
June 4th, 2019 at 6:56 pm
By mentioning “They are putting together a new constitution” I did not mean BBS. It is done by a different team of highly educated and respected monks. I am looking for a contact myself.
June 4th, 2019 at 8:34 pm
Main thing is under the carpet anyway !
Rathana Thero gave a good start.
Rather than acting like a boss why not take the momentum and finish it off ?
Was he waiting until Rathana Thero ( who is in hospital) to die ?
Very poor show by Gnanasaara.
I suspect he is now an agent of a politician although he deny it.
June 4th, 2019 at 8:34 pm
Dilrook,
We must not forget Ven. Ratana’s role in bringing about the defeat of the Rajapaksa Govt, getting the Yamapalanaya elected, and landing our country ion the current pestilence ridden soup!
Ven. Galgodatthe Ratnasara is DEAD ON TARGET when he says (as I have OFTEN stated ever since Ranata Himi joined Champika Ranawaka and Rajitha Senaratne to split the Sinhala Buddhist vote in 2015), that RATANA Himi together with SOBITHA Himi MUST BEAR a LIONS SHARE of the BLAME & RESPONSIBILITY for the current STATE of our Motherland under the Yamapalanaya.
Their ADDLE-PATED STUPIDITY that destroyed the ONLY REALLY DESHAPREMI GOVT we have had since D.S. Senanayake’s days, is UNPARDONABLE.
However, I AGREE with you that Ratana Himi was VERY EFFECTIVE in leveraging his FAST to OUST the TREACHEROUS Rishard Bathuideen and Governors Hisbullah & Salley that he targeted.
That GAINS Ven Ratana SOME MERIT to OFFSET the GREATER SIN he COMMITTED against the Patriotic People of Sri Lanka when he HELPED to ENGINEER the OUSTER of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and usher in the DISASTROUS Yamapalanaya, but in NO WAY does it WIPE OUT his MASSIVE ORIGINAL SIN!
In view of our RECENT EXPERIENCES in the last 4 decades with the PERSISTENT ENMITY of UNP, the TNA and the Muslim Parties towards the aspirations and inalienable rights of the Sinhala Buddhist People, how could Ratana and Sobitha have made such a DISASTROUS MISTAKE to TRUST our DECLARED ENEMIES and help lead our people astray?
Such STUPIDITY is UNPARDONABLE in my view, and it will take a MANY MORE ACTS OF ABJECT REPENTANCE from Ven Ratana before I trust him to any substantial degree with the future SAFETY & SECURITY of Sri Lanka.
June 4th, 2019 at 8:36 pm
Oops! I meant to say Ven. Gnanasara, not Ratnasara
June 4th, 2019 at 9:46 pm
I totally agree with Ratanapala. The moment I heard that Ven. Athuraliye Ratana was going on a fast in the hallowed precincts of the Dalada Maligawa, I foresaw the outcome that Ven. Galaboda-aththe Gnanasara has described: it has swept the main issues under the carpet. His fast was as successful as he originally intended it to be: he wanted to draw a red herring across the path, and nothing more. That’s what he achieved. He’s ensured the life of a dysfunctional government that people are impatiently waiting to bring an end to.
Ven. Ratana Thera is a quintessential politician. It is a pity that he is in yellow robes – the Arhat Dhajaya of the bhikkhus. He cannot be expected to disrobe and engage in politics as a layman because the yellow robe is his chief weapon, the vote gathering rake among the ordinary unsophisticated Sinhala Buddhists. They don’t see the political wolf in sheep’s clothing. Once, Rajitha Senaratne, his co-conspirator against Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015, said in a TV interview (after falling out with Ven. Ratana) that he is an ace dissembler (not in those words, though).
Right from the beginning of the fast, my impression was that it was fake. Fair minded observers viewed him with suspicion. He is the president’s trusted partner and advisor. If he had a genuine intention to strike a blow at Wahhabism he should have staged a fast unto death demanding that the parliament be dissolved immediately and fresh elections held to install in office a new government that is capable of resolving the many crises that the country is facing as a result of the Yahapalanaya including Islamic terrorism. But no one in their right senses would expect him to do that, because as a staunch supporter of the 2015 change he will not wish the present government to fall before its foreign dictated original agenda is fulfilled, probably with some modifications.
June 4th, 2019 at 10:57 pm
Emperor Modi is arriving on the 9 June 2019. Jai Hind.
June 5th, 2019 at 12:53 am
රතන හිමිගේ උපවාසයට මල්වතු-අස්ගිරි පාර්ශවවල දැඩි විරෝධය…
June 5, 2019 at 10:00 am | lanka C news
එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ ජාතික ලැයිස්තු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී පූජ්ය අතුරලියේ රතන හිමියන් විසින් මහනුවර දළදා මාලිගාවේ මහ මළුවේ මාරාන්තික උපවාසයක් සිදුකිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් මල්වතු-අස්ගිරි පාර්ශවයන්හි දැඩි විරෝධය එල්ල වී තිබේ.
තමන් වහන්සේ උපවාසයක් කරන්නේ යැයි මල්වතු-අස්ගිරි මහනාහිමිවරුන් බැහැදැක රතන හිමියන් පවසා ඇතත් එසේ කරන්නේ කුමන ස්ථානයකදැයි පැහැදිලි නොකර දළදා මාලිගාවේ මහ මළුවේ රතන හිමියන්ගේ උපවාසය ආරම්භ කර ඇති බව එම නිකායන් හිමිවරුන් කියා සිටිති.
මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අද දිනයේ රැස්වීම් විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාවක් පවත්වා ඉදිරි ක්රියාමාර්ග ගන්නා බවද එමහිමිවරුරන් කියා සිටිති.
මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරයාද යම් ප්රමාණයක දැනුවත් කිරීමක් දැනටමත් සිදු කර තිබේ.
ශ්රී දළදා මාලිගාවේ මහ මළුවේ සිදු කරන ලද උපවාසය හේතුවෙන් එම පූජනීය ස්ථානයේ අනවශ්ය කෑකෝ ගැසීම්, හූ කීම්, වෛර වෛරීසහගත ප්රකාශ මෙන්ම ස්ථානය දැඩිලෙස අපිරිසුදු වීමක් සිදුව ඇතැයි ද දළදා මාලිගාවේ භාරකරුවන් වන අස්ගිරි මල්වතු මහනායක හිමිවරුන්ට මාලිගාවේ තේවා කටයුතු කරන්නන් විසින් පෙන්වා දී තිබේ.
මීට පෙර කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක දළදා මාලිගාව මේ ආකාරයේ අවභාවිතාව නැති බවද ඔවුන් මහනාහිමිවරුන්ට පෙන්වා දී ඇත.
බෞද්ධයන්ගේ මුදුන්මල්කඩක් වන් දළදා මාලිගාව හඑ මළුවේ සිට වෛරීසහගත ප්රකාශ සිදු කිරීම, සියදිවි නසාගැනීමට උත්සාහ දැරීම ආදී කටයුතු සඳහා කිසිදු ඉඩක් නොමැති බවත් එය බුද්ධ දර්ශනයේ මුලික හරයන්ට අනුකූල නොවන බවත් රතන හිමියන්ගේ උපවාසය සහමුලින්ම දේශපාලනික උවමනාවත් වෙනුවෙන් කරන ලද කටයුත්තක් යයිද නිකායන්හි ප්රධාන හිමි වරුන්ගේ මතය වී ඇත.