Dilrook Kannangara

A social media activist has lost his bearings and ventured into the territory of hate speech. Calling politically active Buddhist monks by insulting names is fair game as they have entered the political fray. However, religious symbols are beyond political insults. Associating a religious symbol with a sexual object is an offence and the offender must be punished as per many laws in the country. According to existing laws, he could be punished with a jail term of up to 10 years if found guilty.

However, turning the matter into a political windfall by certain politicians and unpopular and tribal political organizations is not acceptable either. The need of the hour is to punish the individual so similar acts of hate speech will not be made and more importantly, it will not become a trend.

The social media activist was a supporter of the former president in 2019 and then he changed his party to the JVP and Aragalaya. The JVP must declare its connection with the man or distance itself from him.

Over the years not only Buddhists, but also Christians, Hindus and Muslims have showed their respect to the Temple of the Tooth. It has been the subject of a terrorist attack in 1998 and it must not be the object of vilification almost exactly 25 years later. Sadly, the terrorist masterminds behind the attack and the bodyguard of one of them are in active politics today and they have not been punished for political reasons.