The Bodu Bala Sena on Tuesday urged the Sri Lankan government to expel Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the country’s justice minister, over his recent comments about “Buddhist extremism”.

“We are ashamed of the President and government because Hakeem had condemned the Buddhists and the monks who brought the President into power,” BBS Secretary General Galagoda Gnanasara said, according to the Daily Mirror.

“If I am the leader I would have fired him,” he said.

The BBS said that recent statements made by Hakeem were dangerous and were an insult to Buddhists in the country.

“We do not know why he was making such baseless statements. Was it us who attacked the people who were going home after attending the rally in Aluthgama,” Gnanasara asked, repeating his claim that Muslims initiated the violence targeted at them in the southern town last month.

“If the government has fear and shame within itself, then expel him. We know that he won’t stay in the government for long,” he said.

A rally by the BBS preceded the violence in Aluthgama and surrounding towns in southern Sri Lanka in June, which left 4 people dead and large numbers of Muslim businesses and properties destroyed.

The government has sought to place blame on Muslim extremist, a claim rejected by Muslim members of the ruling coalition.

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