• Wiggy claims YMBA in favour of full implementation of 13A

Several Tamil politicians and civil society representatives have sought an audience with the Buddhist clergy including the Chief Prelates (Mahanayakas) of the Buddhist Sects, on the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

It is learnt that the group led by Thamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani Opposition Parliamentarian C.V. Wigneswaran is awaiting an appointment to meet the Buddhist religious leaders.

According to Wigneswaran, the need for the discussion had arisen after President Ranil Wickremesinghe had stopped talking about the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in view of the opposition from the Buddhist monks including the Chief Prelates of the Buddhist Sects. Last year (2022), President Wickremesinghe stated that he will provide a solution for the ethnic issues by the 4 February Independence Day. More recently, Wickremesinghe announced the full implementation of the 35-year-old 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (15), Wigneswaran said that the President had told him during his (President's) recent visit to Jaffna that the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in full should be discussed. However, following the opposition to the same by the Buddhist monks, including the Mahanayakas, he said that Wickremesinghe had not been pursuing the matter, and that discussions regarding it had now come to a standstill.

“I do not think that the President has given up on his plans to implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, but he is trying to hold on due to the opposition from the Mahanayakas. However, the representatives of the Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA) informed me at a recent meeting that they fully support the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Their opinion is the same as mine, which is that Buddhist monks should not be involved in party politics. If they are trying to involve themselves in national issues, it is not wrong, but they should not involve themselves in political and ethnic issues,” he said.

When questioned as to whether he would seek a meeting with the Mahanayakas to discuss the matter, Wigneswaran said: “I have sent an open letter to them. I have sent it very recently and I have not been responded to by them. I would also be happy to meet them and help them understand this matter. They are opposing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution without proper knowledge about it. We like to make the relevant explanations to them, but they do not seem to be prepared to meet me. I would also like the President to keep on saying that he would implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.”

President Wickremesinghe said late last year (2022) that he would fully implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. He had several rounds of discussions with political parties on the matter, during which his proposal had seen opposition from certain political parties. The Mahanayakas had also sent a letter to the President, asking him not to implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, and more than 100 Buddhist monks had organised a protest near the Parliament recently against Wickremesinghe's preparations to implement the said Amendment.