'Fascists' in saffron robes?

The rise of Sri

Lanka's Buddhist ultra-nationalists
By Tim Hume, CNN-July 18, 2014
(CNN) Shortly before Buddhist mobs made a deadly rampage through Muslim
neighborhoods near the town of Aluthgama, Sri Lana last month, a man with !ropped hair and
glasses stood before e"pe!tant !rowds to deli#er an e"plosi#e spee!h$
Object1
%ideo footage of the rally, !alled following a traffi! alter!ation between Muslim youths and a
Buddhist mon in the !oastal town, !aptures the speaer in full flight$
&n a pointed referen!e to the se!urity for!es stationed nearby, he de!lares that the Sri Lanan
poli!e and army are Sinhalese, the mostly Buddhist ethni! ma'ority that a!!ounts for three(
)uarters of the island*s +, million people$
BBS general se!retary -alagoda Aththe -nanasara at a press !onferen!e in +,./
0hen, his arm raised and his #oi!e rising to a shrie, he issues an e"pli!it threat to Muslims,
using a derogatory term for the minority$
0o roars of appro#al, he #ows that if any Muslim, were to lay a hand on a Sinhalese let
alone a mon that would 1be the end2 of all of them$
3hat is striing about the !lip, aside from the #i!iousness of the rhetori!, is that the firebrand
behind the mi!rophone is dressed in the saffron robes of a Buddhist mon$
4e is -alagoda Aththe -nanasara, the Buddhist holy man who is the general se!retary and
publi! fa!e of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS, also nown as Buddhist 5ower 6or!e)$
0he ultra(nationalist Sinhalese Buddhist organi7ation has emerged as a troubling presen!e on
the Sri Lanan politi!al lands!ape in re!ent years, and is blamed by many for in!iting the
deadly #iolen!e in Aluthgama$
8&t was already a tri!y situation,8 said Mohamed 4isham, a so!ial media a!ti#ist and
businessman, who was raised in 9harga 0own, a Muslim neighborhood near Aluthgama that
bore the brunt of the #iolen!e$
8But & belie#e the presen!e (of the BBS) had a ma'or impa!t$ 0hey are to be blamed for in!iting
what happened$8
Nights of terror
3hat happened, a!!ording to witnesses and offi!ials, is that shortly after the spee!h, Buddhist
mobs mar!hed through Muslim neighborhoods, ransa!ing do7ens of homes and shops$ 0hree
Muslim men were illed, and si"teen seriously in'ured in the two nights of #iolen!e that
followed, poli!e said$
:ne month on from the #iolen!e, des!ribed as the worst atta!s on Muslims in the !ountry in
years, ./; people ha#e been arrested, poli!e say$
But while -nanasara has gi#en a statement to poli!e about the e#ents of the day, he has yet to
fa!e any !harges$ A national poli!e spoesman said offi!ers were still !onsidering whether he
had played a role in in!iting the #iolen!e$ 13e need to !he! whether he has pro#oed the men
by maing this spee!h,2 he said$
0he fa!ts that the BBS*s !hief demagogue wals free, that authorities allowed the rally to
pro!eed, and that they failed to pre#ent the #iolen!e ha#e !reated an impression that the group
operates with impunity, said 4isham, fueling the fears of Muslims$
80he !ommunity is feeling that if they !an go s!ot(free after !ausing this ind of mayhem, what
lies ahead<8
6or his part, -nanasara re'e!ted the suggestion that the BBS was in any way !ulpable for the
#iolen!e, telling CNN at the group*s Colombo head)uarters that it had 1no in#ol#ement2 in the
in!idents at Aluthgama$
8:n the !ontrary, our organi7ation was trying to defuse the tension after a mon was assaulted
by a group of Muslim youths,8 he said$ 83e !ontinue to be blamed for the in!idents and
portrayed as Sinhala e"tremists$ 0his is unfair and in!orre!t$8
-nanasara was among a group of mons that #isited the Ministry of Mass Media and
