Who gives Bodu Bala the alms to spout their religious hate?

With monk on the run the Government finally answers wake-up call but probe vital to determine who finances bigotry’s monster

Twice, last month, Bodu Bala Chieftain Gnanasara did not appear before the Court of Appeal to answer charges of contempt and state why he should not be punished for raising a ruckus in the Homagama Magistrates Courts last year as complained by its magistrate. On both occasions, the excuse given by his lawyers for his absence was that he was not well.

Neither did he show up this Monday when the case was called, with his lawyers citing that he was unable to do so because he feared for his life. Not surprising, is it, when one goes around the countryside hurling filthy abuse against Allah, the Almighty God of Islam, to inflame Muslim ire? It only reaffirms the validity of the Buddha’s karmic doctrine that every action has a similar reaction and that hate begets hate. Or as Christ said, “sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.”

The Court of Appeal did not however deem it fit to issue an arrest warrant but instead fixed the contempt matter for trial on July 17 and stated that if the ‘no show’ monk did not turn up that day, then a warrant will be issued for his arrest.

But on Thursday, the Colombo Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne issued a warrant for his arrest for failing to appear in courts to face two charges. The charges related to allegations of obstructing the police from exercising their duties in addition to making hate speeches in several places. And forcefully entering and sabotaging a press conference held at a hotel in Slave Island in April 2014.

The police, however, nearly arrested him on 19th May while he was travelling to Colombo from Dambulla, for allegedly inciting communal hate. But he defied police arrest, backed as he was by his supporter mob. After abusing the police in filth and demanding they show more decorum when it comes to the arrest of a monk in saffron robes and asking them whether this was the example they set for the entire country, he assured them he would come to the police station the following Monday, the 22nd and give himself up.

That Sunday, the 21st, he attempted to stage a sathyakriya in the hallowed outer precincts of the Sri Dalada Maligawe against police plans to arrest him but was summarily shooed away by the temple prelates for daring to violate the sanctity of the Temple of the Tooth with a farci-

On June 7th President Sirisena announced that he was even prepared to order the army to arrest the trend of religious and communal violence if the police are unable to apprehend those who perpetrate these crimes. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe declared, “that Police had been instructed to investigate recent attacks on mosques and arrest the perpetrators.” He said: “The Cabinet has directed the police to deal strictly with anyone responsible for causing ethnic or religious disharmony.

At last it seems that the government has answered the wake-up call and determined not to commit the same mistake the Rajapaksas did when it allowed the Bodu Bala to go on a rampage and wreak havoc.

But though locating the bull in the china shop presently seems to be like finding a needle in the haystack for the Lankan police, the arrest of Gnanasara and his production in courts to face justice should not be considered as the be all and end all of the matter. Its sinister, shrouded background must be probed deeply to discover the mysterious dayakayas who proffer the daily dana and feed, shelter and, with alms, arm this unholy saffron shrouded mob to destroy religious amity in this country with the sole expectation to receive in return, not the meritorious fruits of altruism but the dastard cacti of their own political ambitions.

Who gives alms to Bodu Bala to travel in luxury Benzes and four wheel drive full option vehicles similar to the Monteros MPs drive in? Who feeds them, who clothe them in comfort, who shelters them in safety? Who pays them to hire a small mob to travel around the countryside with them who raise the Lion Flag and pretend they are Sinhala Buddhism’s greatest saviours?

Rajitha Senaratne claimed last week that ‘it is likely that a government minister was hiding Gnanasara and preventing his arrest’. If this be true why doesn’t the Government come clean, reveal his name and take action against its own cabinet minister concerned? Apart from the usual suspects, namely the Rajapaksas, are there others in the present government who are exploiting the Bodu Bala puppets for their own vile ends? Is there a foreign power, or, as Wimal Weerawansa is fond of saying, a foreign conspiracy afoot to topple the Sirisena unity government by using these renegade brigade of monks to raise the bigotry issue in order to destabilize it?

Within a few short years, the Bodu Bala has risen from obscurity to occupy a place of national prominence, though of course, for the wrong reasons. It has contributed significantly to bring down the Rajapaksa regime which was once held to be unshakeable. Now it appears that it has been revived from its moribund state to repeat the same exercise, this time against the Sirisena regime. It has earned its credentials to incite racial violence and should not be taken lightly. Patriotism, it has been said, is the last refuge of the scoundrel. And there are plenty of those hanging about the place, be they bald and clean shaven or gel tufted and sporting goatees.

The Sirisena administration should not stay complacent. The mysterious forces, whether local or alien, must be identified. Their sources of funding ascertained. Such is its importance that even a Presidential Commission to probe Bodu Bala will not be out of order. And its findings revealed in full to the people.

Perhaps the commission can begin their inquiry by probing Gnanasara’s mysterious visit to Norway in 2010, two years before the advent of Bodu Bala on Bigotry’s stage.