{"id":202242,"date":"2019-06-03T14:17:27","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T08:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=202242"},"modified":"2019-06-04T11:59:29","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T06:29:29","slug":"sirisena-sponsored-rathana-drama-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sirisena-sponsored-rathana-drama-escalates\/","title":{"rendered":"Sirisena Sponsored Rathana Drama Escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Making it further clear that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Athuraliye+Rathana\"><strong>Athuraliye Rathana<\/strong><\/a> thera\u2019s protest fast and subsequent actions are all part of a political drama staged by Sirisena, Presidential Media Division announced a short while ago that Governors M L A M Hizbullah and Azath Salley have resigned from their positions.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_174511\" style=\"width: 494px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Athuraliye-Rathana-and-Maithripala-.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-174511\" class=\" wp-image-174511\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Athuraliye-Rathana-and-Maithripala-.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"484\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Athuraliye-Rathana-and-Maithripala-.jpg 548w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Athuraliye-Rathana-and-Maithripala--300x222.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 484px) 100vw, 484px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-174511\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Athuraliye Rathana and Maithripala | File Photo<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Although the handing in of resignations appears as if Rathana thera\u2019s protest fast scored resulting in one of his demands to be realized, a closer look at the Constitution reveals this is part of a carefully thought out play staged by Sirisena to help him score brownie points among voters.<\/p>\n<p>Constitutional provisions grant power to the President to appoint a Governor but does not authorize sacking one. If an ousting of the Governor is to happen, the President requires the backing of a \u2154 majority in the Provincial Council.<\/p>\n<p>Term of Eastern Provincial Council ended on September 30, 2018 and term of Western Provincial Council ended on April 21, 2019, rendering it impossible for Sirisena to stage an ousting of the Governors.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, before the growing unpopularity of the trio Bathiudeen, Hizbullah and Salley, it is clear that Rathana thera\u2019s protest before the Kandy Temple of the Tooth is a cooked up political drama to help Sirisena achieve his political goals.<\/p>\n<p>It should also be noted that both Hizbullah and Salley in recent weeks have publicly called for the Presidential pardon and release of BBS Galagoda Atte Gnanasara, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/bbs-gnanasara-promises-pandemonium-countrywide-by-tomorrow\/\"><strong>who yesterday joined Rathana thera<\/strong><\/a> at the protest fast site and said, despite their ideological differences, he has united with Rathana thera in the face of the \u2018Muslim issue\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, these short sighted, power hungry moves of Sirisena might end up costing innocent civilians dearly, as anti-Muslim narratives appear to grow stronger. All shops in Kandy remain closed today in an expression of solidarity with Rathana thero\u2019s protest and BBS Gnanasara is marching to Colombo with his goons, demanding the President and government immediately act on Rathana thera\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n<p>It was also reported that three individuals who were at the site of Rathana thero\u2019s protest fast, who were unable to confirm their identity and were later revealed to be Muslims, were attacked by a mob while the military attempted to remove them from the location.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":174511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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