After several months of infighting and reports of abductions and assaults, an extremist Sinhala Buddhist monk accused of hate speech has been sworn in to Sri Lanka’s parliament this week.
Athuraliye Rathana was sworn in after his Our Power of People Party (OPPP) was allocated one National List seat in parliament, as they secured 67,758 votes in the 2020 election.
The extremist Sinhala Buddhist monks from the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) formed a new joint coalition to contest in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections.
Initially the party had decided to nominate General Secretary of the extremist Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), Galagoda Gnanasara, a close associate of Rathana. However internal disputes which led to rival monks being abducted, prolonged the nomination process.
Arambepola Ratanasara, a member of the OPPP claimed he was “kidnapped and held illegally” by Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, the general secretary of the Sinhala supremacist BBS, as infighting within the coalition grew over the sole seat. “I have been sleeping in a different location every night,” he told a reporter in August. “My vehicle was chased by them in several cars as far as Kalutara one night.”
General Secretary of the OPPP, Vedinigama Wimalatissa also said then that “groups supporting Galagoda Athethe Gnanasara, Arthuraliye Rathana and the Chairman of the OPPP Saman Perera were looking me”.
Athuraliye Rathana was called to present himself to Colombo police back in August but failed to do so.
Galagoda Gnansara is also no stranger to controversy, having previously been pardoned by the then president following a conviction of harassment. The BBS general secretary made headlines last year as he stated that “a river of blood will flow in the North and East” in response to Tamil demands of devolution. Stating that Sri Lanka is a “Sinhala-Buddhist State” monks affiliated with the BBS and OPPP have led protests calling for the cremation of Muslim COVID-19 victims stating that demands for a proper Muslim burial are linked to “extremism”.
Sri Lanka’s parliament headed by accused war criminal Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has found its home to several questionable characters. Last September a convicted murderer currently on death row, Premalal Jayasekara from the ruling SLPP was sworn into parliament. Though he is the first convicted murderer to be elected as a parliamentarian, former Sri Lankan politicians and military personnel who stand accused of war crimes continue occupy senior government positions, most notably the current President of Sri Lanka.
The parliament was the scene of a massive brawl between lawmakers in 2018, as some brandished knifes, threw chairs and threw water mixed with chilli-powder at each other and police officials.
In recent months, Tamil parliamentarians have also been hounded and heckled by Sinhala lawmakers as they delivered speeches.
Read more on the swearing-in here.
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