Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith
By L. Jayasooriya
Those who saw the TV coverage of the arrival of Malcolm Ranjith at the airport could not have missed to see how he was greeted by our Prime Minister as if Malcolm Ranjith is a person superior to him. Malcolm Ranjith is an absolute ‘nobody’ when compared to the official position of the Prime Minister of this country.
In the first place what was the necessity for Malcolm Ranjith to be given an official reception in this country which is a Buddhist country similar to countries in Europe being Christian countries where no such recognition is given to Buddhist monks in similar situations? Those countries have no reason to felicitate a Buddhist dignitary and we agree with them but how demeaning is it for us to see a bunch of Buddhist monks greeting him at the airport? Why did they not wash his feet the same way as their feet are washed by some people when they enter a house. Will Malcolm Ranjith ever go to the airport to felicitate a Buddhist dignitary?
Can we have any respect for that bunch of monks?