Was this shirt from Wimal’s Kollupitiya boarding?
Jose Mujica, President of Uruguay
On Thursday, 11 December 2014
Hon. Minister Wimal Weerawansa was the chief guest at the launch of ‘Himalaya Pamula’, a book of adventures by a member of the old Hiru newspaper Kelum Kumara Mohotti in September. Those days he was called Wimalasiri Gamlath alias Vibhuthi. Two decades later, he is Wimal Weerawansa, an honourable cabinet minister.
Present at the launch were media colleagues like Sunil Madhawa Premathilaka and Winnie Hettigoda. There, Hon. Minister Wimal Weerawansa made a very emotional speech, recalling the past.
He tearfully remembered how Kelum, Uditha Gayashan and another journalist who is not in the country, and himself lived in brotherhood at the upper floor of the Hiru office in Kollupitiya. The T-shirts at that boarding had no owner. They were public property. The four shared the shirts among themselves. Since Kelum is around six feet tall, others could not wear his trousers, but there was no problem with his shirts.
All these came to mind after seeing the shirt the Hon. minister wore for ‘Balaya’ programme of Hiru TV on November 27. It was of Burberry Brit brand. The online price of this shirt is around 344 US dollars. That is more than Rs. 45,000. Anyway, we are happy that Wimal lives so highly, although we do not have such wealth. We can sing the song written by Ven. Rambukana Siddhartha Thera – “Apith Ekka Ekata Hitapu Apey Lamayine – Ada Kaala Beela Endala Karala Yahathin Inne – Sathutu Veyalla – Irisiyawa Atha Herapalla.”
But, in a few days, he might come before TV and say, “Due to my old habit of sharing with Kelum, Bhashi, now I share clothes at Temple Trees with Namal, Yoshitha and Rohitha as the adopted son of the president. So, I wore a shirt I found in a room at Temple Trees to Balaya programme. It belongs to Rohitha Malli. What is a Rs. 45,000 shirt to him? He wears Rs. 150,000 Louis Vuitton shoes.”
We are dead certain that our minister Wimal has not yet abandoned his habit of sharing. He is a real socialist. He has a real liking for public property for his personal use.
