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The 78th National Independence Day was held at Independence Square in Colombo on February 4th, under the theme “Building Sri Lanka”. Social media posts have alleged that the Buddhist flag that had been hoisted at Independence Square had been removed under the guise of the Independence Day celebration. This discourse stems from a statement by Wimal Weerawansa at a media briefing. This is a fact-check we conducted regarding this.
Social Media Posts:
A social media post was circulated with the statement, “The Buddhist flag hoisted at the Independence Square to commemorate the 2600th anniversary of enlightenment of Lord Buddha was removed on the Independence Day of the country” — Wimal Weerawansa.
Many other comments regarding the statement made by Wimal Weerawansa were widely published on social media as follows.
These social media posts contained the statement made by the former MP that the Buddhist flag hoisted at Independence Square to commemorate the 2600th Buddha Jayanti was removed under the guise of the Independence Day celebration, and that it needed to be hoisted again within three days. Accordingly, we took steps to investigate what exactly happened.
Explainer :
The Public Administration Circular 08/2011 issued in 2011 to commemorate the 2600th Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi Week (14–20 May 2011) stated that the Buddhist flag should be displayed in all government offices, institutions, and buildings. Since then, the tradition began to hoist the Buddhist flag at the Independence Square, although it was not specified that the flag should be “permanently” hoisted through an official circular.
We examined the footage of the Independence Day celebration to verify whether the Buddhist flag was raised during the last Independence Day celebration held at the Independence Square. However, instead of the Buddhist flag, the national flag was raised.
Nevertheless, in the footage of pre-training and rehearsal sessions held for the Independence Day celebration, reported by the media, it can be seen that the Buddhist flag was hoisted.
Similarly, the mainstream media reported that the Buddhist flag was hoisted at Independence Square on the day after Independence Day, i.e. 2025.02.05, as follows.
In 2025, as well, the Buddhist flag has not been hoisted at the Independence Square during the Independence Day celebration.
Meanwhile, at the 73rd National Independence Day celebration in 2021, when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was President, held at Independence Square, the Buddhist flag was hoisted instead of the national flag.
However, an inquiry was made to the Assistant Director of the Media Division of the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government regarding why the Buddhist flag was not hoisted on Independence Day.
Mr R.S.R. Ranawaka, Assistant Director, Media Division, Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government
During our inquiry, he stated that the pole used to hoist the national flag is located at a lower level than the pole used to hoist the Buddhist flag. Because of this, a temporary removal of the Buddhist flag was done to prevent it from being visible above the national flag, as the national flag should be given the maximum respect and priority during a national ceremony. He stated that this was not something that took place only this year, and that the Buddhist flag had been temporarily removed during the Independence ceremony last year as well.
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Conclusion :
Our investigation indicates that the Buddhist flag, which is traditionally hoisted at Independence Square in conjunction with the circular issued in relation to the 2600th Buddha Jayanti in 2011, was temporarily removed for the last Independence Day celebration and then re-raised on the same day. Since the national flag should be given maximum respect and priority during a national event, and the pole used to hoist the national flag is located at a lower level than the pole used to hoist the Buddhist flag, this temporary removal was done to prevent another flag from being visible above the national flag.
Title:Was the Buddhist flag removed for the Independence Day celebration, which was hoisted at the Independence Square ?
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: Insight
