Expressing “deep concern” over the rapid surge in COVID-19 in India, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, informing him of special prayers that the country’s Buddhist clergy would hold for the people of India.
Recalling “similar pestilences” faced by humankind in the past, Mr. Rajapaksa sought to assure the Indian PM that “humanity prevailed through perseverance” and that India would “thwart the current havoc of the pathogen”, under Mr. Modi’s “able leadership” and the “resolute support of dedicated professionals and experts.”
“I am pleased to inform Your Excellency that the Buddhist clergy in Sri Lanka, following the example of their great teacher Gautama Buddha in Vaisala during a pestilence, plan to compassionately recite the ‘Rathana Sutra’, to invoke blessings on the people of India, thus demonstrating the close bond and affinity between our two countries,” Mr. Rajapaksa said in a letter dated April 28, 2021.
President Rajapaksa, on behalf of the people of Sri Lanka, expressed “deep gratitude” for India’s donation of 5 lakh doses of vaccines that, he said, enabled his government to launch the first vaccination programme.
Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih too expressed solidarity with India in a tweet on Wednesday that said: “Saddened and concerned for our neighbour India as they battle a new wave of Covid19. The Maldives expresses its solidarity with the people of India and is encouraged by the efforts undertaken by PM @narendramodi and Indian authorities to ease the situation.”
