Either Galagoda Atte Gnanasara is bi-polar or pretends to suffer from selective amnesia. After visiting Athuraliye Rathana thera who was fasting in Kandy on Sunday and bringing mobs to Kandy town yesterday, demanding the government bow to Rathana thera’s demands, Gnanasara turned critical of the protest fast staged by Rathana thera, today.

Gnanasara

Speaking to media this morning, the robed ultra nationalist described Rathana’s protest fast that demanded the resignation of three Muslim politicos, as ‘yet another distraction in a series of diversions’ that prevents bringing a true solution to the threat of Islamic extremism.

He also said Rathana’s actions have also pushed even moderate Muslims into the arms of extremists.

“Rathana thera without any discussion or consultation suddenly decided he would stage a protest fast demanding the ousting of three specific Muslim politicians. But are those three the only Muslim politicos to blame? Our fight if with Salafism and Wahhabism. His action would have been justified if this step had been taken maybe a week into the bombings and that too, demanding all Muslim politicos to step aside to ensure impartiality of investigations,” BBS Gnanasara said.

Although Gnanasara was stomping about the Kandy city with mobs yesterday, bellowing into a loudspeaker, echoing Rathana thera’s demands to the government, this morning he told media that if Rathana was a true patriot, he would have kept his political agendas aside and contributed genuinely to resolve the crisis.

“Just because you turn politically bankrupt doesn’t mean you should hijack an issue and take it upon your hands with actions lacking focus! Singling out three Muslim politicos won’t resolve this issue. It has only resulted in a shift on the focus into the investigations and the issue of Islamic extremism as a whole,” he said.

Gnanasara also predicted that if this continuous shifting of focus is allowed to continue without promptly bringing about a solution, it would only lead to a Sinhala – Muslim clash in the near future.

He also took the time to explain his comment about promising ‘pandemonium’ countrywide in the event Rathana thero’s demands were not met.

“By that I was only referring to the revival of the Sinhalese in the face of the terror attacks. I believe we should use the Easter attacks as a resource to build national unity,” he added.