JHU claims Rs. 2500 million from Opposition Leader

Chamikara Weerasinghe

COLOMBO: The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) yesterday said that steps would be taken to send Letters of Demand to Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe over his remarks made against the party’s four MP monks and Minister Champaka Ranawaka.

The five members are to demand Rs. 500 million each from the Opposition Leader over his statements, he said.

Gammanpila was speaking at a press conference organised by its lay leaders at the JHU head office in Nugegoda.

The JHU lay leaders said at the conference that Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had exposed his real design and his pathetic disposition with his recent statement made against the venerable members of Maha Sangha in the Jathika Hela Urumaya, calling them “Dushseela Bhikshu Samagama.”

The party’s Legal Advisor Gammanpila said, this was the first time in the history of Sri Lankan politics that an Opposition Leader had made a statement to bring disrepute to the members of the Buddhist Order.

As lay leaders of the Jathika Hela Urumaya , we thought it is our duty to say a few words in reply to the Opposition Leader’s statement,” he said.

Referring to the Opposition Leader’s charge levelled against the JHU MP monks of using luxury vehicles such as Mercedes Benz cars and Landcruisers , Gammanpila said that the vehicles used by the JHU MP monks, had been received long before they became MPs.

“Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera is using an old Toyota Town Ace van.This van is more than 20 years old. Ven Medhananda Thera goes in this old van, sometimes traversing 200 to 300 kilometres per day to engage himself in his important archaeological activities around the country, especially in the Eastern Province,” he said.

“Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera uses a Toyota Dolphin van. And sometimes the Thera uses a very old Pajero (32 Sri) for common activities of the temple.” he said.

JHU monks Ven Kotapola Amarakitthi Nayaka Thera and Ven Athuraliye Rathana Thera use a Nissan Bluebird car.

“The monks employ these vehicles for the benefit of the society, having received them from pious daayakas of the temples,” he said.

“Opposition Leader Wickremesinghe has been using all kinds of luxury vehicles since the day he came to Parliament. He has obtained all vehicle permits and bought luxury vehicles for his personal comfort,” he said.

Admitting that the monks concerned had obtained vehicle permits legally given to them, he said,” that the permits could not be sold, and they are not sold by the monks.”

“The vehicles obtained under vehicle permits are maintained as the property of the Sangha and are used as a means of generating income to be channelled and used in building temples, renovating temples damaged in the North Eastern and other public and national activities.

“The JHU MP monks have dedicated their vehicles for a common cause. We would like to ask Wickremesinghe and his party (UNP) members whether a single MP in their camp had dedicated their luxury vehicles this way for a common purpose other than latching on to their own comfort,” he asked.

“We would like to ask Wickremesinghe to stop acting as a Buddhist. We are not against him if he is a Christian. If he has any respect for a religion, he would not have acted disrespectfully towards the clergy of another religion,” he said. “It would be too dangerous that a character of the class of Ranil, is the Opposition Leader of the country,” he said.

“We expect to accept the responsibility of producing a better leader for the UNP , a leader who is not stained with fundamentalism, on behalf of the country in the future,” he said.

“He appears to be grieving in the face of the beginning of the end for old friend LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran under the present government.”

“He is upset over our support to the Government, and the successes so far achieved by the Government in this direction that he had to clamp down hard on us with verbal abuse,” he explained.