The Bodu Bala Sena has announced that it would turn its attention to a mosque at Kuragala after declaring its campaign against halal certification had been won.
The announcement was made at a BBS rally held in Kandy on Sunday, where the organisation said its next move would be to remove the mosque from the Kuragala site.
BBS national organiser Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera told the gathering that the organisation’s campaign against halal products had come to an end, with companies expected to remove halal-certified products by the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.
He then announced Kuragala as the group’s next target.
The BBS claimed that the mosque had been built at an ancient Buddhist site and alleged that Muslim fundamentalists had taken over the area and destroyed evidence of its Buddhist heritage.
The organisation said it would work towards removing the mosque from the site.
Kuragala is located in the Balangoda area of Ratnapura District and has for years been regarded as a site of religious importance to both Buddhists and Muslims.
The announcement came as the BBS was stepping up its campaign on issues involving the Muslim community. The group had already made halal certification one of its main issues, holding rallies and calling on businesses to stop using the halal logo.
At the Kandy rally, however, Gnanasara Thera said that chapter had now been concluded.
The attention then shifted to Kuragala.
The BBS claimed that the area was an archaeological and Buddhist heritage site and called on Buddhists to join what it described as a mission to protect the location.
The call to remove the mosque was subsequently followed by further controversy over the site.
Contemporary reports said the authorities were also involved in discussions concerning the buildings and religious activities at Kuragala. A later report said the BBS had demanded that Muslims leave the site by March 30.
The Kuragala issue was therefore becoming another point of tension between the BBS and the Muslim community at a time when the organisation was gaining increasing attention for its campaign on halal certification and other issues involving Muslims.
The BBS maintained that its campaign was aimed at protecting Buddhist heritage.
The announcement at Kandy, however, put the mosque at Kuragala directly into the centre of the group’s campaign.