&nformation 3ednesday to file a !omplaint about news !o#erage of the Aluthgama in!ident,
alleging the reports had disrespe!ted Buddhism, Sri Lanan media reported$
&n an earlier statement on the BBS*s website prompted by the !an!ellation of -nanasara*s
=$S$ #isa in the aftermath of Aluthgama the group !ondemned the #iolen!e there, but
a!nowledged that BBS representati#es had 1deli#ered emotional spee!hes emphasi7ing the
need to prote!t Sinhala Buddhists, who are a!tually a #ery small global minority$2
>Saffron fas!ism>
:thers belie#e !on!erns about the BBS are well founded$
9ayan ?ayatillee, a politi!al s!ientist and former Sri Lanan diplomat, referred to the group*s
politi!s as 1saffron fas!ism2 and des!ribed it as 1a wholesaler of the ideology of hate,
espe!ially &slamophobia$2
A mon from the BBS remonstrates with a poli!e offi!er at the
0rade Ministry in Colombo in April$
3hile the BBS remained a fringe mo#ement, he said, it appeared to be gaining influen!e
among Buddhist !lergy$ 1(0he BBS) ha#e to be taen #ery seriously indeed$2
5aiiasothy Sara#anamuttu, e"e!uti#e dire!tor of Sri Lana*s Centre for 5oli!y Alternati#es,
belie#ed the group, whi!h he des!ribed as a pur#eyor of 1!lassi! hate spee!h,2 had be!ome
emboldened by the la! of !ensure o#er the e#ents at Aluthgama$
80heir more #iolent or aggressi#e demonstrations of power, in#ol#ing e#en !riminal a!ts, ha#e
gone unpunished,8 he told CNN$
80hey seem to ha#e a lot of support, if not prote!tion, from within the regime itself$8
4e added that there had been insuffi!ient denun!iation of the group, both from Buddhist
authorities and the state$
89is!iplinary a!tion should be taen from within the priesthood against people who are, in the
name of Buddhism, #iolating e#ery single thing that Buddhism stands for$8
Militant Buddhism
Along with their !o(religionists in Myanmar where a mon(led anti(Muslim group, the @A@
Mo#ement, has been blamed for instigating deadly !lashes Sri Lana*s Buddhists were the
sub'e!t of a re!ent plea from the 9alai Lama during a spee!h on his birthday, !alling on them to
desist from #iolen!e against Muslims$
4ow is it that Buddhist mons e"ponents of a religion asso!iated with pea!e and non(
#iolen!e ha#e !ome to be #iewed as hate mer!hants<
?ayatillee said that the rise of militant Buddhism should not be surprising$ 0here had been a
1fanati!al strain running through Sinhala Buddhism for years,2 he said$ :ne prime minister, S$
3$ B$ 9$ Bandaranaie, was assassinated by a mon in .@;@$
8&n the history of religions, you ha#e long periods of per#ersion of the ideals of the original
founder,8 he said$
6ormed in +,.+, the Bodu Bala Sena was born as a #ehi!le to more stridently defend Sinhalese
Buddhism, when -nanasara and a fellow mon broe away from another mon(led Sinhalese
nationalist party, the ?athia 4ela =rumaya (?4=)$ -nanasara had pre#iously run as a politi!al
!andidate for the ?4=, a member of 5resident Mahinda Ba'apasa*s ruling allian!e$
Sin!e its formation, the group has !ampaigned on issues in!luding alleged poor treatment of Sri
Lanan Buddhists woring in the Middle Cast, Christian e#angeli7ation, anti(Buddhist riots in
Bangladesh and hotels featuring 1Buddha bars2 popular with foreign tourists, often storming
#enues in organi7ed 1dire!t a!tions2 to mae its point$
&slam targeted
But o#erwhelmingly its target has been Sri Lana*s Muslim !ommunity, whi!h a!!ounts for
about .,D of the population$
&ssues raising its ire ha#e in!luded halal !ertifi!ation, the bur)a, mos)ue !onstru!tion, &slami!
!on#ersion and alleged &slami! militan!y in a !ountry with no history of domesti! &slami!
