KANDY, Sri Lanka, Oct. 12 — One of Sri Lanka's most senior Buddhist monks on Monday rejected an opposition claim that the movement now governing the country had bombed the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. He also declined to blame the government for a wave of online abuse against monks.
The Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thero, chief prelate of the Malwatte chapter, made the remarks to a delegation from the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya, or S.J.B., which had come to seek his help in a dispute over a jailed monk. He shared their concern about the treatment of clergy but repeatedly refused to pin the controversies on the ruling party.
Ranjith Madduma Bandara, the S.J.B.'s general secretary, accused the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, the Marxist party at the core of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's government, of bombing the Kandy temple and the Kataragama religious procession.
The chief prelate cut him off. "How can you say these people carried out those bombings?" he asked. "We know the truth."
The temple was bombed on Jan. 25, 1998, by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, whose truck bomb killed civilians and damaged the shrine. The J.V.P. led armed uprisings in 1971 and from 1987 to 1989 and was responsible for many killings. Its past has become a political weapon since Mr. Dissanayake took office.
The monk said the J.V.P. had once seized firearms from police officers guarding the temple after offering them birthday cake, but had never carried out an attack like the Tigers' bombing. He accused a former lay custodian of the temple, whom he named as Neranjan, of spreading falsehoods.
"Some people, when they have nothing else to say, resort to telling lies," he said.
Mr. Madduma Bandara also charged that government supporters were behind social media campaigns against monks. "It is the government that is doing this," he said.
The chief prelate disagreed. "There are all kinds of people in society," he said. "There are also troublemakers who are not affiliated with any political party." He said he had seen posts mocking Mr. Dissanayake himself in Buddhist robes.
He also rejected the opposition's charge that the government was hostile to Buddhism. "People said that if these people came to power, they would stop the Perahera processions," he said. "But have they stopped? No."
The delegation's visit was prompted by the case of Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, a hard-line nationalist monk whose robes were removed under prison rules after he was returned to prison to complete a six-year sentence. Senior prelates say only monastic authorities can decide a monk's religious status. Mr. Dissanayake has said prison rules must apply equally, but has proposed allowing jailed monks to wear robes with the approval of their orders. The chief prelate said the president had promised changes within two weeks.
Lakshman Kiriella, a former lawmaker in the delegation, said the president could have issued an executive directive in the meantime. Without offering evidence, he accused the government of provoking Buddhists to win minority support as its popularity declines.
"They seem to believe that minorities will be pleased if Buddhist people are hurt," he said.
The chief prelate also dismissed allegations that a historic casket associated with the Sacred Tooth Relic had been sold or improperly replaced. A new gold casket had been donated, he said, and the old one remained at the temple. "Nothing improper has happened," he said.
The delegation later met the chief prelate of the Asgiriya chapter, the Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thero.
