The Saffron Robe Is No Shield Against the Rule of Law
(Roger Srivasan)
Religious freedom is indeed a fundamental right. But let us not confuse religious freedom with religious impunity, nor the right to worship with an imagined licence to intimidate, obstruct justice or hold the institutions of the state to ransom.
දැන්වීම
What an intellectually bankrupt and morally disingenuous argument! To invoke religious freedom as a convenient smokescreen for the unruly conduct of extremist monks is an egregious distortion of both democracy and Buddhism.
The saffron robe is not a diplomatic passport to lawlessness, nor does it confer immunity from criminal accountability. Those who attempt to storm the Presidential Secretariat to demand the release of a convicted offender are not defending religious liberty. They are displaying contempt for the rule of law.
And to portray legitimate criticism of such conduct as an attack on religious freedom is an exercise in breathtaking sophistry, calculated obfuscation and intellectual dishonesty.
Let us be unequivocal: condemning Buddhist extremism is not condemning Buddhism, just as denouncing criminal conduct by monks is not an assault on religious freedom.
The true affront to Buddhism comes from those who seek to transform a religion founded upon compassion, restraint and moral discipline into an instrument of intimidation and political coercion. Religious freedom is sacrosanct. Religious supremacy is not. And criminal impunity masquerading as religious liberty is an abomination.
No amount of sanctimonious posturing, saffron-clad theatrics or rhetorical contortionism can alter that elementary distinction.
The law must remain supreme. Not the robe, not the mob, and certainly not the political opportunists lurking behind them.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake deserves unequivocal commendation for articulating a political vision in which corruption, communal chauvinism, religious extremism and the entrenched culture of political impunity have no legitimate sanctuary.
His determination to confront the pernicious legacy of corruption and ethnic division represents a welcome repudiation of the bankrupt political culture that has bedevilled Sri Lanka for decades.
What Sri Lanka desperately needs is not another generation of politicians genuflecting before religious extremists, but a government prepared to uphold the supremacy of the law, irrespective of ethnicity, religious affiliation, political pedigree or the colour of one's robes.
The true measure of President Dissanayake's leadership will be his ability to translate these laudable principles into enduring institutional reform, impartial justice and genuine national reconciliation. May he remain resolute in confronting corruption, dismantling institutionalised discrimination and consigning the politics of racial and religious hatred to the dustbin of history..!
And to those who persist in confusing religious liberty with religious privilege, I offer one final observation: The era of exploiting the saffron robe as a shield against accountability must end. The Republic belongs to all its citizens, not to a self-appointed clerical oligarchy..! Unapologetically polemical — yet meticulously reasoned..!