President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday commenting on the recent controversial comments made by a top Buddhist monk urging former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to take over the country as a Hitler-type military dictator said he will not allow the country to return to a dictatorship.
President Sirisena said as a Buddhist he had the highest respect for the clergy, but could not agree with a senior monk of the Asgiriya chapter who invited Rajapaksa to “be a Hitler, take the military and take power.”
He said the voters toppled former strongman, President Mahinda Rajapaksa because they wanted to end a decade-long iron-fisted rule and win back their personal freedoms.
“In January 2015, people did not vote for food or jobs,” the President said addressing a meeting Nikawaratiya. “They voted for freedom and democracy. I have restored both and will not allow this country to slip back into a dictatorship.”
He said he was saddened by the call of Ven. Venduruwe Upali Thera who sought a return to an era when citizens were deprived of their basic human rights and any dissent was immediately crushed.
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