No Tamil or Muslim political party had proposed any changes to the elevated status awarded to Buddhism in Sri Lanka’s constitution.
This information was revealed by frontrunner in the presidential election, Anura Kumara Dissanayake who participated as a Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarian in a top level cross party committee tasked with drafting a new constitution.
Ranil Wickremesinghe presided over that committee as Prime Minister of the country from 2015 to 2019.
“The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana,” says article 9 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka.
Addressing a packed house of Buddhist monks on Friday (23) presidential candidate of National Peoples Power (NPP) emphasised that no political leader who took part in the committee that drafted a new constitution raised the issue of removing the foremost place given to Buddhism.
“Mr. Sumanthiran participated, Mr. Hakeem participated, Mr. Mano Ganesan participated. None of them proposed to amend article 9 of the constitution, which means that the new constitution was drafted while protecting article 9 as it is,” said Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
He slammed scaremongers who claim that NPP in power would do away with the constitutional guarantee.
“I would like to say in front of our venerable monks that it will remain the same. Because, everybody representing that constitutional committee did not raise it as an issue.”
The NPP candidate hailed the Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka as a ‘progressive movement’ that has done a yeomen service to save the country from danger.
