By Rohana R. Wasala

Continued from January 16, 2026

Before continuing, please let me correct a serious error (a senior moment, a senile memory slip) that occurred in Part I, while updating an earlier piece of writing; in paragraph five their of, I went on the presumption that KD’s predictions were meant to apply to the (still hypothetical) 2029 presidential election, whereas he was actually writing at the beginning of June 2024 about the presidential polls already scheduled for September the same year. I humbly beg the readers’ forgiveness over this lapse. The following paragraph, I hope, will clear away the confusion caused by my wrong presumption (pun intended):

In the old Sunday Island feature, Kumar David predicted that, at the upcoming presidential polls (slated to be held in September 2024), the battle would be between Ranil and Anura with ‘Sajith wailing in the wilderness’, while ‘the utterly hopeless SLFP and SLPP will find refuge with Ranil Wickremasinghe’ (as he put it), which meant that Kumar David left Namal (Rajapaksa) out of the scenario that he foresaw, because he probably thought that Namal wouldn’t be fielded at all for fear of sure defeat. But, as it turned out, Namal had to enter the fray to avoid total parliamentary obliteration of the SLPP. As for KD, prophesying at the beginning of June 2024, he was trying wishfully to discern emerging signs of such a pre-poll division of political loyalties that would be advantageous to Ranil Wickremasinghe (the alleged kingpin of the 2015 regime change operation to which Kumar David made available his strategic intellectual contribution).

Part I concluded with:

It is only KD’s ingrained anti-Sinhalese Buddhist prejudice that has instilled such ideas into his hate filled mind. KD adds that the ‘import of his (Lalkantha’s) words is that ‘the JVP-NPP is going to be identified at the polls as a Sinhala party and this will have consequences. Will it draw the already radicalised Sinhala-Buddhist youth in larger numbers into the JVP camp or will it damage the JVP’s image? Time will show.’ What balderdash is this? If the JVP cannot attract anti-extremist peaceful Sinhalese Buddhist youth (those that the prejudiced call ‘radicalised’) and their counterparts in other communities into its fold, will it survive in politics, let alone save its image?

Part II starts here:

So, it is clear that Kumar David called Lalkantha a buffalo because the latter did not seem to agree with the Tamil separatists’ false claim that the Sri Lankan government forces were fighting against Tamil civilians, and that the separatists were their saviours. Some sympathisers of the separatist ideology among the Tamil diaspora have propagated the same conscious lie abroad, especially in the powerful Western countries, where unprincipled local politicians exploit it for winning support among immigrant Tamil voters. Traditionally communalistic minority politicians of the older generation in Sri Lanka also resort to vote-bank politics; of course, there are honourable exceptions, but they fail to get into parliament in spite of their honesty and patriotism. In the case of politicians from the majority community, vote-bank politics comes in the form of political correctness (in the use of language and formulation of policies) towards minority voters. In the end, it is the truly patriotic nationalist politicians (irrespective of their individual racial or religious identity) who are accused of playing vote-bank politics by allegedly succumbing to the whims of the majority community when such politicians make an attempt to address their genuine grievances such as the problem of resettling the war-displaced Sinhalese in the north and east provinces, preservation of the Buddhist archaeological sites scattered throughout those areas, and the restoration of the basic human rights of the war-orphaned original Sinhalese inhabitants in isolated villages in the Batticaloa district.

In my reply to ‘Quo vadis?’ I asked the rhetorical question to KD: ‘Where are these ‘radicalised Sinhala-Buddhist youth?’ and went on to drive home the point: ‘There are none, as you know in your heart of hearts. Why don’t you dare even hint at the confirmed existence of internationally known radicalised youth belonging to certain fundamentalist sects, who have actually caused unspeakable unprovoked terrorist violence within Sri Lanka? Why do you level false allegations of violent extremism against innocent Sinhalese Buddhist youth? Actually, the false ‘radicalised’ label was stuck on some young peaceful Sinhalese Buddhist activists who warned against early signs of the emergence of some extremist Islamist groups whose activities eventually culminated in the April 21, 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

In my reply I pointed out that ‘the JVP-NPP is not a Sinhalese only party or alliance, but like any major pan-Sri Lankan national party, it has a majority of ethnic Sinhalese in its ranks as they form the majority of the total Sri Lankan population. But its leaders have already alienated the Sinhalese Buddhist voters by making inane utterances smacking of anti-nationalist prejudice in the hope of winning the approval of foreign interventionist forces and the minorities that they offer to look after as alleged victims of ‘Sinhalese Buddhist majoritarianism’ which is a malicious false fabrication against a hapless global minority. Only race- or religion-based parties have members who exclusively belong to a specific religious or racial group. It was not necessary to mention examples as these were well known to KD and our readers. 

