Did you watch “Jana handa” (people's voice) on TNL last week?

Well, first there was one hilarious part I'd like to mention first. Champika Ranawake, one of the leaders of Sihala Urumaya (Sinhala Heritage) party who gave its ticket to a group of Buddhist monks to run for the last election and let them change the party name to Jathika Hela Urumaya or JHU (meaning almost the same thing) said that the JHU's Uththariithara Sanga Sabhaava (Supreme council of monks) had seven members (all monks) including the late ven. Gangodavila Soma thero. He said that ven. Soma was helping or supporting the party from the world of the dead. Yes, this guy said this on TV. Can you imagine it? You can imagine what sort of a screwed up head this guy has. He is spreading Avidhyaa (anti science) which Lord Buddha tried to eradicate. He is doing it in the name of Buddhism. This would make a real Buddhist's blood boil. Anyway, when I was talking about this with a friend of mine, he said that, OK now JHU has late ven. Soma on their side. Now the other side, the JVP and SLFP alliance can always say that the late ven. Migettuvaththee Gunaanandha thero, the late Valpola Raahula thero are in their central committee. Or they can even say that the Maithree Bhodhisathva is also in their central committee. Can anybody dispute that?

One other thing that was evident on this particular TV program was that the UNP and the JHU are on the same side now. The TV program was set up in such a way that various callers including some monks from the JHU were waiting on the line to ask questions from the JVP/SLFP alliance participant. They sure did their job. I personally don't like Mr. Sripathy Suriarachchi who represented the JVP/SLFP alliance but this TV program was designed to put Mr. Suriarachchi in a difficult position. One caller talked about the personal history of Mr. Suriarachchi. This was quite unnecessary. Then there was Mr. Hemakumara Nanayakkara the MP from UNP. He was the most disgusting person on the show. He brought up the religion of Mr. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle who had objected to the behavior of the JHU monks in parliament. Mr. Nanayakkara said that a non Buddhist should not criticize Buddhist monks. That was utter bullshit. Once the late US president John F. Kennedy had said that “If you can't stand the heat, you should keep out of the kitchen”. So if a Buddhist monk or any member of the clergy of any religion can't stand the criticism a normal politician gets then he/she should stay out of politics. Mr. Nanayakkara also brought up the fact that Mr. Suriarachchi's mother or somebody might have not been Buddhist. Well, as far as I know, late Col. Olcot's parents were not Buddhist either. Well, talking about the religion of somebody's parents, well, Lord Buddha's parents were not Buddhist either, were they? The UNP seems to be treading on dangerous ground once again. The late president JR used racism in late 70's and early 80's for petty political gain and we are still suffering because of that. Now Ranil's UNP seems to be using the same tactics. I sure hope Ranil would not support these tactics because if Ranil is supporting this racism and religionism I would not be able to forgive myself for voting for UNP.