Former minister Mangala Samaraweera says he is impressed by former parliamentarian Harin Fernando and praised the ‘courage of his convictions’.

“I am very impressed by Harin F who has the courage of his convictions to challenge the hypocrisy of sections of the Catholic Church who seems to have forged an unholy alliance with the extremist Buddhist clergy supporting this majoritarian/facist regime (sic),” he tweeted.

Fernando has faced massive backlash due to his recent comments against the Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith.

The former Parliamentarian recently made some controversial comments which claimed that Sajith Premadasa was deprived of the Catholic votes during the Presidential Election 2019 because of the Cardinal.

Politicians and other public figures have condemned the statement made by Fernando while the Archdiocese of Colombo had also issued a statement deploring the former parliamentarian’s derogatory comments.

The Auxiliary Bishops of Colombo together with the Catholic clergy of the Archdiocese of Colombo expressed their “grave concern” on the matter while pointing out that the former MP’s comments were made for cheap political gain.

However, the former MP has stood by his statement and said he is not afraid to speak out the truth. 

I am very impressed by Harin F who has the courage of his convictions to challenge the hypocrisy of sections of the Catholic Church who seems to have forged an unholy alliance with the extremist Buddhist clergy supporting this majoritarian/facist regime.

— Mangala Samaraweera (@MangalaLK) June 24, 2020