On Friday 21st October 2016 Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena unequivocally trashed the charge of the opposition and some quarters of the media stating clearly that he has no intention of changing the status of the state religion Buddhism.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena made this assertion at a powerful religious gathering in the eastern port district of Trincomalee where he was answering the doubts.
He said that the new Constitution won’t change the status of Buddhism and also said that ‘we have not finalized anything (with regards to other provisions of the Constitution).’ But this claim made by the Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has not been able to convince many in the nation.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena should remember 1972
In 1972 the country’s name was changed from Ceylon to Sri Lanka and Buddhism was made the state religion. Tamil parties boycotted the framing of the first Republican Constitution stating that their rights were not made part of the new Constitution while in the earlier Soulbury Constitution the rights were enshrined under its section 29.
This new 1972 Constitution sowed the seeds of the discord and the situation has not improved much since.
Recently, a Tamil activist has framed a new group Siva Senai and has exposed the persecution of the Hindus in the country. Hindus are a minority in the Buddhist-majority nation.
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