5th Column

My dear Dilrukshi,
I thought I should write to you because it appears that the whole country is talking about you, your job and your resignation. It is disappointing that you had to leave in the way you did, but after Maithri made his statement about you and the bribery commission, he didn’t leave you with much choice.
Dilrukshi, I suppose you must be still confused as to why you were shown the door. There you were, merrily investigating the many complaints that came your way and believing that you were doing your job when suddenly, no less a person than the first citizen lambasts you, in a public speech at that.

I am sure you would have been surprised but I was not. That is because this is not the first time Maithri has done something like this. It seems that whenever the going gets tough, Maithri’s response is to get behind a microphone and complain about how badly he is being treated.
Remember last year, when the Blues were preparing for the polls and wanted Mahinda maama to lead them? Some wanted him named as their Prime Ministerial candidate. Maithri then made an address to the nation saying Mahinda maama will never be appointed PM, and wrecked the Blues’ campaign!

I don’t blame you if you find it difficult to understand what Maithri says and does. On the one hand, he says he is not the type to telephone judges and influence them or to order the release of criminals. Then, he goes on to do just that by criticising you, your commission, the CID and the FCID!

Your ‘crime’ was to summon Gota and three former Navy commanders to the commission. Maithri’s complaint is that he was not informed. I wonder why he needs to be informed about every Gota, Mahinda and Namal being called for investigations, if he doesn’t plan to use his influence anyway?

In fact, I thought some of our politicians liked being brought to your commission or the police. They seem to enjoy the experience, judging from the manner in which they proudly hold aloft their handcuffed hands and smile for the cameras when they are being detained, as if it is some kind of great honour!

After you had tendered your resignation, we heard Rajitha, the dentist looking after our health, taking over from where Maithri stopped. The man who made a living opening other peoples’ mouths is now making a living by opening his because he launched into a tirade against you in front of the media.

He said you were investigating only small fry and letting the sharks get away. If Gota is small fry I don’t who the sharks are! He also said you leaked a letter to Mahinda maama who called Maithri five minutes later and asked about it. Mahinda maama says nothing of the sort happened – and I believe him!

Of course the dentist with the big mouth who tells us fairy tales doesn’t see anything wrong in publicly accusing a government official who has no right to defend herself, but I can understand why he did so: there were complaints against him too and you were investigating those as well!

Well, Dilrukshi, you can be satisfied that your resignation would have made at least a few people happy. Maithri must surely be happy but happier still would Mahinda maama, his family members and his disciples in their ‘Joint Opposition’ be. I am sure they won’t suffer from sleepless nights now.

And, just a day after your resignation Maithri was at it again, saying that Police raiding Kumar’s property was an “immature” act. I guess the IGP will now have to ask Maithri whenever he wants to raid someone’s property – or else, he too will be given a public lecture and asked to leave his job!

This is the new ‘yahapaalanaya’ we have to live with now and you probably resigned because you found it difficult to get used to that. But you can rest assured that while you did your job you did it reasonably well although it would have been better if you had probed the Bond scandal as well.

When one President didn’t like a decision of his Chief Justice he saw to it that she was sacked. We changed that President and replaced him with another. Now, that President doesn’t like the decisions of his Bribery Commissioner and he ensures that she resigns. Nothing has changed, has it, Dilrukshi?

While we wish you best of luck in your career, we must also think about the people who voted for ‘yahapaalanaya’ and have now got ‘Maithreepaalanaya’ instead. Is it small wonder that Mahinda maama is smiling from ear to ear and asking them ‘obata sathutuyida den?’ (are you happy now?)

Yours truly,
Punchi Putha
PS: If you are still wondering what went wrong and why you had to leave your job, there is another, much simpler explanation. Some say that Maithri doesn’t like your name. Now he has got rid of one Wickramasinghe. It is only a matter of time before he gets rid of the ‘other’ Wickremesinghe!