India’s Abdul Kalam and our Kaala-Aami

Oct 03, 2015

He owned only five trousers. Four shirts. Three suits - one western and the two others native. He lived in a housing complex of common people. He used only one email account and one twitter account, and one website.

Reading the above, you will be reminded of just one of the majority of people living in society. You are correct. He was a person who had lived as a common man. But, he was not one of the majority of peoples. He was a person who had brought repute to his motherland through his knowledge. He was a great son of India, ex-president Abdul Kalam.

Mr. Kalam had the following assets – 2,500 books, one Padmasri award, one Padmabhooshana award, one Bharataratne award and 16 doctorates. He did not have televisions, valuable cars, air-conditioned rooms, shares in big companies, valuable properties or bank accounts with millions.

He was the great Indian Abdul Kalam.

Now, from India’s Kalams, we turn to our Kaala-Aami.

What happens in Sri Lanka is persons without any asset or income entering politics and becoming millionaires through their MP, prime minister, president salaries.

R. Premadasa, who never did a permanent job became an MP, minister, prime minister and president, and he died an owner of estates and houses in Colombo 07. He bought Ambanpola estate and other estates and houses at Wijerama Road, by his president’s salary. Not only that, he maintained the family with his president’s salary and bought an apartment from a housing complex near Kensington Palace in Central London. It is what he left from that salary that his son Sajith is donating today.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was elected as Beliatte MP and was without any property to mention, went home after 10 years of presidency with assets worth 18 billion US dollars. His eldest son wore wrist watches worth millions. The second started a television channel and the youngest studied abroad to become an astronaut. All of them wore shoes worth Rs. 150,000.

Those are our Kaala-Aami.

Among such Kaala-Aamis, there was a notable exception.

He owned five shirts and three trousers and had a bank account balance of Rs. 300 when he died. That was the first and the last (because future is unlikely to have such men) in this country to have resigned from his prime minister position – Dudley Shelton Senanayake. He lived and died a common man. He was our Abdul Kalam.