Hate speech and rabble rousing -will we ever learn? - EDITORIAL

Just over a year ago, our country declared itself bankrupt. In turn, our country was not considered credit-worthy by international lending institutions. With expenditure far exceeding import earnings. It was only to be expected these agencies would shun providing us with the credit needed to purchase much-needed important basics (Including rice-our staple diet- medicines, fuel, and cooking gas).

Soon miles-long queues began forming outside fuel stations as supplies ran out. The shortage of diesel to fire electricity generation plants led to 12-hour-long rolling power cuts.
To overcome the shortage of hard currency government even went to the extent of arranging a currency swap with Bangladesh, whose economy was not very stable either. India too provided some solace, but in the end, it was not enough.

Chaos broke out. The then Prime Minister resigned and none of the leaders of political parties voted into power were willing to fill the vacuum created by the Premier’s resignation.
Come the moment, cometh the man. Ranil Wickremesinghe who entered Parliament via the National List accepted the President’s invitation to take up the Premiership.

But the change was seen as being too little, too late. The people were now desperate. Food was unavailable. Stocks of medicines ran out, employees were being thrown out of employment and business houses were closing down due to a lack of funds and raw materials to run their industries.
Soon chaos turned to violence and the then President fled the country. The new Premier -Wickremesinghe- who was elected President by Parliamentary vote in keeping with Constitutional guidelines, was able to curb the violence. 

He commenced negotiations with creditor nations, the IMF and together with a credit line from India was able to ‘put rice on the plate’ of the population so to say.
The worst days of the struggle were over. Soon the dormant tourist industry began taking off, agriculture which had come to a standstill due to the non-availability of fertilizer recommenced, export of tea, rubber and coconut which were also hit by the lack of fertilizers etc. began to bring in hard currency and soon small reserves were built. 
The IMF restructuring facility took away the country’s bankrupt reputation.

More recently we were able to repay the Bangladeshi cash swap. Amidst tremendous difficulty, the people and country seem to be moving away from the brink of disaster. 
But we are not out of danger and in-country upheavals can easily tip the boat.
It is at this critical juncture, that we are once again beginning to hear certain elements among ‘men of the cloth’ begin to break into hate speech and threaten minority communities with a blood bath.

Whether it is the mouthing of particular individuals or part of a wider plan to destabilise the country, we do not know. However, we will remember that it was shortly after the end of the nearly three-decade-long ethnic war, that a handful of similar rabble-rousers spewed anti-Muslim hatred.
In turn, anti-Muslim vitriol led to attacks on the Muslim community. The attacks led to the radicalising of sections within that community and ended up in the deadly Easter Sunday atrocity where hundreds of innocents died in a single day.

The Government needs to crack down on these rabble-rousers and nip in the bud, the deadly seeds these unsavoury elements are attempting to sow. 
The law cannot and must not be used selectively. Anyone threatening to kill another section of the community needs to be arrested and face the consequences of his/her misdeeds.
Our country is taking its first shaky steps to get out of the economic morass. An outbreak of racist and or communal violence is the last thing we need at this moment.

We should not tolerate these vile efforts of a few individuals to frustrate the efforts of a majority of our people to get this country on its feet again.
We need to let minority communities understand that they are equal citizens in this land enjoying the same rights and privileges as every other person in the country.
Racists and purveyors of hate need to be locked up. What is sad is the government’s silence and inaction.