The Gnanasara Thera factor

JAN 28 2016

Busy as it is dealing with various political conundrums that crop up from time to time, the government this week encountered yet another unexpected hurdle- in the form of Ven Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera and his organisation, the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS).

The rabble rousing monk made an unexpected appearance at the on-going hearings at the Homagama Magistrate's Court on the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. There, he berated the government for prosecuting soldiers and disrupted court proceedings, ignoring the Magistrate's warnings.

This led to the monk being charged with contempt of court and an arrest warrant being issued against him. The monk surrendered to Police a day later but a tense situation arose when he was remanded and had to be taken away under custody.

Of course, this is not the first instance that Ven Gnanasara Thera has attracted national headlines. Unheard of only a few years ago, within a short span of about four years he has emerged as the most extreme among the leaders of several fringe groups that espouse a philosophy of Sinhala Buddhist supremacy at the expense of marginalising other communities in the country.

Ven Gnanasara Thera's organisation, the BBS, was founded in 2012. It spent the next two years propagating a doctrine of fear. It claimed that Sinhalese Buddhist would be swamped and overshadowed by other communities. It urged action against other communities. Whenever there was a dispute with racial connotations, it was quick to rush in, claiming to be the 'saviours' of the Sinhalese Buddhists. It targeted the Muslim community in particular, more than any other community.

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