Sunday Punch 2
colour, the photograph of their leader striking, with his raised and pointing forefinger, the Mudra of Hate.
Never in the history of its 132-year existence has the standard symbolising Buddhism, ever been subjected to such desecration and distortion. Only the Buddha has a right to be placed on it but even the Buddha image has never adorned it. The five- colour flag was designed by a distinguished committee in 1885 comprising Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera the chairman, Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera, Don Carolis Hewavitharana, the father of Anagarika Dharmapala, Andiris Perera Dharmagunawardhana, the maternal grandfa- comes to holding a referendum, it is important for the Government to minimise as much as possible its unpopularity in order to win the people’s verdict. But unfortunately today, the Government’s unpopularity is on the rise. Gnanasara’s attacks against the Muslims three years ago became a main factor to send the Rajapaksas home. Again this Gnanasara has appeared on the stage. But up to today, no action has been taken by the Government against this monk. This will have adverse consequences on the referendum that is planned to get the new constitution approved by the people. Whatever else this Government might do, it will be of no use if this country is once again engulfed in flames. Therefore, it is vital that monks like Gnanasara should be tethered.”
It is almost as if someone somewhere seems to have pressed the red button to raise the ghouls from the land of the living dead and reactivate them to dig the nation’s grave and dance once more upon its barren bed. Someone, somehow seems to have managed to retract the stake driven into their hearts --these vampire bats who once, not so long ago, stalked the land in search of Muslim prey to feed on -and revive them to life, with the prospect of more blood to suck from minority necks and to replay the self same scenes that haunted the land and struck terror in the hearts of the minorities when the saffron shrouded spectres arose with impunity and acted with immunity.
If America has a Klu Klux Klan, wreathed in black and marching incognito to render the blacks into a quivering mass of black jelly, meet the Bodu Bala Brigade of renegade monks who do it in the open, without shame, without remorse, without fear: but with pride, with impudence, with arrogance and, alas, with immunity from legal reprisals; and, worst of all, do it in the name of Gautama the Buddha and flagrantly violate every tenet he preached. If the Taliban blasted the 1600 year old Bamiyan Buddha statues, the symbolic artistic representation of an alien idol to that fanatic Islamic outfit, the Bodu Bala seems hell bent on reducing to naught the value of the two thousand five year old peaceful Sinhala Buddhist heritage by the violent methods they use to ostensibly protect it. Their rise from the sewers of obscurity is itself shrouded in mystery. But though their rise may have been from such depths, their burst in to national prominence began in 2012 when they held their first convention at the BMICH. Where did the bowl of funds come from, for a band of unknown monks without any known patronage, to start their campaign of hate from the steps of the grandiose international conference hall?
Then the world was their oyster, and ther of Anagarika Dharmapala, Charles A. de Silva, Peter De Abrew, William De Abrew (father of Peter), H. William Fernando, N. S. Fernando and Carolis Pujitha Gunawardena and was first raised and publicly displayed on Vesak day 1885 at Dipaduttamarama, Kotahena, by Ven. Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera which was the first time the Vesak Full Moon Poya Day was declared a public holiday in Ceylon by the British.
It was introduced to Japan by Anagarika Dharmapala and Olcott who presented it to Emperor Meiji and subsequently to Burma. And in 1952 at the World Buddhist Fellowship convention the five- colour flag was adopted as the International Buddhist Flag and universally recognised as such.
And then this Tuesday morn, these Bodu Bala Sena monks went and flung dung on it. legal immunity from arrest for what they were about to embark upon, their pearl. The saffron robe their armour, Sinhala chauvinism their lance and an unarmed defenseless community their prey. And attacking them and striking fear into their hearts, their pride and glory. All done in the name of protecting Buddhism, the nation’s religion, which despite five hundred years of foreign domination, has still remained Buddhist to the core.
Bodu Bala past atrocities need no retelling, for their reputations for bigotry and an inclination to arouse racial and religious hatred amongst the communities has long preceded their latest unwanted arrival on the national stage.
But this time Galagodaaththe Gnanasara seems to have lost his marbles, gone over the top, gone berserk. Perhaps it is to plunge the nation into chaos with Sinhala Muslim clashes which would earn for Lanka the world’s opprobrium and bring her down to her knees -- which would ideally suit his puppeteers waiting for anarchy to break to escape from their own shadows of corruption sins -- and defer his day of judgment where he faces the distinct possibility of a long-term in prison if convicted of contempt of court, stripped as he is now of his saffron immunity which the Rajapaksa regime caparisoned him with. But why is it that this Government having condemned the Rajapaksa legal system of selective justice and harped time and time again that everyone is equal before the law and the Government is committed to upholding the rights of all citizens and that it is dedicated to creating an environment where all citizens of all communities can live together as one in peace and harmony, still shirk to throw the book at all those depraved racists elements, be they Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims who are intent on exploiting race and religion to advance their own political agendas?
Does the Maithripala Government believe that Galagodaaththe Gnanasara is untouchable? A sacred bull that must be left undisturbed in its rampage? Merely because he wears the sacred robe of the Buddha? If so they are wrong. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara has shown by his actions that he is not fit to don it. Does the Maithripala Government believe that if they act against him, that there will be a mass Sinhala uprising against the Government which would cause them to lose the elections next time around or even precipitate the Government’s downfall before 2020? If so, wrong again. The Government has only to look at the 2015 general election results where the Bodu Bala Sena contested under the name of the Buddhist People’s Front. They only received 20,377 votes or just 0.18 percent of the total votes cast. So what is the Government waiting for?