Sri Lanka is not a Sinhala Buddhist country but a country that belongs to all those who have taken Sri Lanka as their motherland, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday in Matara.
Samaraweera pointed out that although the country’s majority is comprised of Sinhala Buddhists, this does not mean we can impose our opinions on others simply because we are the majority.
“There are people belonging to Christian, Catholic, Hindu, Islamic and other religions in Sri Lanka. All of them have the same rights which the Sinhala Buddhists have,” he said.
“We should remember this. Most of us have gone abroad or have relatives abroad. If you go to Italy or the UK and if you become a citizen of one of these countries, there are no second-class citizens. The one who became a citizen today and the one became a citizen even thousands of years ago have the same rights,” he said.
Even I could become a cardboard hero and say that this is a Sinhala Buddhist country. However, Sri Lanka is not a Sinhala Buddhist country but a country belonging to all who have taken Sri Lanka as their motherland,” he said.
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