Image courtesy of Virakesari 

A Buddha statue has been secretly inaugurated at the Veerakathy Pillaiyar temple in Madathady, Trincomalee, after it was installed illegally last month. 

Virakesari reported that on the evening on April 5, a small group of Sinhala Buddhists attended an event to inaugurate the statue which was initially installed in 2019 despite opposition from Tamils. 

The North-East has been subject to Sinhalisation for decades but in recent years, Sri Lanka has ramped up its efforts to appropriate non-Buddhist places of worship and lands. Trincomalee, in particular, has been subject to Sri Lanka’s colonisation efforts since the island’s independence from the British in 1948. 

Last year, residents in Iluppaikulam, Trincomalee condemned the construction of a new Buddhist temple in an area predominantly inhabited by Tamil people.

Residents from the surrounding villages of Periyakulam, Aththimotai, Sambaltivu, and Salli have repeatedly protested the ongoing Sinhalisation of the Tamil homeland. The 540 families that live in the area noted that the temple is being constructed in an area where no Sinhalese people live.

Earlier in April last year, residents protested against the construction of the Buddhist temple around the land that belongs to the Malaiyadi Pillaiyar Temple, in Muttur, Trincomalee. The Buddhist temple, Kottiyarama Shri Badra Thaathu Raja Maha Viharaya is being constructed with the assistance of the Sri Lankan army and naval forces.