MALWATTE MAHANAYAKA THERO WELCOMING JVP MINISTERS SAYS MONKS NEED NOT GET INTO PARLIAMENT TO RULE
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
April 30, 12.10 PM:Since time immemorial the Buddhist monks of this country have been involved in counseling kings and ministers as how to run the country. Apart from that , we definitely need not get ourselves in to the Parliament to rule the nation, said the Mahanayaka of Malwatte , the Most Venerable Rambukwelle Sri Vipassi, Thero addressing the newly sworn in Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Ministers of the Kumaratunga cabinet.
The terse statement of the Malwatte Mahanayaka Thero is considered to be a strong disapproval of him against Buddhist monks contesting elections and entering the Sri Lanka Parliament.
The statement of the Malwatte Mahanayaka Thero came at a time when there was a strong disapproval in the country against the Jathika Hela Urumaya ( JHU) monks uniting with the LTTE backed Tamil Members of Parliament to defeat the nominee of the new government for the post of the Speaker of the parliament.
The JFU monks have been also strongly in conflict with the JVP parliamentarians .making one of their leaders, Wimal Weerawansa , to question, “Why are these Buddha Puthras hating the JVP puthras so much.”
The Ministers and Deputy Ministers of the JVP who resolved their problems with the main coalition partner , the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) finally took oaths as cabinet ministers and deputy ministers before President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
Anura Kumara Dissanayaka , Bimal Ratnayaka, Vijitha Herath , Samantha Vidyaratne, Chandrasena Wijesinghe, Nihal Galappaththi, K.D.Lalkantha and Sunil Handunneththi as their first official visit visited the Malwatte and Asgiriya Maha Nayaka Theros of the Siam Maha Nikaya in Kandy to receive the blessings of the Buddhist hierarchy
“From time immemorial counseling kings and ministers has been our task. Apart from that we need not get into the Parliament to rule the country,” the Maha Nayaka Thero of Malwatte told them tersely, in reply.
The new Cultural Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath told the Maha Nayaka Theros the Freedom Alliance government would not only be keen about the economic development of the country but also concentrate very seriously about the cultural development and spiritual advancement of the people.
The Most Venerable Malwatte Maha Nayaka Thero addressing the new JVP Ministers and Deputy Ministers said the people of the country had very high hopes in electing the UPFA government He said he wished them strength vigor and luck to fulfill the high hopes of the people.
He said the new ministers should work very hard to make the hopes of the common masses a reality. In doing so, the Maha Nayaka Thero said, the present government should concentrate the innumerable faults done in the past and correct them.
He further said, during the past he knew many wrongs committed by the rulers. But present ones also should remember that they did some good deeds too. While dropping those faults the present rulers should continue with the good ones, he said.
He said Ministers each enjoyed seven or eight cars. In the past they traveled by the train. He could not understand why one person needed so may cars. The Maha Nayaka Thero said the Ministers should understand that it was the money of the people that they spent.
The JVP ministerial delegation also visited the Asgiriya maha Nayaka Thero, the most Venerable Udagama Sri Buddharakkhitha .
In the Temple of the Tooth the ministerial delegation met Diyawadana Nilame Neranjan Wijerathna. The delegation was accompanied by the JVP Kandy District MP Dimuthu Bandara Abeykoon.
