Wimal: I’m the man, child and punishment

 Mar 26, 2017

The court rejected the bail application filed on behalf of former minister Wimal Weerawansa on March 24. He remains in remand custody over a charge of having misused state money by renting vehicles at the expense of the Housing, Construction, Engineering Services and Public Amenities Ministry of which he was the minister during the previous regime and giving the same for use by his relatives and friends.

The resultant loss caused to the state is estimated at Rs. 91.6 million.

Although he was remanded on such a charge, from the beginning Wimal had been trying to gain political and publicity mileage out of his incarceration, by using the opportunity for a media hype and saying that he would remain firm even if sent to hundreds of prisons and that he would write books and do painting from his prison cell. His intention was to obtain bail within a few days and become the hero among the Rajapaksa-loyalist joint opposition. However, that is yet to happen.

Whenever he sees a microphone, Wimal turns into a Mike Tyson, and he has been overrating the power of his mouth which has thus far brought him the luxuries and everything else he has. It is on that basis that he represented himself at court, without any lawyer’s support, to seek bail. However, a bail application should be able to submit to court on the due legal basis to obtain bail, and the power of his mouth will not count a court.

He claims to be such a brave fellow who had danced the devil in front of the UN office in Colombo and challenged, while speaking in Sinhala only, the world powers, but since the day he has been sent behind bars, he had been using the mental state of his daughter for his bail request. The hundreds of prisons talk was forgotten. The request from the court was to compassionately consider his daughter’s mental stress.

Then began his fasting. The entire country knows about his fasting and no one took much notice. Within half a day into his fasting, his followers announced Wimal’s condition was serious. His party declared that his daughter too, has refused food and that she has been hospitalized. On the following day he sought bail, asking the court to consider the condition of his daughter. The court decided that since his daughter was not under the court’s custody, her actions carry no influence, and also because he faces a charge of misuse of public property.

Wimal is entirely a media hype. Therefore, no one takes notice about the news created by him. We have something to say about the parents’ love for their children which he tries to make use of here. Lasantha Wickrematunge who was brutally murdered in the road in broad daylight too, was a father. Then, Wimal did not speak about Lasantha’s children’s tears. Godfather of the Rajapaksa killer gang, Gotabhaya asked from the media with a smile as to who Lasantha was, and inquired as to why the media was so concerned about one Lasantha, when so many people die in the country. Then, Lasantha’s children were not considered children, and their mentality was of no concern for those in the then regime. Prageeth Ekneligoda, who was made to disappear, too was a father. Not stopping at making him to disappear, henchmen of the government declared that he was in hiding in France and leveled insults on his family. No one worried about the mental condition of his children. Wimal and others were saying that inquiring into the missing would be a hunting down of the war heroes. They did not care about the children’s right to know what fate befell their father, and even appearing on behalf of that right was considered by Wimal as being traitorous.

Kugan Murugananthan, who was made to disappear during the corrupt Rajapaksa regime that distributed vehicles among relatives and cronies at state expense, too, was a father. The stooges of the Rajapaksa regime did not care about the tears of his daughter. Thousands of such examples can be given. But, today, it is a matter for concern when Wimal says he is fasting and his daughter too, refuses to eat. For the Rajapaksa gang and their stooges, children mean their children only. Others’ children do not matter, like the arrest and the gunning down of the 12 year old son of Prabhakaran.

If the case here is the love of children and loving children, what Wimal should do is not giving news to the world by claiming that he was fasting, but stop his fasting. That is because ‘The King’ who was there to make Wimal drink king coconut water then, has told the media that he would not go this time. Wimal may be fighting with all his might to bring Mahinda back to power, but even Mahinda is not concerned by Wimal’s fasting, because he too, knows that Wimal is the origin of lies. If his concern is his child, what Wimal should do is stop his fasting. Then, his daughter too, would start eating. If he is trying to sacrifice his daughter’s health in order to obtain bail, what is he trying to prove? He is accused of a misuse of public money, and accused over having taken part in any national struggle. He should get an experienced lawyer to make his case before the court to seek bail. But, his mean politics and the know-all attitude will result in the suffering of his own children, irrespective of whether it is real or not. It appears that he has punished his own daughter for his having used public money to distribute vehicles to his relatives and friends. Wimal should stop using the fasting which the people use as a collective means of fighting for their rights. This is the second instance. The first instance was – Lemon Puff.