"This is not the first time Wickremesinghe has been involved in such activities and if he doesn’t know Buddhism he should keep quiet," Transport Minister Dullas Alhapperuma told a press conference at the Mahaweli Centre yesterday.

He said that Wickremesinghe was responsible for insulting a number of reputed prelates in the country for mere political mileage.

"He should be extremely cautious when he speaks of the Maha Sangha," the Minister said.

Alahapperuma said that Maha Sangha would shortly take action against Wickremesinghe over a false claim that 500 temples belonging to the Malwattte Chaper in the South would be handed over to the Rohana Chapter.

"Even while breathing his last former Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike refrained from using the word, Hamduruwo, to refer to his assassin but carefull used the phrase, ‘a man clad in a robe," the minister said adding that such was the respect the SLFP leader had for the Maha Sangha.

Minister Alahapperuma said that Wickremesinghe had been a very prominent member of the J. R. Jayewardene regime which had caused hardship to Buddhist monks who were critical of that government. "People know how temples and Viharas were separated by barbed wires fences under that dictatorial regime," he said.

Courtesy: Island