Ampitiye Sumanarathana Thero, a prominent Eastern Province Buddhist monk long associated with Sinhala nationalist circles in Batticaloa, has publicly said he is leaving what he called the “Rajapaksa Nikaya” and extending his “maximum support” to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The Thero made the announcement in a video statement after meeting the President during his Batticaloa visit on Wednesday. He said he had earlier circulated a message indicating he would take “a step forward” if attempts to engage with the President failed, and that senior police officers and Presidential Security Division officials had subsequently facilitated the meeting.
According to the Thero, he raised several Eastern Province concerns during the discussion and said the President assured him steps would be taken to address them. Thanking the President for hearing him out, he said he would distance himself from the “Rajapaksa Nikaya” and back the government’s efforts to “move the country in a positive direction” while the President remained in office.
The realignment is notable on two counts. Ampitiye Thero has been one of the Sinhala Buddhist clergy figures most identified with the former ruling family’s patronage networks in the Eastern Province, and the “Nikaya” framing is a direct public repudiation of those ties. It also lands the same day the President used a Batticaloa rule-of-law address to argue that “outrage” from those losing legal immunity would not halt enforcement.
