Confuse, Frighten, Divide And Rule
“The moronic inferno” - Saul Bellow (The Dean’s December)
In Ulla, Pottuvil, fishermen are protesting against a government plan to construct a multi-storey tourist-facility in a land traditionally used for fisheries purposes[i].
In Batakettara, Piliyandala, poisonous gases emanating from a soap-powder manufacturing factory have caused havoc. 72 people were hospitalised with breathing difficulties; animals and vegetations are sickening; and villagers cannot use well-water.
The water-issue in Weliweriya and the carcinogenic-fume issue in Dorape remain unresolved.
The absolute majority of the victims of these land-grabbing/environmental-degradation issues are Sinhala-Buddhists. But the self-anointed saviours of Sinhala race and Buddhism – from Mahinda and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to the JHU and the BBS – have scant interest in either these health/livelihood crises or their very Sinhala and very Buddhist victims.
The factories causing havoc in Weliweriya, Dorape and Batakettara are not rogue operations. All have requisite permission from the Central Environment Authority (CEA). Clearly the CEA is either too inefficient or too corrupt to perform its duties satisfactorily. But the BBS – or any other Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist outfit – is yet to utter a word of criticism of the CEA.
The conclusion is obvious. The BBS – and others of its ilk – will champion an issue only if it can be used to demonise this or that minority community.
The BBS-attempt to use the ‘Sugaladevi’ issue to whip up Sinhala-Buddhist anger failed when Prof. Raj Somadeva confirmed that no ancient artefact had been discovered from the quarry-site and dismissed the presence of a mummy as a myth: “When someone repeats the same thing, then it will be treated as truth by the people. The cinema, literature or art promote myths in the same way”[v].
The JHU’s attempt to launch an ‘anti-government war’ on Minister Sarath Amunugama for advocating the legalising and levying of locally-distilled liquor became a damp squib[vi].
The JHU-BBS effort to demonise the newly formed Northern PC and its Chief Minister failed to convince.
Anti-Halal campaign is the last resort of the hate-cum-fear-mongers.
