By: Roger Srivasan
Sri Lanka owes a quiet but profound debt of gratitude to Dhanuka Rananjaka Kahandagamage, a young lawyer whose courage has rekindled faith in justice at a time when moral clarity is often in short supply. In taking legal action under the relatively untested ICCPR Act against a Buddhist monk long associated with vile, openly racist rhetoric, he demonstrated a rare blend of integrity, compassion, and civic duty.
What sets Dhanuka apart is not merely the legal case he initiated, but the spirit in which he chose to act. As a member of the majority Sinhala community, he could easily have remained silent — as so many have, for so long — while minorities endured taunts, humiliation, and threats from extremist elements hiding behind the robes of religion. Instead, he stepped forward, placing the dignity of every Sri Lankan above the false comfort of ethnic loyalty.
Such magnanimity is not common. It is the mark of a man who understands that true patriotism lies not in defending one’s tribe, but in defending what is right.
Had Sri Lanka been blessed with more men of his calibre forty years ago, men who would have confronted hatred early, curbed extremist ideologies, and refused to legitimise bigotry, perhaps this nation would have been spared the thirty-year tragedy that followed. But today, Dhanuka stands as a reminder that the moral arc of our nation can still be straightened — not by force, not by fear, but by the principled courage of individuals who choose justice over convenience.
In appreciating Dhanuka Rananjaka Kahandagamage, we honour more than a lawyer.
We honour the embodiment of the Sri Lanka we yearn for — a Sri Lanka where humanity triumphs over hatred, where decency supersedes division, and where the rule of law is upheld not selectively, but universally.
His act is a small flame.
But in a nation tired of darkness, even a small flame can become a beacon.
