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| Sunday, 9 October 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Ranil shows
new path to Dharma Rajya
Light refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake J. R. Jayewardene made cheap use of the slogan about making this country a Dharmishta Samajaya, and often acted contrary to the Dharma. In making his latest bid to be the Executive President, his nephew is going great guns in trying to make this a Dharma Rajya. What he offers the country seems desperate bid to win over the votes of those who supported the JHU at the last General Election, and outdo the intrinsic appeal to the Sinhala Buddhist voter of his main rival Mahinda Rajapakse. Having claimed to be a leader not believing in the politics of promises, Ranil Wickremesinghe has produced a manifesto that makes to please the housewife burdened with the cost of living, the people in search of peace and even astrologers. New blue print It's a case of everything to everybody, said Chandagundu Sakalasinghe.
"He is trying to steal the thunder and the robes of the JHU, with his policies on fostering Buddhism," said Prof. Mahaushada Chandagedera, who has studied election manifestos in Sri Lanka from the 1977, and heads the Elections Study Group of the Samaja Vidya Kendra. "It is most surprising that a person who in his entry in power when elected Prime Minister in 2001 chose to make his first comments from "Lead Kindly Light" by the Catholic theologian and writer Joseph Cardinal Newman, should have done such a leap into the possibility of marketing a new Dharma Rajya," said Mathivarana Dharmavansa. "He quoted Newman on the importance of taking one step at a time. But just now he has taken several strides at the same time and seems to find his feet trapped from all directions." "Can his hijacking of the 2004 Dharma Rajya slogan of the JHU help him now?" asked Sakalasinghe. "He has gone beyond the hijack stage. He's got his advisors to prepare a new blueprint for the Ranil Dharma Rajya. It is Buddhism at the core and on the largest scale possible. There is little said about the Buddhist way of life, just like his agricultural policies stressing more on concealing the buttocks of cultivators in the field than on increasing the harvest. He thinks he is giving the people what they want," said Chandadinum Dahamvimala. "He has promised to re-establish Sri Lanka as the international centre of Theravada Buddhism. Now won't that appeal to Buddhist voters? I think it will have great attraction," said Ranilaramaye Chandasara. "Our people have a great attachment to Theravada Buddhism." "But don't you hear what the experts say. Sri Lanka is already accepted the world over as the Centre of Theravada Buddhism. It is here that the Tripitaka was written down and preserved. Foreign scholars come here to study Theravada Buddhism. How can anyone re-establish what is already established. It's quite a puzzle that questions the knowledge of Buddhist tradition of those who make such promises," said Mathivarana Dharmavansa. "It is better if he said he would transfer the Tripitaka onto CDs and make it available to the whole world. That is modern thinking," said Chandagundu Sakalasinghe. "Won't it draw more votes when Buddhists are old that he will build the world's largest Dagaba in Sri Lanka?" asked Ranilaramaye Chandasara. "This questions the knowledge of history of a person who makes such a promise. It is well-known and documented that the biggest Buddhist Dagaba is in Sri Lanka. It is the Jethavanaramaya coming down from the Anuradhapura period. Why on earth should anyone build a dagaba bigger than that and make a mere pigmy dagaba of such a historic monument to Buddhism, Buddhist architecture and construction? Gamini Dissanayake knew better. When he built the Mahaveli Mahaseya, although he had the technology, equipment and funds to build it larger than the Jethavanaramaya, he did not want to diminish the importance of the ancient dagaba and all the tradition behind it," said Dharmavansa. "I am told there are other plans not yet revealed. They are expected in a supplement to Ranil's manifesto, to further strengthen his Dharma Rajya concept," said Chandadinum Dahamvimala. "What could those be?" asked Sakalasinghe. "From information leaked out he will promise to have a nursery for Bo-saplings, and have a special department to plant them at the proper age at all street junctions and any other available places. The idea, like that of the largest dagaba, is to make this the land with the largest number of Bo-trees worshipped by the people, for its size in the world," said Dahamvimala. "Anything else?" asked Mahaushada. "Yes. He will grant government funds to all public and private institutions that put up sound amplifying equipment on their buildings and broadcast continuous 24-hour chanting of recorded pirith. "The idea is to make this country the only land where one can hear the most pirith chanting in the world. He is also having plans to have piped-in pirith in tourist hotels to create the proper Buddhist atmosphere in such places. Very ambitious plans indeed," said Dahamvimala. "Don't you think all this will make Sri Lanka a real Dharma Rajya unlike the JHU's Promised Land?" asked Ranilaramaye Chandasara. |
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