UNP trying to gain political mileage over Minister's remarks - JHU

by Chamikara Weerasinghe

The Leader of Jathika Hela Urumaya Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Mahanayaka Thera yesterday said that UNP was trying to gain political mileage by making a big noise over the words used by Minister Mangala Samaraweera to address Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera.

Referring to the incident, the thera said, "be it Minister Mangala Samaraweera or any one, a decent citizen is not expected to violate the accepted norms of society."

"There is a way to address the clergy , be it Hindu, Buddhist or Christian. These norms had to be adhered to under any circumstances, If not it will reflect one's own deficiency," said Ven. Medhananda Thera.

"The accepting of one's own mistakes is commendable. It's good to see Minister Samaraweera had accepted his error in this case," he said .

"Having said that, I must say that this is not an isolated incident for there have been many instances where the Buddhist monks had been spoken to with outrageous language by some lay persons," he said .

"I'd like to ask the UNP , why they did not make any noise over such incidents then, and why at this juncture they act with enthusiasm over Minister Samaraweera's words," said Medhananda Thera.

Asked his views on the incident, General Secretary of Jathika Hela Urumaya, Champaka Ranawaka said, " If one talks about damaging statements made against Maha Sangha in the current context, one has to admit that UNP MP Rajitha Senaratne had made the most damaging statement against Maha Sangha in the form of a challenge.

"Minister Samaraweera had made a statement against Maha Sangha, but Rajitha Senaratne had challenged the Maha Sangha for a debate on Buddhism with their Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe," he said.

"The media is on rampage these days publishing material after Mr. Samaraweera's incident while sidelining MP Rajitha Senaratne's universal challenge against Maha Sangha to come to a debate with their lay leader Wickremesinghe," he pointed out.

Ranawaka further said that Rajitha had referred to their Leader Ven. Medhananda Thera as a "Thuttu Deke Deshapalanannaya" in a certain article published in a Sinhala newspaper about two week ago.

"Where was UNP then to deal with these situations," he asked.