Communal Conundrum And Constitutional Calculations

By Dharisha Bastians -May 30, 2013 

Dharisha Bastians

A political week marked by a Buddhist monk’s suicide by fire and the main opposition’s promise of constitutional reform that seeks to pour balm over the country’s democratic woes

When Bowatte Indrarathana Thero poured petrol on his body and set himself ablaze outside the sacred Temple of the Tooth in Kandy last Friday, he set in motion a series of unfortunate events that shattered the peace of Vesak season. The holiday weekend to commemorate the birth, passing and enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama is usually a time of reflection and meditation for Buddhist devotees and a festival of light for other denizens of the ‘land of the Buddha’, who take to the streets of Colombo and suburbs in their hundreds to view the spectacle of lanterns and pandols that illuminate the streets. This year, the holy season was marred by terrifying images of a human inferno, saffron robed and dancing in flames before Sri Lanka’s most sacred Buddhist shrine.  Indrarathana Thero succumbed to his injuries 24 hours later, after being airlifted from the Kandy General Hospital to Colombo National Hospital for treatment. He had chosen this gruesome death apparently to protest against the slaughter of cattle and alleged unethical conversions taking place in the country.

The monk had been vehemently opposed to the Halal method of animal slaughter, an issue that has become increasingly heated in the current political discourse, with hardline groups like the Bodu Bala Sena and theSinhala Ravaya acting like a religious police, raiding abattoirs and threatening meat transporters. Rather than call on Buddhists to refuse to consume meat and appeal to the sensibilities of other communities against the killing of animals for consumption, groups like the Sinhala Ravaya and BBS led by Buddhist clergy have chosen to agitate for a blanket Government ban on cattle-slaughter because Sri Lanka is a predominantly Buddhist country. The hardline groups perceive the Muslim community as being the main producers and consumers of beef. The ruling administration is not entirely unappreciative of the campaign, with many members of the ruling family already being ardent vegetarians.

The political and communal overtones of the self-immolation therefore, were hard to miss.

Graphic details

Communal Conundrum and Constitutional Calculations by nelvely