e"tremism$ So why are Muslims suddenly in the !ross(hairs<
?ayatillee said that anti(Muslim sentiment within the Buddhist !lergy had only arisen sin!e
+,,@, when the +;(year !i#il war between the go#ernment and separatist 0amil rebels ended$
83hen the war was o#er, the Sinhalese looed around and found that while the two ma'or
!ommunities were bashing ea!h other, the Muslims had been at pea!e and had prospered,8 he
said$ 80hey found more mos)ues, stores, better edu!ated young Muslims a !hanged profile
after years of war$ And they lashed out$8
Sara#anamuttu said the BBS*s anti(Muslim rhetori! tapped into !on!erns about global
'ihadism, an 1ata#isti! fear2 of high Muslim birth rates and resentment of the per!ei#ed su!!ess
of the Muslim business !ommunity$
&t fed into a dominant ideology of aggressi#e Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism that was also
pushed by the go#ernment, as a way of maing itself seem 1eternally rele#ant and needed,2 he
said$
8&t*s a range of arguments to mae the Muslims into Ethe other* and say that the Sinhala nation
is under threat and re)uires prote!tion,8 he said$
:ffi!ial prote!tion<
0he leeway the BBS has been gi#en to !arry out its a!ti#ities has led many to spe!ulate it must
be operating with a degree of offi!ial san!tion$
-otabaya Ba'apasa, Sri Lana>s Se!retary of 9efen!e, with -nanasara at a BBS(affiliated
Buddhist a!ademy that he offi!ially opened in Mar!h last year$
But the )uestion of how !losely the BBS is tied, if at all, to Sri Lana*s go#ernment is mury$
0he most powerful figure often asso!iated with mo#ement is -otabaya Ba'apasa, the
Se!retary of 9efense and the president*s brother, who offi!ially opened an a!ademy lined to
the BBS in -alle last year where he was photographed with -nanasara, said ?ayatillee$
4e had also spoen in support of the ?4=, the BBS*s allies, ?ayatillee said$
8-otabaya Ba'apasa has been patroni7ing or been asso!iated with the Sinhala religious right
e#en before the BBS,8 he said$
But Brig$ Buwan 3anigasooriya, spoesman for the Ministry of 9efen!e and =rban
9e#elopment, said Ba'apasa had no relationship whatsoe#er with the BBS$ 4e had been
1more or less2 !ompelled to attend the -alle opening !eremony due an in#itation from a
respe!ted mon, said 3anigasooriya, and -nanasara had merely been one among many mons
present$
3anigasooriya said Sri Lana was a pluralisti! demo!rati! !ountry in whi!h religious
organi7ations en'oyed freedom to operate, but that Ba'apasa deplored any form of #iolen!e$
Mohan Samaranayae, spoesman for Sri Lanan 5resident Mahinda Ba'apasa, said there was
1no prote!tion or spe!ial treatment2 for the BBS from the go#ernment, in!luding -otabaya
Ba'apasa$ Anyone who broe the law would fa!e the !onse)uen!es, he said$
8C#en the Bodu Bala Sena general se!retary was )uestioned8 o#er the e#ents that too pla!e in
Aluthgama, said Samaranayae$ 8&n#estigations are still ongoing$ & !annot predi!t the
out!ome$8
-nanasara told CNN his organi7ation had no ba!ing from the go#ernment or Ba'apasa$
A politi!al dilemma
?ayatillee said that e#en if the BBS had on!e pro#en of some politi!al benefit to the Ba'apasa
regime, it now loomed as a problem$
0he type of #iolen!e seen in Aluthgama was 1!ompletely unprodu!ti#e as far as the
go#ernment is !on!erned,2 he said$
&ndeed, -nanasara had !riti!i7ed the president in his Aluthgama spee!h, !laiming that the
Sinhalese la!ed a leader, in what ?ayatillee said seemed to be a dire!t appeal 1to the Sinhala
Buddhist sentiments of the armed for!es and poli!e$2
0he !omments, he said, appeared to represent a bid by the Buddhist !lergy to position itself
1for the leading role in so!iety and the state$2
9espite the !hallenge to his authority, ?ayatillee said 5resident Ba'apasa appeared to ha#e
made a !al!ulation not to !ra! down on the BBS, as to do so ran the ris of triggering rioting,
or maing martyrs of them to their support base in the se!urity for!es$
84e doesn*t want to mae a hero of this guy$ 0hey*ll probably bo" him in rather than lo! him
up$8
:nlooers belie#e that !al!ulation will !arry its own !onse)uen!es$
4isham fears the unwarranted a!!usations of e"tremism !ould e#entually be!ome a self(
fulfilling prophe!y, pushing some members of his !ommunity in that dire!tion as long as the
BBS and its supporters were free to target them with impunity$
And Sara#anamuttu predi!ted that in the absen!e of any !ensure, an emboldened BBS would
only es!alate its a!ti#ities$
8&mpunity breeds further #iolation,8 he said$ 8&f this is a !ountry of law, it needs to be brought
to bear on whoe#er breas it irrespe!ti#e of whether they*re in robes or not$8