Glorifying Hitler an insult to Buddhism - PM

by Zacki Jabbar-June 26, 2018, 12:27 pm 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that Adolf Hitler had shut down Buddhist organisations when he was the German leader and to glorify him was an insult to Buddhism.

Addressing the 125th anniversary celebration of the Maha Manthinda Pirivena in Matara on Saturday, the Prime Minister in reference to a speech made by the Anunayake of the Asgiriya Chapter Wendaruwe Upali Thera at the recent birthday party of former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, said that advocating babaric Hitlerite methods to govern a country, was in direct violation of the teachings of the Buddha.

Wickremesinghe said that if such a statement had been made In his presence, he would have objected to it immediately.

All right thinking people should condemn the attempt by bankrupt politicians and their supporters to establish a military dictatorship, he noted adding that Buddhism had contributed to Sri Lanka remaining a democracy.

The Prime Minister lamented that the newspapers had given poor coverage to the anti democratic remarks made at Gotabhaya’s birthday party.

"If I had made such a statement, the media would have torn me to shreds.Do journalists want a return to the Rajapaksa era when they were hounded, assaulted and killed", he queried.

Emphasising that military dictatorships and Buddhism could not co-exist , Wickremesinghe recalled that Hitler had closed down institutions that taught Buddhism in Germany.