Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has accused Western nations of conspiring against him by backing the Buddhist nationalist organisation Bodu Bala Sena (BBS).
"Look at where the BBS travelled (Norway and the US)," said Mr Rajapaksa, speaking with AFP earlier this week. "It is clearly a (then) opposition project."
Mr Rajapaksa claims the work of the BBS subsequently lost him the Muslim vote, with Asian Mirror reporting him as saying, "I lost the election partly because minority Muslims ditched me thanks to the work of the BBS".
The BBS, accused of being behind a string of Buddhist nationalist inspired violence, had its headquarters ceremonially opened by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the former president’s borther and then defence secretary.
Speaking in Colombo earlier this week, the organisation’s General Secretary Galabodaththe Gnanasara Thera defended Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as he appeared before the ongoing bribery commissiom. The Buddhist monk told reporters, “We tell this government not to touch Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who as a government servant has rendered a yeomen service to the country by completely destroying the once invincible LTTE terrorists.”
“It is a biggest crime to destroy the image of such a determined leader by bringing him before such commissions,” he added. “By doing this, they are just serving the purpose of the enemy forces which are hell-bent on taking revenge against the Sinhala community”.