“Sinha Le”, “Marraka Le”, Should We Shed Any More “Le”?
Hilmy Ahamed
One year in to Yahapalanaya, the dice has been cast for the renewal of the hostile hate campaign of the Rajapaksa era with the spraying of graffiti “Sinha Le” on the gate of a Muslim owned residence in Nugegoda. This was followed by a violent attack on Muslims in Wellampitiya that injured five. Three were hospitalized with serious injuries. It is rumored that a lady died of a heart attack before she could be taken to hospital, in the mêlée. This has not been reported to the police nor the mainstream media carry it.
Exactly a year ago, we saw the exit of Mahinda Rajapaksa from the Presidency through a “silent” revolution that surprised even the biggest optimist. Many attributed the war winning President’s defeat to the unprecedented hate campaign that was carried out by some Buddhist extremists led by the Bodu Bala Sena. Mahinda Rajapaksa, as President and Minister of Defence failed to control this onslaught on the Muslim and evangelical Christian communities. The President was also accused of promoting a divide and rule policy amongst the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities, so that he could fragment the minority votes and harness the majority Buddhist vote as the guardian of Buddhist hegemony and thereby keep himself at the helm of power for the rest of his life, or until one of his own sons could succeed him. The strategy of retaining power within the family was mainly due to the large-scale corruption, which was assumed to have been committed by the President and his siblings. This of course has not been proven with all the investigations that have been undertaken during the last 365 days. Little did Mahinda Rajapaksa realize that the combined opposition of the minorities towards his regime would send him packing to Medamulana due to his suspected bias towards the hate campaign of the Bodu Bala Sena and other extremists Buddhists.
Today, politically motivated groups alleged to be close to the former regime have unleashed a new wave of hate and racism under the “Sinha Le” label. They are determined to create divisions amongst the different communities once more and the provocations of the “Sinha Le” group are clear evidence of the renewed hate campaign on the Muslims. The “Sinha Le” group is suspected of attempting to provoke the Muslims to retaliate so that their ultimate objective of causing a major island wide communal riot could be achieved. The Muslims, the Government and the rest of the citizens should take necessary steps to defuse this threat.