Soon after the government withdrew its draft constitution from Parliament on 8 August, the gaunt face of Hedigalle Vimalasara Thero appeared in a rash of posters. He staged a fast-unto-death during the mass protest campaign, which derailed the government´s ambitious 17th amendment. The Bill sought to end a costly civil war and guarantee the rights of minority Tamils through a package of devolution.
Printed in Sinhala, the poster hailed the monk as a hero of the Sinhala Buddhist race who prevented the great tragedy that would, have befallen on the Sinhala nation had the government pursued the reforms, which also needed two-thirds majority in Parliament to become law.
Saffron-robed men such as Wimalasara epitomise the virulent opposition that is mounting, not only against President Chandrika Kumaratunga´s recent efforts to find a political solution for the country´s ethnic tangle, but against any such attempt by governments that have been dominated by the southern Sinhalese.
In 1987, when the late president J.R.Jayawardene and Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi signed the Indo-Lanka peace accord to introduce a provincial system of government to end the country´s raging ethnic conflict, there were mass protests spearheaded by thousands of Buddhist monks, including leading prelates. An armed rebellion by the revolutionary Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) erupted alongside, crippling the country and killing more than 60,000 people, including a number of Buddhist monks, in the counter-insurgency operations.