KD had made another interesting revelation: ‘The monks went on an expedition to Europe and the US, sought out Tamil links such as the Global Tamil Forum and others and initiated a dialogue. The initiative is now in motion and grass-roots activities are in full swing. Important figures like Karu Jayasuriya (former Speaker), Austin Fernando, Sarvodaya, Jehan Perera’s National Peace Council and Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu’s CPA are involved. Branches have been established in many localities and an active movement is in full swing.’ So, is that why the Justin Trudeau government declared an utterly baseless Tamil Genocide Remembrance Week in 2024 and Canada has been issuing statements bullying Sri Lanka with egregious lies about human rights violations, communal attacks on innocent Tamils, etc., without any credible, transparent investigations. Was this ‘initiative’ also KD’s like his ‘single issue candidate’ stratagem of late 2014, which has brought the country to this sorry pass today? Former Sri Lankan foreign affairs minister Ali Sabry correctly characterised such treacherous anti-Sri lanka gimmicks as being prompted by sought-after domestic vote bank benefits in that country.

Who were these monks who went on an expedition to Europe and the US, seeking to establish links with the GTF and other Tamil organisations? They were probably from the Jatika Bhikshu Peramuna allied to the JVP (Janatha Vimukti Peramuna). The young monk who talked in support of demolishing Tissa Raja Maha Viharaya in Kankesanturai must be from this group.?

They are not very different from the fraternity of yellow-robed Buddhist monk impersonators to which sixty-four year old Saman Ratnayake (a wanted crime suspect according to social media reports) who has found asylum in Norway posing as Cleppe Ariyamagga Thero or the eighty-two year old retired Dept of Agriculture statistical officer Sirisena Hapuarachchi with an embezzling history who has assumed robes in old age as Meewanapalane Siridhammalankara belong to? The first of these is propagating a fictitious history of Buddhism according to which Gautama Buddha was born, attained Buddhahood, preached and died in Sri Lanka; the second has declared himself to be a Buddha and misleads gullible Buddhists with a wrong interpretation of the Tripitaka which is in the Pali language, himself having no knowledge of that language. (I gathered this information from social media sources, which may or may not be available now)  Their activities seem to be lavishly funded by foreign donors. Eighty-four year old Karu Jayasuriya (former Speaker mentioned above) seems to be his main backer, who protects him from protests and challenges by concerned Buddhists, though he knows that he has already been expelled from the nikaya he had joined at some obscure Buddhist monastery. The activities of these two imposters and several monks who became their followers have already caused divisions within the Sangha community and the Buddhist laity, which are very harmful to the Buddha Sasana.      

I have no comment to make on KD’s proposals about identifying and advancing national economic goals (as I know little about political economics), except that his ideas might be expected to give a boost to the president’s authoritarian national assets selling economic policies, which are meeting strong opposition from nationalist patriots of all communities. 

KD added a maliciously false, hateful NOTE at the end, which needed a comment: 

“The absolute core Sinhala vote in the country is the infamous 69 lakhs”; maybe 70 now by natural increase. I reckon that the minorities – Ceylon Tamils, Upcountry Tamils, Muslims and Catholics – are about one third of the core Sinhala vote. That is (1/3) x70 about 23 lakhs. This is why I reckon that RW is making a play for a clear majority of this 23-lakhs in the presidential poll’. This could be a deliberate ploy that KD slily suggests for the UNP and the non-Sinhalese communalist parties led by racists and religious opportunists to use, persuading them to form into a common alliance against the majority community at the polls (as it mostly happened even in 2019 and 2020 elections, despite the urgent and genuine appeals of the nationalist leaders to the contrary; their eventual betrayal of the victory achieved is a different story).

KD described what he called ‘the absolute Sinhala vote’ as “the infamous 69 lakhs”, and that this figure might be 70 then ‘by natural increase’! Could all the new voters of any specific ethnic community be expected to exactly follow their elders’ politics without any deviation? This was a shameless exhibition of his inexplicable visceral hatred of the Sinhalese in general. The hatred he inspired in the hearts of the young will poison the minds of generations to come. I ended my response to ‘Quo vadis?’ with: ‘This is not worthy of a venerable old man like you, Kumar David!’

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s despicable remark that the Sinhalese Buddhist pilgrims from the south who travel north passing Anuradhapura go to Tissa Viharaya, not to observe Sil, but to spread hatred against Tamils living there is not surprising. He is Kumar David’s buffalo’s comrade. Both were beneficiaries of KD’s mentoring.

Concluded