The Tamil National Alliance urged the government to relocate chief monk Ampitiye Sumanarathana from the Eastern Province after tensions on Sunday.
Seenithamby Yogeswaran, TNA’s Battacloa District Parliamentarian, asked the government why it has failed to take any action against Sumanarathana for his hate speech against Tamils and Muslims.
Further, he explained how Sumanarathana’s ongoing behaviour has disrupted the community.
“Systematic Sinhala colonisation and the erection new Buddhist temples continue to take place in the Batticaloa district. The man behind all these is the Chief Monk of the Mangalaramaya Buddhist temple. Therefore, we request the government to relocate him to another Buddhist temple outside the North and the East," he said. “It is not appropriate for the Mangalaramaya Temple monk to create religious and ethnic tension from there. It is not appropriate for the good governance... Please don’t allow him to remain there in Batticaloa.”
In response, the government said that it was looking to make agreements with religious leaders and hopes to tackle issues through dialogue. “Give us few days to settle all these issues,” said Sri Lanka’s Buddha Sasana and Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksa.